scholarly journals Commercially available glutenases: a potential hazard in coeliac disease

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 473-481 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suneeta Krishnareddy ◽  
Kenneth Stier ◽  
Maya Recanati ◽  
Benjamin Lebwohl ◽  
Peter HR Green

Background: The only treatment for celiac disease (CD) is a gluten-free diet (GFD). However, there is interest among patients in a medical therapy to replace or help with a GFD. Therapies include gluten-degrading enzymes (glutenases). There are glutenases available marketed as dietary supplements that have not been demonstrated to digest the toxic epitopes of gluten. Methods: We investigated the contents, claims, and disclaimers of glutenase products and assessed patient interest using Google AdWords to obtain Google search frequencies. Results: Among 14 glutenase product, all contained proteases, eight contained X-prolyl exopeptidase dipeptidyl peptidase IV, two did not state the protease contents, and eight failed to specify the name or origin of all proteases. Eleven contained carbohydrases and lipases and three probiotics. One declared wheat and milk as allergens, two contained herbal products (type not stated) and one Carica papaya. Thirteen claimed to degrade immunogenic gluten fragments, four claimed to help alleviate gastrointestinal symptoms associated with eating gluten. Disclaimers included not being evaluated by the US Food and Drug Administration and products not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. On Google AdWords, the search frequency for the product names and the search terms was 3173 searches per month. Conclusions: The names of these products make implicit claims that appear to be supported by the claims on the labels and websites for which there is no scientific basis. Google search data suggest great interest and therefore possible use by patients with CD. There needs to be greater oversight of these ‘drugs’.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhe Zheng ◽  
Joshua L. Warren ◽  
Iris Artin ◽  
Virginia E. Pitzer ◽  
Daniel M. Weinberger

We evaluated the timing of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) epidemics in 2021 using Google search data. Despite the unusual out-of-season timing, the relative timing of RSV epidemics between states in 2021 shared a similar spatial pattern with typical RSV seasons. These insights can inform prophylaxis administration and planning of clinical trials.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefanie Seidl ◽  
Barbara Schuster ◽  
Melvin Rüth ◽  
Tilo Biedermann ◽  
Alexander Zink

BACKGROUND Experts worldwide agree that skin cancer is a global health issue, but only a few studies have reported on world populations’ interest in skin cancer. Internet search data can reflect the interest of a population in different topics and thereby identify what the population wants to know. OBJECTIVE Our aim was to assess the interest of the German population in nonmelanoma skin cancer and melanoma. METHODS Google AdWords Keyword Planner was used to identify search terms related to nonmelanoma skin cancer and melanoma in Germany from November 2013 to October 2017. The identified search terms were assessed descriptively using SPSS version 24.0. In addition, the search terms were qualitatively categorized. RESULTS A total of 646 skin cancer-related search terms were identified with 19,849,230 Google searches in the period under review. The search terms with the highest search volume were “skin cancer” (n=2,388,500, 12.03%), “white skin cancer” (n=2,056,900, 10.36%), “basalioma” (n=907,000, 4.57%), and “melanoma” (n=717,800, 3.62%). The most searched localizations of nonmelanoma skin cancer were “nose” (n=93,370, 38.99%) and “face” (n=53,270, 22.24%), and the most searched of melanoma were “nails” (n=46,270, 70.61%) and “eye” (n=10,480, 15.99%). The skin cancer‒related category with the highest search volume was “forms of skin cancer” (n=10,162,540, 23.28%) followed by “skin alterations” (n=4,962,020, 11.36%). CONCLUSIONS Our study provides insight into terms and fields of interest related to skin cancer relevant to the German population. Furthermore, temporal trends and courses are shown. This information could aid in the development and implementation of effective and sustainable awareness campaigns by developing information sources targeted to the population’s broad interest or by implementing new Internet campaigns.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen K. Green ◽  
Obaghe Edeghere ◽  
Alex Elliot ◽  
Ingemar Cox ◽  
Rachel McKendry ◽  
...  

