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kenc
Member in Phase 2
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Posted: Sun Nov 2nd, 2008 22:01 |
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Yesterday I attended an event put on by the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of Canada, the foundation to raise money for research and to provide education for Crohn's (my disease) and Ucerative Colitis. It was surreal.
The event consisted of a series of professional speakers to tell us about the latest research and to give us advice on topics such as diet, exercise and colonoscopies.
There was a gastroenterologist who told us about the epidemiology of Crohn’s and Ulcerative Colitis. He concluded these diseases were related to a lack of vitamin D because for one people in places in the world where there is more sunshine have a lower incidence. The audience was impressed. I challenged his conclusion. This placed him into the uncomfortable position of admitting he could be incorrect.
This was followed by a registered dietician who talked to us about the need to take vitamin D supplements. The audience dutifully took notes to remind them to eat more fish, eggs and vitamin D fortified products. She told them the recommended dietary intake for vitamin D was too low and that they should be taking much more. When she concluded with the observation that the studies on vitamin D in support of her advice were of the very best quality, I couldn’t take it anymore and challenged her position. The previous speaker leapt to her defence.
I spent some time talking to the head of gastroenterological research from the University of Calgary. His team is known for doing more unusual research. I expressed my disappointment to him about the propensity of researchers to cling on to the concept of autoimmunity and to be obsessed with immunosuppression as a treatment. I told him I thought they should be looking more into microbial causes. To my surprise he agreed. However I found him still clinging on to the concept of the sterile body. He talked about all of the bacteria being on external surfaces including the digestive tract. He referred to an intrusion into the body as sepsis, an extreme condition.
I could see the puzzled looks on peoples faces when I spoke. I felt like I was from another planet.
The whole experience reminded me of the Wright brothers. After they announced their first major demonstration of an airplane the press didn't bother to show up to the event because everyone knew that it was impossible for heavier than air machines to fly.Last edited on Mon Nov 3rd, 2008 01:20 by kenc
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Crohn's Disease 1984, 24May05 1,25D=33 25D=8.4 6Sep05 1,25D=29 25D=12, 12Jul05 Beni+pred, 27Sep05 Mino, 12Jul06 Phase2+dexa ,12Jul07 1,25=16.7 25D<10, 14Aug07 Phase2
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Dr Trevor Marshall
Research Team
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Posted: Sun Nov 2nd, 2008 23:47 |
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Two weeks ago I was at a conference on "Beneficial Microbes." A senior speaker from the Max Planck Institute showed biofilm inclusions in phagocytes, just as Emil Wirostko had found. Except that she was showing pictures of phagocytes from worms which live on coral reefs.
During coffee, I asked her why there couldn't be such biofilm colonies in mammalian cells. She had never thought about that. Then I asked her if there was any definitive understanding which showed that Vacuoles and Lysosomes documented in mammalian cells might not be the same biofilm colonies as she had shown on her slides. She agreed with me they could... She said she would need to dig back to the 19th century Russian studies where such things were first described... Sigh...
Give them another hundred years or so....
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kenc
Member in Phase 2
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Posted: Mon Nov 3rd, 2008 01:35 |
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One member in the audience knew a patient with Ulcerative Colitis who developed MS soon after having her colon removed. She asked the speaker, a gastroenterologist, if there was a connection between UC and MS. At this point I practically had to put a sock in my mouth to prevent myself from speaking up.
I'm learning to listen, be patient, use tact and stay cool.
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Crohn's Disease 1984, 24May05 1,25D=33 25D=8.4 6Sep05 1,25D=29 25D=12, 12Jul05 Beni+pred, 27Sep05 Mino, 12Jul06 Phase2+dexa ,12Jul07 1,25=16.7 25D<10, 14Aug07 Phase2
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