Actino Central
Actino Coffeehouse discussion via Zoom from December 9, 2023!
Proficiency Partner Jenny Johnson presented Actino Cofeehouse December 9th. Thank you to Dr. Shoemaker, Dr. Dorninger and Larry Schwartz for presenting at Actino Coffeehouse yesterday! Such wonderful and important information you each shared.
Listen to the replay here!
Passcode: ActinoCoffeehouse2023!
Actino Jeopardy-
Download the documents below and play along
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Actino Central Documents
Here are a collection of the most current articles relating to Actinos and CIRS. Please click the title of any article to open the full paper.
Urinary Mycotoxins: A Review of Contaminated Buildings and Food in Search of a Biomarker Separating Sick Patients from Controls- October 2019
This review looks at the extensive published materials, including a definition of mycotoxins; a case definition for illness acquired following exposure to WDB from 2008 US GAO, multiple biomarkers, proteomics, transcriptomics, volumetric CNS imaging studies and more supporting the diagnosis of an active chronic inflammatory response syndrome (CIRS), acquired following exposure to the interior environment of WDB as a validated diagnosis that leads to use of published therapies with documented efficacy.
Molecular metabolism and inflammation:
This paper from 2020, marks the initiation of understanding the role of hypometabolism and abnormalities of pyruvate that lead to presence in cases of metabolic acidosis, pulmonary hypertension, Treg cell deficiency, insulin resistance and neuronal injury. All of the papers to read and understand, this is the most difficult but it is also the most important.
Medical Research Archives, vol 9 issue 3.
Newer Molecular Methods Bring New Insights in human and building risk assessments.
This was the first paper in the CIRS literature to note the role of Next Generation Sequencing in transcriptomics following exposure to Actinobacteria. It also reviews the literature showing failure to eradicate actinobacteria is incredibly common following standard fungal cleansing methods. This is the first of the true actinobacteria in CIRS papers and is a must read.
Medical Research Archives vol 9 issue 7.
Treatable metabolic and inflammatory abnormalities in Post COVID Syndrome.
This is the first paper to show the role of Post COVID syndrome as a precipitating event for abnormalities in transcriptomics for CIRS patients. This paper looks at 24 patients who are well in a given building, had COVID, recovered from COVID, developed worsening called Post COVID Syndrome. We show the development of accentuated transcription of genes involved with Actinobacteria exposure and endotoxin exposure. This lends insight into why certain people will not have illness symptoms despite exposure to water-damaged buildings.
Medical Research Archives vol 9 issue 11.
Exposure to Actinobacteria resident in water-damaged buildings and resultant immune injury in CIRS.
This paper extends research on actinos showing the role of accentuated production of receptors for TGF Beta1, called TGFBR1, TGFBR2, TGFBR3. These genes show that the initial injury of inflammation leads to an immune reactive syndrome that gives specific causation for Actinobacteria and endotoxins.
Medical Research Archives vol 10 issue 1.
Screening for Biomarkers of Actinobacteria.
This is the seminal paper showing the role of mycolic acid moieties in cell membranes of Actinobacteria. These mycolic acid structures lead to development of extracellular vesicles which in turn creates systemic inflammatory illnesses from Actinobacteria that are resident deep in sebaceous glands and oil glands. If there is one paper that demonstrates the complexity of human illness from Actinobacteria, this is the one to read.
Urinary Mycotoxins: A Review of Contaminated Buildings and Food in Search of a Biomarker Separating Sick Patients from Controls- October 2019
This review looks at the extensive published materials, including a definition of mycotoxins; a case definition for illness acquired following exposure to WDB from 2008 US GAO, multiple biomarkers, proteomics, transcriptomics, volumetric CNS imaging studies and more supporting the diagnosis of an active chronic inflammatory response syndrome (CIRS), acquired following exposure to the interior environment of WDB as a validated diagnosis that leads to use of published therapies with documented efficacy.