ObjectiveTo carry out an observational study to explore what added value Google search data can provide to existing routine syndromic surveillance systems in England for a range of conditions of public health importance and summarise lessons learned for other countries.IntroductionGlobally, there have been various studies assessing trends in Google search terms in the context of public health surveillance1. However, there has been a predominant focus on individual health outcomes such as influenza, with limited evidence on the added value and practical impact on public health action for a range of diseases and conditions routinely monitored by existing surveillance programmes. A proposed advantage is improved timeliness relative to established surveillance systems. However, these studies did not compare performance against other syndromic data sources, which are often monitored daily and already offer early warning over traditional surveillance methods. Google search data could also potentially contribute to assessing the wider population health impact of public health events by supporting estimation of the proportion of the population who are symptomatic but may not present to healthcare services.MethodsWe sought to determine the added public health utility of Google search data alongside established syndromic surveillance systems in England2 for a range of conditions of public health importance, including allergic rhinitis, scarlet fever, bronchitis, pertussis, measles, rotavirus and the health impact of heatwaves. Google search term selection was based on diagnostic and clinical codes underlying the syndromic indicators, with Google Trends3 used to identify additional related internet search terms. Daily data was extracted from syndromic surveillance systems2 and from the Google Health Trends Application Programming Interface (API) from 2012 to 2017 and a retrospective daily analysis undertaken during pre-identified public health events to identify a) whether signals were detected during these events and b) assess the correlation with analogous syndromic surveillance indicators through calculation of Spearman correlation coefficients and lag assessment to determine timeliness.ResultsWe detected increases in Google search term frequency during public health events of interest. Good correlation was seen with comparable syndromic surveillance indicators on a daily timescale for several health outcomes, including the search terms hayfever, scarlet fever, bronchiolitis and heatstroke. Weaker correlation was seen for conditions which occur in small numbers and are vaccine preventable such as measles and pertussis. Lag analysis showed similar timeliness between daily syndromic and Google data, suggesting that, overall, Google data did not provide an earlier or delayed signal compared to syndromic surveillance indicators in England.ConclusionsTo the best of our knowledge this is the first time trends in Google search data have been compared against syndromic data for a range of public health conditions in England. These findings demonstrate the potential utility of internet search query data in conjunction with existing systems in England, with syndromic surveillance data found to be as timely as Google data. These findings also have important implications for countries where there are no such healthcare-based syndromic surveillance systems in place. Factors to consider with analyses of Google search trend data in the context of disease surveillance have been highlighted, including the choice of search terms and interpretation of the reasons behind searching the internet.References1Nuti SV, Wayda B, Ranasinghe I, Wang S, Dreyer RP, Chen SI, Murugiah K. The use of google trends in health care research: a systematic review. PLoS One. 2014 Oct 22;9(10):e109583.2Public Health England. Syndromic surveillance: systems and analyses. 2017. Available online: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/syndromic-surveillance-systems-and-analyses3Google. 2017. Google Trends. Available online:https://trends.google.com/trends/


Author(s):  
Mostafa Abbas ◽  
Thomas B. Morland ◽  
Eric S. Hall ◽  
Yasser EL-Manzalawy

We utilize functional data analysis techniques to investigate patterns of COVID-19 positivity and mortality in the US and their associations with Google search trends for COVID-19-related symptoms. Specifically, we represent state-level time series data for COVID-19 and Google search trends for symptoms as smoothed functional curves. Given these functional data, we explore the modes of variation in the data using functional principal component analysis (FPCA). We also apply functional clustering analysis to identify patterns of COVID-19 confirmed case and death trajectories across the US. Moreover, we quantify the associations between Google COVID-19 search trends for symptoms and COVID-19 confirmed case and death trajectories using dynamic correlation. Finally, we examine the dynamics of correlations for the top nine Google search trends of symptoms commonly associated with COVID-19 confirmed case and death trajectories. Our results reveal and characterize distinct patterns for COVID-19 spread and mortality across the US. The dynamics of these correlations suggest the feasibility of using Google queries to forecast COVID-19 cases and mortality for up to three weeks in advance. Our results and analysis framework set the stage for the development of predictive models for forecasting COVID-19 confirmed cases and deaths using historical data and Google search trends for nine symptoms associated with both outcomes.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher H. Arehart ◽  
Michael Z. David ◽  
Vanja Dukic

AbstractThe Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention document a raw proxy for counts of pertussis cases in the U.S., and the Project Tycho (PT) database provides an improved source of these weekly data. These data are limited because of reporting delays, variation in state-level surveillance practices, and changes over time in diagnosis methods. We aim to assess whether Google Trends (GT) search data track pertussis incidence relative to PT data and if sociodemographic characteristics explain some variation in the accuracy of state-level models. GT and PT data were used to construct auto-correlation corrected linear models for pertussis incidence in 2004–2011 for the entire U.S. and each individual state. The national model resulted in a moderate correlation (adjusted R2 = 0.2369, p < 0.05), and state models tracked PT data for some but not all states. Sociodemographic variables explained approximately 30% of the variation in performance of individual state-level models. The significant correlation between GT models and public health data suggests that GT is a potentially useful pertussis surveillance tool. However, the variable accuracy of this tool by state suggests GT surveillance cannot be applied in a uniform manner across geographic sub-regions.


