Past News Items - August 2021
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CYREX ANNOUNCES INNOVATIVE NEW IMMUNOPHENOTYPING TEST PANEL, THE LYMPHOCYTE MAPTM
Scientists model 'true prevalence' of COVID-19 throughout pandemic
Fasting may help ward off infections, study in mice suggests
After 60 years, scientists find the missing link in our body’s blood pressure control
AllergoSan USA, home of Omni-Biotic probiotic brands, today announced their sponsorship of the Institute for Natural Medicine Residency Consortium (IRC)
CYREX ANNOUNCES INNOVATIVE NEW IMMUNOPHENOTYPING TEST PANEL, THE LYMPHOCYTE MAPTM
Cyrex Laboratories, a clinical laboratory specializing in functional immunology and autoimmunity, today announced The Lymphocyte MAP™, which is the result of over 10 years of research and development in lymphocyte immunology.
The Lymphocyte MAP measures the integrity of the immune system at the cellular level using 29 key biomarkers. It combines cutting-edge technology with proprietary methodology to provide invaluable information regarding an individual’s immunophenotype patterns or “immunotypes”, also known as “immune finger print”. The immunotyping of the test results is similar to a 3D view of the immune system, revealing important hidden patterns and trends.
“This industry-changing test offers a more accurate picture of T-lymphocyte status than anything else currently available on the market,” according to Aristo Vojdani, PhD, chief scientific advisor at Cyrex.
With the Lymphocyte MAP, health care practitioners receive much more detailed information than a complete blood count (CBC) panel, offering a broader understanding of a patient’s immune response beyond what is currently available.
“An individual’s CBC could be absolutely normal, but the patient could actually be suffering from immune dysregulation, which includes immune deficiencies, hidden inflammation, auto-immunities, hypersensitivities and allergies induced by environmental triggers,” added Dr. Chad Larson, a member of the clinical consulting team at Cyrex Laboratories.
“The Lymphocyte MAP classifies an individual’s immune response patterns into identifiable immunotypes for a better treatment regiment,” explained Dr. Mark Engelman, director of clinical consulting at Cyrex Laboratories.
Additionally, the Lymphocyte MAP can determine if a patient is at risk of immunological disorders and potentially detect early warning signs of disease progression.
As healthcare practitioners seek to better understand underlying immune mechanisms causing disease conditions, as well as the long-term effects of diseases, such as COVID-19, the need for accurate assessments of an individual’s immune health is more important than ever.
“As the recognized leader in the field of functional immunology, our pioneering research and range of innovative testing continues to provide health care practitioners with the most useful and cutting-edge tools for assessing immune status and help reduce immune burden,” said Jean Bellin, president of Cyrex Laboratories.
Cyrex Laboratories boasts an extensive collection of immune health screening panels, including their landmark antibody tests:
- Arrays 2 and 20, barrier tests, which measure intestinal permeability to large molecules that inflame the immune system and check the integrity of blood-brain barrier,
- Array 3-X, a comprehensive wheat/gluten reactivity test which assesses autoimmune reactivity associated with wheat proteins and peptides,
- Array 4, which identifies reactivity to foods known to cross-react to gliadin and reactivity to newly introduced foods on a gluten-free diet,
- Array 10, which screens for compromised immune tolerance to both cooked and raw foods as a more accurate reflection of an individual’s diet,
- Alzheimer’s LINX™ test, which detects Alzheimer’s-associated immune reactivity and identifies patients at greater risk for developing the disease or other neurological disorders.
To learn more about these and all other tests offered by Cyrex Laboratories, please visit www.Lymphocytemap.com and www.JoinCyrex.com
About Cyrex Laboratories:
Cyrex Laboratories is a clinical immunology laboratory specializing in functional immunology and autoimmunity, offering multi-tissue antibody testing for the early detection and monitoring of today's complex autoimmune conditions. It develops innovative testing arrays through continuous collaboration with leading experts in medical research and clinical practice. Cyrex technology is built on four pillars of excellence, including the antigen purification system, optimized antigen concentration, antigen-specific validation and parallel testing technology. Cyrex is based in Phoenix, Arizona, USA and is CLIA licensed in the US and holds a Medical Device Establishment License in Canada.
Scientists model 'true prevalence' of COVID-19 throughout pandemic
Government officials and policymakers have tried to use numbers to grasp COVID-19's impact. Figures like the number of hospitalizations or deaths reflect part of this burden. Each datapoint tells only part of the story. But no one figure describes the true pervasiveness of the novel coronavirus by revealing the number of people actually infected at a given time -- an important figure to help scientists understand if herd immunity can be reached, even with vaccinations.
