PLT Test Blog

    Today’s post is about some drugs/supplements that have already been discussed in earlier posts.   Rifaximin, used in cycles, is an effective part of our reader Maja’s therapy, while Sodium Butyrate was highlighted long ago by our reader in Switzerland, Alli. I had a consultation with a gastroenterologist last week and came away with a prescription for Rifaximin, microencapsulated  Sodium Butyrate and Lactobacillus Plantarum 299v. Where we live, these are all inexpensive. Rifaximin is an antibiotic with extra benefits and costs about 7 euros (9 dollars).   A course of Rifaximin can cost $2,000 in the United States. I was pleased to read that the private equity owners of a pharmaceutical company that raised the price of a common thyroid drug by 6000% have just been fined $140 million in the UK. Advanz Pharma and former private equity owners were fined £100m by markets watchdog Perhaps some of our US readers should query the crazy price of drugs in the US...

Today’s post is about another complex and still emerging subject.   It should really be earlier in this blog. There are lots of papers highlighted for those who like the details. The papers written by the autism researchers are generally much simpler to read than those by the mainstream researchers.    First some biology:-           Source: https://www.hindawi.com/journals/mi/2013/963748/fig1/    Differentiation of naïve T helper cells into particular subsets. T helper lymphocytes leaving the thymus (naïve or Th0) are not yet fully differentiated to perform their specific functions in peripheral lymphoid tissues. They are endowed of these properties in the process of their interactions with dendritic cells (DCs) that engulf, process, and present antigens to them.   DCs produce different cytokines. If DCs produce IL-12, naïve T cells polarise into the Th1 subset If DCS produce IL-4 into the Th2 subset if DCs synthesise IL-6, naï...