Genetic contributions to autism are extremely heterogeneous and may involve synaptic formation and maturation. ...multiple genes involved in the formation, specification, and maintenance of synapses ...have been identified as risk factors for ASD development (Hahn et al., 2013). ...transcranial ultrasonography deserves more attention as a harmless and low-cost means of evaluating CSF fluid volumes and stratifying ASD children potentially at-risk for chronic CNS inflammatory disorders. Transcranial ultrasonography enables reproducible evaluation of EAF by measuring the distances between the arachnoid membrane and the cortical pia layer (subarachnoid space), and may thus help establishing the degree of meningeal lymphatic drainage deficit. Since the measures can be easily repeated, the technique could be used for monitoring the progression of the disease or for objectively assessing the efficacy of treatments. ...the observation by Louveau et al.
This Editorial elaborates on innovative concepts presented at the 2nd European Conference of Biomedical Research and Treatments for autism held in Bari, Italy, in November 2017. We discuss the recent ...publication of a paper describing how relativistic time dilation at the DNA level can lead to novel approaches in disease prevention and cure, and we elaborate on the role of the human microbiota in restoring quantum entanglement at the DNA level. According to this hypothesis, microbial degradation of a glycosaminoglycan, chondroitin sulfate, leads to restauration of gene expression, induces general and sequence-specific relativistic time dilation, restores DNA quantum entanglement, and improves the ability of DNA to retain, process and transmit information both at the biochemical and the quantum levels. It can be argued that these processes played a role in the evolution of the human brain and consciousness. Fermented aliments that today would be defined as “probiotics” were the first processed foods eaten by early humans, and it is conceivable that the effects of the microbes in those aliments on the chondroitin sulfate, coming from cartilage of animals hunted or scavenged, may have led to the biochemical, relativistic and quantum effects responsible for human evolution. Finally, we discuss the implications in the field of autism where the theory of consciousness based on quantum biology presents exciting and innovative perspectives for prevention and cure.
Oxaliplatin-based regimens are effective in metastasized advanced cancers. However, a major limitation to their widespread use is represented by neurotoxicity that leads to peripheral neuropathy. In ...this study we evaluated the roles of a proven immunotherapeutic agent Gc-protein-derived macrophage activating factor (GcMAF) in preventing or decreasing oxaliplatin-induced neuronal damage and in modulating microglia activation following oxaliplatin-induced damage. The effects of oxaliplatin and of a commercially available formula of GcMAF oleic acid-GcMAF (OA-GcMAF) were studied in human neurons (SH-SY5Y cells) and in human microglial cells (C13NJ). Cell density, morphology and viability, as well as production of cAMP and expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), markers of neuron regeneration neuromodulin or growth associated protein-43 (Gap-43) and markers of microglia activation ionized calcium binding adaptor molecule 1 (Iba1) and B7-2, were determined. OA-GcMAF reverted the damage inflicted by oxaliplatin on human neurons and preserved their viability. The neuroprotective effect was accompanied by increased intracellular cAMP production, as well as by increased expression of VEGF and neuromodulin. OA-GcMAF did not revert the effects of oxaliplatin on microglial cell viability. However, it increased microglial activation following oxaliplatin-induced damage, resulting in an increased expression of the markers Iba1 and B7-2 without any concomitant increase in cell number. When neurons and microglial cells were co-cultured, the presence of OA-GcMAF significantly counteracted the toxic effects of oxaliplatin. Our results demonstrate that OA-GcMAF, already used in the immunotherapy of advanced cancers, may significantly contribute to neutralizing the neurotoxicity induced by oxaliplatin, at the same time possibly concurring to an integrated anticancer effect. The association between these two powerful anticancer molecules would probably produce the dual effect of reduction of oxaliplatin-induced neurotoxicity, together with possible synergism in the overall anticancer effect.
The role of vitamin D in maintaining health appears greater than originally thought, and the concept of the vitamin D axis underlines the complexity of the biological events controlled by ...biologically active vitamin D (1,25(OH)(2)D3), its two binding proteins that are the vitamin D receptor (VDR) and the vitamin D-binding protein-derived macrophage activating factor (GcMAF). In this study we demonstrate that GcMAF stimulates macrophages, which in turn attack human breast cancer cells, induce their apoptosis and eventually phagocytize them. These results are consistent with the observation that macrophages infiltrated implanted tumors in mice after GcMAF injections. In addition, we hypothesize that the last 23 hydrophobic amino acids of VDR, located at the inner part of the plasma membrane, interact with the first 23 hydrophobic amino acids of the GcMAF located at the external part of the plasma membrane. This allows 1,25(OH)(2)D3 and oleic acid to become sandwiched between the two vitamin D-binding proteins, thus postulating a novel molecular mode of interaction between GcMAF and VDR. Taken together, these results support and reinforce the hypothesis that GcMAF has multiple biological activities that could be responsible for its anti-cancer effects, possibly through molecular interaction with the VDR that in turn is responsible for a multitude of non-genomic as well as genomic effects.
Cardiovascular diseases are more prevalent in patients with chronic kidney disease than in the general population and they are considered the leading cause of death in patients with end-stage renal ...disease. The discovery that vitamin D3 plays a considerable role in cardiovascular protection has led, in recent years, to an increase in the administration of therapies based on the use of this molecule; nevertheless, several studies warned that an excess of vitamin D3 may increase the risk of hypercalcemia and vascular calcifications. In this study we evaluated the effects of vitamin D3, and of its selective analog paricalcitol, on immature cardiomyocytes. Results show that vitamin D3 induces cAMP-mediated cell proliferation and significant intracellular calcification. Paricalcitol, however, induces cell differentiation, morphological modifications in cell shape and size, and no intracellular calcification. Furthermore, vitamin D3 and paricalcitol differently affect cardiomyoblasts responses to acetylcholine treatment. In conclusion, our results demonstrate that the effects of vitamin D3 and paricalcitol on cardiomyoblasts are different and, if these in vitro observations could be extrapolated in vivo, they suggest that paricalcitol has the potential for cardiovascular protection without the risk of inducing intracellular calcification.
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