Good news about the deficit and about preeclampsia

With so many sad stories in the news it was nice to read an opinion piece with a positive tone. The deficit may seem huge but  it was encouraging to read that in relation to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the national deficit has stabilized over the last few years. [1]

More jobs leads to more income which allows more people to buy more products and services which leads to more jobs to create more products and services  — which increases the GDP.

There was also good news in the prenatal health industry – an inexpensive diagnostic test has been discovered that can detect preeclampsia during early stages of the prenatal condition. Misshapen proteins similar to those found in Alzheimer’s disease were found to be present in the urine of women with preeclampsia. The beta-amyloid proteins have an unusual folded shape which can’t be broken down by enzymes and instead collect in the placenta and disrupt blood flow to the growing infant. [2]

Discovery of an accurate and inexpensive diagnostic test may add to the GDP through direct sales of the paper-based Congo Red Dot urine test and by helping prevent sick days during pregnancy. Preeclampsia can be life threatening for the woman and child but more typically the condition is associated with high blood pressure and increased protein losses in the urine. It is a leading cause of premature delivery which increases risk of low birth weight and other birth defects. [3] The discovery of the presence of beta-amyloid proteins in preeclampsia may also help researchers identify possible causes the condition, which are not known at this time.

Following the clue about the special type of protein found in common between Alzheimer’s and preeclampsia led me to a third condition that is associated with both conditions and with amyloidosis, which is a non-specific term referring to an excess of the misshapen proteins.

Cardiomyopathy can be a diagnosis  or symptom found with Alzheimer’s, preeclampsia, amyloidosis and it also may be associated with hypo- or hyperthyroidism or with infectious conditions such as sarcoidosis. Cardiomyopathy may also occur with starvation and with deficiencies of potassium and magnesium or taurine, carnitine, selenium and thiamine (vit. B1). [4] The amino acid taurine has also been found useful for preventing damage associated with Alzheimer’s disease. [5]

Starvation is certainly bad for pregnancy and so are nutrient deficiencies but at least those problems have known solutions – increase intake of healthy foods. A prenatal person with severe nausea and vomiting might not easily be able to increase their intake but use of targeted supplements or nutrient dense foods might help reduce the severity of symptoms or prevent worsening of an underlying condition.

Detecting who is at risk for preeclampsia before symptoms are severe could provide time to test and treat autoimmune thyroid disease which may not have been detected by standard thyroid lab tests. If sarcoidosis were present then excessive use of vitamin D and calcium might increase risk of there being a deficiency of magnesium and potassium.

Babies are made from nutrients not from medications. So discovering a medication that helps break down beta-amyloid protein might be helpful but finding out why the body is producing the folded malfunctioning protein and how to stop their production would be more helpful. – Addition 2/26/2017, a deficiency or defect in the cannabinoid system might be involved. THC and other chemicals found in marijuana helped cause the break down of beta-amyloid placques from Alzheimer’s disease.  [7 http://neurosciencenews.com/thc-amyloid-beta-alzheimers-4598/ ]

Interesting news from the pet food industry – It may be better not to feed cats raw fish more than three times per week because some species, when fresh and unheated, may be a source of an enzyme, thiaminase, which can  cause excessive break down of the B vitamin thiamine. And taurine is frequently added to processed foods for pet cats because heat processing causes destruction of the essential amino acid. [6]

/Disclaimer: This article is for educational or entertainment purposes and is not intended to be used in place of individual medical guidance for humans or cats./

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A catfish perhaps,
and raw, a source of thiaminase;
limit raw fish for cats to three times per week.