Lifeboat Foundation

Neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS) is rare but one of the most serious adverse effects of antipsychotics. Here, we report a case of risperidone-associated NMS in which a successful rechallenge of risperidone was observed with a positive follow-up. A 47-year-old female with schizophrenia was treated with risperidone 4 mg/d for 8 months in 2009 and was admitted to our hospital in 2015 owing to violent behavior under persecutory delusions. Risperidone 2 mg/d was initiated and increased to 4 mg/d 54 days later. Further, long-acting injectable (LAI) risperidone 25 mg per 2 weeks was added on hospital day 15. On hospital day 116, NMS occurred and thus we discontinued all antipsychotics including LAI risperidone, then NMS improved. We resumed LAI risperidone 25 mg per 2 weeks on hospital day 148, thus we waited for 22 days before re-starting the drug treatment. She was discharged on hospital day 371, then switched to LAI paliperidone 150 mg per 4 weeks 2 months later. At the time of a follow-up 3 years later, NMS had not reoccurred. This case reports on an unusual presentation of NMS in which no hyperthermia was observed. Furthermore, this case indicated that NMS may occur in a dose-dependent manner. In conclusion, this case reported important information for clinicians with regard to antipsychotic drug rechallenges and proper dosing of APs to avoid or reverse NMS.

A 47-year-old female with schizophrenia and without other neuropsychiatric or systemic illnesses was treated with risperidone 4 mg/d for 8 months in 2009. In 2015, she was admitted owing to the violent behavior of attacking her mother-in-law under persecutory delusion with the belief that her mother-in-law was going to murder her and auditory hallucination of hearing her mother-in-law criticize her behind her back. Risperidone 2 mg/d was initiated and increased to 4 mg/d 54 days later. Further, long-acting injectable (LAI) risperidone 25 mg per 2 weeks was added on hospital day 15. She did not receive any mood stabilizers on admission, such as lithium, carbamazepine, valproate. During treatment, the patient complained of soreness and weakness of her whole body, and refused to eat or ambulate on hospital day 116, at which point she was tachycardic with a bpm of 116, but afebrile (36.4°C) with stable blood pressure (113÷72 mm Hg).

A study out of John’s Hopkins University published by Dr. Robert Yolken, MD, and colleagues late last year have found a possible biomarker for schizophrenia. Biomarkers are extremely important to help diagnose disease, yet very few exist for psychiatric disorders. You cannot take a blood test to diagnose depression, for example. The current study found that schizophrenics carry a high level of a certain antibody produced in response to Epstein–Barr virus (EBV), a type of herpes virus that can lead to infectious mononucleosis (aka “mono” or “the kissing disease”). The schizophrenic patients in this study had a greater immune response to EBV-viral capsid antibody (VCA) compared to controls.

Longevity companies have often risen and fallen with little ado. But if these financial experts are correct that biotech companies are poised to start “bringing unprecedented increases to the quality and length of human lifespans,” per CNBC, then we may start seeing serious results out of the industry.

“New Frontier”

Bank of America’s predictions would mean a six-fold increase in the amount of money in longevity companies. In a report to clients reviewed by CNBC, analysts wrote that the human lifespan may soon extend to 100 years.

Continue reading “Major Bank: The Immortality Industry Is the Next Hot Investment” »

Feeding mosquitoes sugar makes them less attracted to humans, a response that is regulated by the protein vitellogenin, according to a study publishing May 9 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology by Jessica Dittmer, Paolo Gabrieli and colleagues at the Università degli Studi di Pavia in Italy.

Female mosquitoes must feed on blood to provide energy and nutrients for their developing eggs, but they can also supplement their diet with sugars by drinking plant nectar or sap. The team fed young female tiger mosquitos (Aedes albopictus) sugar solutions, and found it reduced their attraction to human skin. Female energy levels constantly increase after feeding sugars, and they are not related to the insects’ motivation to find a host.

Transcriptome sequencing revealed a wave of gene expression changes associated with this reduction in host-seeking behaviour, which affected at least 23 genes including the vitellogenin gene Vg-2—known to play a role in ovary development. RNA interference experiments to knockdown the Vg-2 gene expression restored the mosquitos’ attraction to humans, confirming the gene’s key role in regulating feeding behaviour.

Continue reading “Egg yolk precursor protein regulates mosquitoes’ attraction to humans” »

A new open-access study from researchers at the Biomedical Research Centre in the United Kingdom shows how two antibiotics and Vitamin C can be combined to suppress cancer stem cells (CSCs) of the breast [1].

While antibiotics are not normally effective against cancer, and Vitamin C is more well-known for its role in supporting the immune system, this combination has been shown to attack cancer stem cells through a combination of mitochondrial suppression and oxidative attacks on the mitochondria, thus causing mitochondrial growth to falter.

Olive trees don’t just dot the landscape in Puglia, Italy; they define it. They are so important here, in the heel of Italy’s boot, that locals use words like “patrimony” and “cultural heritage” when describing them. But what is worrying olive growers here is a disease that’s killing olive trees by the millions.

Paul Cappelli, who’d been an advertising executive in New York City until a few years ago, left his job and moved to a home on the ancient Appian Way surrounded by olive trees, and entered the oil business. “Not the Texas oil business; I’m in the real oil business!” he said.

Today, Villa Cappelli produces about 10,000 liters of olive oil, 95 percent of it sold in the U.S.

Continue reading “A pathogen is destroying Italy’s olive trees” »

Longevity technology number one, according to the Longevity Impact Forum rating, proven by Patient zero.

Liz Parrish, CEO of BioViva USAa short clip from her gene therapy that she took in 2015 against biological aging. This is the first step to curing diseases like Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease, kidney failure and cancer. If we work toward this goal quickly we could save almost 8 billion people from inhumane and expensive deaths.
https://www.BioViva-Science.com
https://www.Integrated-Health-Systems.com

Continue reading “BioViva -- First Gene Therapy To Treat Biological Aging -- Patient Zero — Liz Parrish” »

In his 1971 State of the Union address, president Richard Nixon promised to kick off what would soon come to be known as the War on Cancer, asking congress for a $100 million appropriation to launch a campaign for finding a cure. “The time has come in America when the same kind of concentrated effort that split the atom and took man to the moon should be turned toward conquering this dread disease,” he said. “Let us make a total national commitment to achieve this goal.”

Welcome to the War on Aging, where death is optional.

We characterize a novel probe binding-site polymorphism detectable solely by melt curve analysis using the Roche LightCycler HSV 1/2 analyte-specific reagent real-time PCR assay. The frequencies of this novel (47°C) and previously described intermediate (60 to 62°C) melt curves were 0.016% and 4.9%, respectively.

The clinical spectrum of herpes simplex virus (HSV-1, HSV-2) infection ranges from subclinical mucosal shedding to vesicular or ulcerative lesions of skin and mucous membranes, hepatitis, keratitis, pneumonitis, sepsis, and meningoencephalitis. For laboratory diagnosis, laborious cell culture techniques have been largely supplanted with real-time PCR (qPCR) due to marked improvements in test sensitivity and turnaround time. Various laboratory-developed and commercially available qPCR products (analyte-specific reagents [ASR]; FDA approved) exist. In the United States, the LightCycler HSV 1/2 ASR real-time PCR assay (HSV qPCR; Roche Diagnostics, Indianapolis, IN) is commonplace, being used by about 30% of clinical laboratories according to a recent College of American Pathologists (CAP) participant summary.