Now, two University of Washington scientists have developed a statistical framework that incorporates key COVID-19 data -- such as case counts and deaths due to COVID-19 -- to model the true prevalence of this disease in the United States and individual states. Their approach, published the week of July 26 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, projects that in the U.S. as many as 60% of COVID-19 cases went undetected as of March 7, 2021, the last date for which the dataset they employed is available.
This framework could help officials determine the true burden of disease in their region -- both diagnosed and undiagnosed -- and direct resources accordingly, said the researchers.
"There are all sorts of different data sources we can draw on to understand the COVID-19 pandemic -- the number of hospitalizations in a state, or the number of tests that come back positive. But each source of data has its own flaws that would give a biased picture of what's really going on," said senior author Adrian Raftery, a UW professor of sociology and of statistics. "What we wanted to do is to develop a framework that corrects the flaws in multiple data sources and draws on their strengths to give us an idea of COVID-19's prevalence in a region, a state or the country as a whole."
Data sources can be biased in different ways. For example, one widely cited COVID-19 statistic is the proportion of test results in a region or state that come back positive. But since access to tests, and a willingness to be tested, vary by location, that figure alone cannot provide a clear picture of COVID-19's prevalence, said Raftery.
Other statistical methods often try to correct the bias in one data source to model the true prevalence of disease in a region. For their approach, Raftery and lead author Nicholas Irons, a UW doctoral student in statistics, incorporated three factors: the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases, the number of deaths due to COVID-19 and the number of COVID-19 tests administered each day as reported by the COVID Tracking Project. In addition, they incorporated results from random COVID-19 testing of Indiana and Ohio residents as an "anchor" for their method.
The researchers used their framework to model COVID-19 prevalence in the U.S. and each of the states up through March 7, 2021. On that date, according to their framework, an estimated 19.7% of U.S. residents, or about 65 million people, had been infected. This indicates that the U.S. is unlikely to reach herd immunity without its ongoing vaccination campaign, Raftery and Irons said. In addition, the U.S. had an undercount factor of 2.3, the researchers found, which means that only about 1 in 2.3 COVID-19 cases were being confirmed through testing. Put another way, some 60% of cases were not counted at all.
This COVID-19 undercount rate also varied widely by state, and could have multiple causes, according to Irons.
"It can depend on the severity of the pandemic and the amount of testing in that state," said Irons. "If you have a state with severe pandemic but limited testing, the undercount can be very high, and you're missing the vast majority of infections that are occurring. Or, you could have a situation where testing is widespread and the pandemic is not as severe. There, the undercount rate would be lower."
In addition, the undercount factor fluctuated by state or region as the pandemic progressed due to differences in access to medical care among regions, changes in the availability of tests and other factors, Raftery said.
With the true prevalence of COVID-19, Raftery and Irons calculated other useful figures for states, such as the infection fatality rate, which is the percentage of infected people who had succumbed to COVID-19, as well as the cumulative incidence, which is the percentage of a state's population who have had COVID-19.
Ideally, regular random testing of individuals would show the level of infection in a state, region or even nationally, said Raftery. But in the COVID-19 pandemic, only Indiana and Ohio conducted random viral testing of residents, datasets that were critical in helping the researchers develop their framework. In the absence of widespread random testing, this new method could help officials assess the true burden of disease in this pandemic and the next one.
"We think this tool can make a difference by giving the people in charge a more accurate picture of how many people are infected, and what fraction of them are being missed by current testing and treatment efforts," said Raftery.
The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health.
Fasting may help ward off infections, study in mice suggests
Fasting before and during exposure to Salmonella enterica bacteria protects mice from developing a full-blown infection, in part due to changes in the animals' gut microbiomes,according to new research published in PLOS Pathogens by Bruce Vallance and colleagues at University of British Columbia, Canada.
When people or animals develop an infection, they often lose their appetite. However it remains controversial whether fasting protects a host from infection, or increases their susceptibility. In the new study, mice were fasted for 48 hours before and during oral infection with the bacteria Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium, a common cause of foodborne illness in people.
Fasting decreased the signs of bacterial infection compared to fed mice, including nearly eliminating all intestinal tissue damage and inflammation. When fasted animals were re-fed for a day after their fast, there was a dramatic increase in Salmonella numbers and invasion into the intestinal walls, although the associated inflammation was still attenuated compared to normal. The results did not hold true when mice were exposed to Salmonella intravenously instead of orally, and analyses of the microbiomes of mice showed significant changes associated with fasting and protection against infection. Moreover, fasting did not fully protect germ-free mice -- bred to lack a normal microbiome -- from Salmonella, suggesting that some of the protection was due to fasting's effect on the microbiome. Experiments using the bacteria Campylobacter jejuni confirmed that the effect of fasting was not limited to Salmonella, with similar results seen.