Medical Research Archives/ European Society of Medicine -Published March 2023
Transcriptomics and Brain Volumetrics Define the Causes of Cognitive Impairment in Patients with CIRS and Support the use of VIP in Treatment
Problems with executive cognitive function, including recent memory, concentration, word finding, confusion, decreased assimilation, and disorientation, can have a variety of sources of disease, including inflammation, metabolic disturbances, and degenerative processes that are typically found in diseases where chronic fatigue is present. The problems presented by multiple coexisting cognitive symptoms are finding: 1) a single diagnostic test that has a history of use by clinicians working with brain-injured patients, such as NeuroQuant (NQ); 2) that is affordable, accurate, and reliable to use as a measure of benefits, or lack of same; and 3) screening, causation, and sequential features of therapy. Furthermore, the complexity of brain injury shows us the limitations of human versus machine-based testing, with advances in transcriptomics leading the way in a new world of diagnostics and therapies that follow gene activation studies.
The objective of this report was to retrospectively look at results of the transcriptomic testing of white blood cells, combined with a brain volumetric imaging study, in an observational study to provide a basis to identify the specific causation of brain injury caused by exposure to the interior environment of water-damaged buildings (WDB).
ABSTRACT: Hypoxia-inducible factor 1A (HIF 1A) is an oxygen-sensing nuclear transcription factor that regulates oxygen homeostasis in many illnesses ranging from, but not limited to, cancer, heart failure, premature infants to viral infections. We report here the measurement of HIF 1A using transcriptomics as a biomarker in Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS), a systemic inflammatory and metabolic illness characterized by a multisystem, multi-symptom illness acquired following exposure to the interior environment of water-damaged buildings (WDB).
Hypoxia-inducible factor 1A (HIF 1A) is an oxygen-sensing nuclear transcription factor that regulates oxygen homeostasis in many illnesses ranging from, but not limited to, cancer, heart failure, premature infants to viral infections. We report here the measurement of HIF 1A using transcriptomics as a biomarker in Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS), a systemic inflammatory and metabolic illness characterized by a multisystem, multi-symptom illness acquired following exposure to the interior environment of water-damaged buildings (WDB).
Parkinson's Disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease worldwide, characterized by a movement disorder that includes tremors, micrographia, difficulty initiating and stopping movement, stiffness, raspy voice, constipation, fatigue, anosmia, musculoskeletal pain and loss of balance resulting in significant disability, risk for infection and substantial need for care of activities of daily living. Many people with PD also develop dementia. The onset of illness usually begins during the 6th decade of life. Neuropathology of PD is characterized by progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra marked by intracellular accumulation of α-synuclein in the form of Lewy bodies and Lewy neurites. While dopamine-promoting medications are the mainstay of treatment to reduce symptoms, there is no cure. The leading cause of death is pneumonia, and an average life expectancy is 14.5 years.
We recently reported abnormalities in cytoskeletal tubulin genes TUBA4A and TUBB1 associated with die-back of degenerative central nervous system disorders, including Alzheimer's disease, PD and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), using a transcriptomic diagnostic test on white blood cells, based on mRNA expression, called GENIE (Genomic expression: inflammation explained). The use of transcriptomics provides a better understanding of the genomic underpinnings mediating disease expression and the relationship between gene-environment interactions in neurodegenerative disorders. This paper reports our findings of a unique transcriptomic fingerprint, including tubulin genes, densely found in symptomatic PD patients and much younger patients with fewer symptoms. The grouping is represented by clusterin (CLU) and a panel of coagulation (COAG) genes, called "Triple Positives," consistently found in a subset of Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS) patients, independent of age but invariantly linked to patients with at least three upregulated COAG genes. Treatment with a published CIRS protocol in a small study corrects many symptoms and Triple Positives, regulating normal gene expression.
This fingerprint supports reports of similar transcriptomics in the PD literature but is the first to demonstrate successful resolution of differentially expressed genes in PD using commercially available medications. Finding Triple Positives in CIRS patients younger than 50, in the absence of toxic compounds like MPTP and instead initiated by exposure to WDB, raises the possibility of neuroprotection from PD if intervention were initiated before neurodegenerative changes are underway. While many putative causes of PD have been explored, a genomically mediated model of disease initiation and expression has emerged supporting a potential paradigm shift regarding PD, . Our work offers a unified framework of environment-gene interaction in the PD population connected to contaminated indoor living spaces, which we term CIRS-PD.
Featured Resources
Dr. Shoemaker announces "Actino Central" on Surviving Mold
Dr. Shoemaker has compiled the latest research and papers regarding Actinos and CIRS into one convenient location on SurvivingMold.com