2007 ◽  
Vol 41 (10) ◽  
pp. 1740-1743 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle M Bottenberg ◽  
Geoffrey C Wall ◽  
Roger L Harvey ◽  
Shahid Habib

Objective: To report a case of possible oral aloe vera-induced hepatitis. Case Summary: A 73-year-old female was admitted to the hospital for acute hepatitis. Extensive laboratory testing did not reveal the cause of the patient's disease. She was asked multiple times whether she was taking any home medications, which she initially denied. It was only after an extensive medication history done by a clinical pharmacist that the patient admitted to using oral aloe vera capsules for constipation. Upon discontinuation of the oral aloe vera, liver markers of hepatotoxicity returned to normal levels. Discussion: Herbal medications pose an increasing problem in patient safety, as the different types of these products and the number of patients who use them continue to grow. In the US, these products are not subject to the same regulatory scrutiny as prescription medications; thus, safety information can be difficult to obtain. In particular, hepatic toxicity due to herbal agents is poorly described in the medical literature. Aloe vera, often used topically for minor burns, can also be used orally as a laxative or an “anti-aging” agent. According to the Naranjo probability scale, the hepatotoxicity in this case was possibly related to ingestion of oral aloe vera. Additionally, using the Roussel Uclaf Causality Assessment Method for determining drug hepatotoxicity, the patient's symptoms were scored as probably caused by oral aloe vera. The more conservative designation was used in our report. Conclusions: With the widespread use of oral aloe vera and other herbal products, clinicians faced with a case of acute hepatitis that is not readily diagnosed should question patients about herbal use.


Author(s):  
Azin Ayatollahi ◽  
Alireza Firooz ◽  
Ensieh Lotfali ◽  
Faraz Mojab ◽  
Azam Fattahi

Introduction: Dandruff and seborrheic dermatitis [SD] are similar skin conditions but have different severities. Because the current therapies are not able to completely remove dandruff, herbal extracts with better effectiveness and fewer side effects are being used in the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. Due to the adverse effects of chemical drugs, the use of natural products and traditional medicine has sharply increased over the past few decades. Therefore, in this review, we report herbs used as anti-dandruff agents in traditional medicine around the world. Methods: The review was conducted on the literature available on the medicinal utility of certain plants as antidandruff agents using PubMed and Google Scholar and the following search terms: Dandruff and Plants or Medicinal Plant and Dandruff treatment; and Essential oil and Dandruff. Results: Because the current therapies are not able to completely remove dandruff, herbal extracts with better effectiveness and fewer side effects are being used in the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. Nowadays, there are many different types of herbal antidandruff shampoo. They are effective and safe without the side effects of chemical agents. Recently, a large number of physicians have turned to herbal medicine. Clinical evidence of the therapeutic effects from herbal products has led to the study of many more herbs for their therapeutic roles. Conclusion: Herbal are now accepted to act a essential role in the development of favourable therapeutics, either alone or in combination with conventional antibiotics. However, the major challenges to this include finding compounds with satisfactorily lower MICs, low toxicity, and high bioavailability for effective and safe use in humans and animals.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ciarán P Kelly ◽  
Satya Kurada ◽  
Mariana Urquiaga

Celiac disease (CD) is an autoimmune disorder characterized by an immune response to gluten peptides in wheat, barley, and rye. The diagnosis of celiac disease is confirmed by three important characteristics: consistent symptoms, positive celiac-specific serology, and small intestinal biopsy findings of inflammation, crypt hyperplasia, and villous atrophy. CD may present with overt gastrointestinal symptoms, including diarrhea (or constipation), weight loss, and abdominal bloating and discomfort, or covertly with micronutrient deficiencies such as iron deficiency with anemia. A gluten-free diet (GFD) remains the mainstay of treatment. The aim of this review is to highlight the pathogenesis of CD, concepts and challenges associated with a GFD, and nutritional management of CD applicable in clinical practice to internists, gastroenterologists, and dietitians. Patients should be referred to an expert celiac dietitian for education on adherence to a GFD to address gluten contamination in the diet, the psychosocial implications of following a GFD, and macro- and micronutrient disequilibria arising from celiac disease and the GFD. Several novel therapeutics are on the horizon in various stages of development, including glutenases, antigliadin antibodies, tight junction regulators, modulation of the immune response to gliadin, and efforts to engineer less toxic gluten-containing foodstuffs. This review contains 3 figures, 5 tables, and 61 references. Key words: celiac disease, genetic engineering, food engineering, gluten, glutenases, gluten-free diet, oats, IgY, nutrition, tight junction regulators, wheat


Nutrients ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 1491 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandro Llanos-Chea ◽  
Alessio Fasano

In children, functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs) are common at all ages. Consumption of certain foods, particularly gluten, is frequently associated with the development and persistence of FGIDs and functional abdominal pain disorders (FAPDs) in adults and children. However, this association is not well defined. Even without a diagnosis of celiac disease (CD), some people avoid gluten or wheat in their diet since it has been shown to trigger mostly gastrointestinal symptoms in certain individuals, especially in children. The incidence of conditions such as non-celiac gluten sensitivity (NCGS) is increasing, particularly in children. On the other hand, CD is a chronic, autoimmune small intestinal enteropathy with symptoms that can sometimes be mimicked by FAPD. It is still unclear if pediatric patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) are more likely to have CD. Abdominal, pain-associated FGID in children with CD does not seem to improve on a gluten-free diet. The threshold for gluten tolerance in patients with NCGS is unknown and varies among subjects. Thus, it is challenging to clearly distinguish between gluten exclusion and improvement of symptoms related solely to functional disorders.


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