"These data suggest that therapeutic fasting or calorie restriction has the potential to beneficially modulate infectious and potentially non-infectious gastrointestinal diseases," the researchers conclude.
The researchers add, "Our research highlights the important role that food plays in regulating interactions between the host, enteric pathogens and the gut microbiome. When food is limited, the microbiome appears to sequester the nutrients that remain, preventing pathogens from acquiring the energy they need to infect the host. While more research is needed, fasting or otherwise adjusting food intake could be exploited therapeutically to modulate infectious diseases in the future."
After 60 years, scientists find the missing link in our body’s blood pressure control
University of Virginia School of Medicine researchers have determined the location of natural blood-pressure barometers inside our bodies that have eluded scientists for more than 60 years.
These cellular sensors detect subtle changes in blood pressure and adjust hormone levels to keep it in check. Scientists have long suspected that these barometers, or "baroreceptors," existed in specialized kidney cells called renin cells, but no one has been able to locate the baroreceptors until now.
The new findings, from UVA Health's Maria Luisa S. Sequeira-Lopez and colleagues, finally reveal where the barometers are located, how they work and how they help prevent high blood pressure (hypertension) or low blood pressure (hypotension). The researchers hope the insights will lead to new treatments for high blood pressure.
"It was exhilarating to find that the elusive pressure-sensing mechanism, the baroreceptor, was intrinsic to the renin cell, which has the ability to sense and react, both within the same cell," said Sequeira-Lopez, of UVA's Department of Pediatrics and UVA's Child Health Research Center. "So the renin cells are sensors and responders."
Sensing Blood Pressure
The existence of a pressure sensor inside renin cells was first proposed back in 1957. It made sense: The cells had to know when to release renin, a hormone that helps regulate blood pressure. But even though scientists suspected this cellular barometer had to exist, they couldn't tell what it was and whether it was located in renin cells or surrounding cells.
Sequeira-Lopez and her team took new approaches to solving this decades-old mystery. Using a combination of innovative lab models, they determined that the baroreceptor was a "mechanotransducer" inside renin cells. This mechanotransducer detects pressure changes outside the cell, then transmits these mechanical signals to the cell nucleus, like how the cochlea in our ear turns sound vibrations into nerve impulses our brain can understand.
The researchers have unlocked exactly how the baroreceptors work. They found that applying pressure to renin cells in lab dishes triggered changes within the cells and decreased activity of the renin gene, Ren1. The scientists also compared differences in gene activity in kidneys exposed to lower pressure and those exposed to higher pressure.
Ultimately, when the baroreceptors detect too much pressure outside the renin cell, production of renin is restricted, while blood pressure that is too low prompts the production of more renin. This marvelous mechanism is vital to the body's ability to maintain the correct blood pressure. And now, after more than 60 years, we finally understand how and why.
"I feel really excited about this discovery, a real tour de force several years in the making. We had a great collaboration with Dr. [Douglas] DeSimone from the Department of Cell Biology," Sequeira-Lopez said. "I am also excited with the work to come, to unravel the signaling and controlling mechanisms of this mechanotransducer and how we can use the information to develop therapies for hypertension."
AllergoSan USA, home of Omni-Biotic probiotic brands, today announced their sponsorship of the Institute for Natural Medicine Residency Consortium (IRC)
In partnership with schools of naturopathic medicine and leading naturopathic clinics in the United States, the IRC provides a much needed and sustainable model for a more formal and uniform naturopathic residency experience. The IRC model ensures extensive, post-graduate clinical experience, as well as advanced practical and small business management training.
“We are honored to contribute to the success of this unique program to enhance the education and business acumen of newly graduated students.” commented AllergoSan USA’s Chief Operating Officer, Hannah Kleinfeld. “The INM residency will not only benefit individual naturopathic physicians, but also the profession as a whole.”
The Institute for Natural Medicine (INM) CEO, Michelle Simon, PhD, ND is also enthusiastic about the partnership. “I am thrilled to welcome AllergoSan USA (Omni-Biotic) to the INM Residency Consortium sponsorship family. As a brand committed to the scientific process, evidence based performance, and targeted probiotic formulations, Omni-Biotic is optimally aligned with the profession of naturopathic medicine! Their support comes at a time when the addition of naturopathic practitioners, trained in whole person medicine, has never been more important to primary care. We are so grateful for AllergoSan USA’s recognition of the value and potential of the IRC program.”
ABOUT INM
The Institute for Natural Medicine is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, partnered with the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians. Their mission is to transform healthcare in America by increasing both public awareness of naturopathic medicine and access to naturopathic doctors for patients.