Physician of the Month: Shaily Shah, DO, FAARM, ABAARM

May 1, 2017

A4M valued member Shaily Shah, DO, FAARM, ABAARM shares insight from her professional experience in this Physician of the Month feature.

Dr. Shaily Shah is an integrative medicine physician committed to the health and longevity of her patients. Prior to discovering A4M, she practiced internal medicine in a large multi-specialty group. She realized there were additional ways to help her patients beyond traditional medicine, and at the encouragement of a colleague, she entered into the fellowship program through A4M. After becoming board-certified, she opened her own practice, where she incorporates both traditional and anti-aging techniques in the management of her patients.

Q: Before joining A4M, what was your medical background?

I was in my first year of practice as an internal medicine physician in St. Louis, MO. Prior to that I was in internal medicine residency at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, NY.

Q: What anti-aging techniques have you incorporated into your practice? How did you so?

As an internist it was quite simple to incorporate anti-aging techniques in my practice. I was already treating a wide variety of diseases, and I found anti-aging techniques blended in seamlessly. They allowed me to offer an alternative form of treatment, as well as a complementary form of treatment to traditional practices. I currently utilize BHRT, vitamin/nutrient optimization, gut healing, detoxification, weight management and, of course, functional management of chronic disease (hypertension, diabetes, major depression, etc.).

Q: What are the benefits of practicing anti-aging medicine–both as a professional, and for your practice?

I get to spend more time with my patients. This time is critical in establishing the patient-physician relationship and in formulating their treatment plan. I also get to utilize advance medical technologies.

Q: What are the changes you see in your patients?

My patients are healthier and happier than the ones I saw in my traditional medicine practice. They are able to cut back or eliminate their medications, and they have a better quality of life.

Q: Why would you recommend Anti-Aging Medicine to your peers?

Anti-aging medicine is the future of medicine. It provides a benefit to patients’ overall health that they are not currently getting from traditional medicine. It focuses on the root cause of disease as opposed to masking it with multiple medications.

Q: Where do you see the future of Anti-Aging medicine 20 years from now?

Anti-aging medicine will be more widespread. I believe it will be taught in medical schools, and incorporated in various specialties. It will have a wider range of acceptance because this type of medicine truly works.

 

Human Umbilical Cord Blood: The Secret to Memory?

April 24, 2017

A recent study indicates that a specific protein in human umbilical cord blood plasma has the potential to improve learning and memory in aging, older mice.

In 1972, research demonstrated that when pairs of rats were surgically attached, older rats had increased lifespan when sharing a bloodstream with young rats. This particular study spearheaded a scientific effort surrounding the understanding and consensus of aging: certain materials from younger bodies or organisms can often improve or rejuvenate older ones, when transplanted.

Further findings produced exciting research; scientists have previously shown that young blood can restore cell activity in the muscles and livers of aging mice, and that linking older mice to young when helped reverse heart muscle thickening.

Although many of the findings have not been successfully replicated, there is a unanimous agreement that—like humans—as mice and rats age, their bodies and behavior change on profoundly fundamental levels. Joe Castellano, a neuroscientist at Stanford University School of Medicine, saw that older mice tended to stop building nests, and became increasingly forgetful.

Castellano and his colleagues collectively hypothesized that young human blood might produce beneficial effects for aging mice; in a report published in the journal Nature, they state that they have located a protein in human umbilical cord blood that can improve both learning and memory in aging mice—a significant and exciting finding in the field of regenerative medicine.

The team collected plasma, the ‘watery part of blood,’ from people of different ages, in addition to plasma from human umbilical cords. They then injected human plasma from those different age groups, and from umbilical cord blood, into mice continuously over several weeks. The mice were aged 12 and 14 months, which is calculated to be approximately the mouse equivalent of being in late 50s or 60s.

When the mouse brains were dissected and the hippocampi were inspected, it was found that certain genes linked to the creation of new memories had been turned on in some of the mice. “So, we had a hint early on that one of these donor groups, specifically the [umbilical] cord plasma, might be having an effect on the brain itself,” Castellano says.

Castellano and his team then injected more aging mice with human plasma, and tested the animals’ ability to remember things. They found that after cord plasma treatment, mice escaped from a maze more rapidly; the performance in most areas was increased and improved. Similarly, mice treated with human umbilical cord performed better on memory tests.

A series of further experiments led Castellano and his colleagues to conclude that one specific protein—TIMP2—in human umbilical cord blood was responsible for the improvements. “The really exciting thing about this study, and previous studies that have come before it, is that we’ve sort of tapped into previously unappreciated potential of our blood — our plasma — and what it can do for reversing the harmful effects of aging on the brain,” says Castellano.

The research potentially hints at possible treatments and therapies that might ultimately work to prevent age-related illnesses from developing, including Alzheimer’s disease.

Acorns Signify Spike in Lyme Disease

April 14, 2017

Experts warn that a bumper crop of acorns could be the catalyst for an unprecedented outbreak of Lyme Disease in the United States. Dr. Andrew Heyman, Program Director of Integrative and Metabolic Medicine at George Washington University, and an expert on chronic infections and Lyme, confirms: “New Lyme cases correlate with acorn bumper crops. Not to say there IS an outbreak—but the conditions are right for one.”

According to Rick Ostfeld, a disease ecologist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, the illness is on track to produce its worst numbers in 2017. An estimated 300,000 Americans are diagnosed with Lyme disease each year; yet the illness is a global phenomenon, and diagnoses could soon soar to historically unprecedented levels. Researchers in Poland discovered similar acorn trends last year, and are expecting 2018 to pose a high risk of Lyme disease infections.

The acorn surge indicates that mouse populations will climb, which in turn gives rise to more disease-carrying ticks. Mice population predictions are based on the acorns, and infected nymph ticks correspond with the mice numbers. One mouse alone has the potential to carry hundreds of immature ticks. The tick population is further spiking due to the country’s warmer winters and earlier springs.

The rodents’ blood contains the bacteria that causes Lyme—Borrelia burgdorferi—which is transferred to the stomach of the tick as it feeds. The bacteria can subsequently be passed on to whatever new host the tick ultimately latches onto: including humans.

There are few preventive measure to take, as there is currently no vaccine available for Lyme disease. Moreover, ticks are tiny—some as small as poppy seeds—and the flu-like symptoms that occur after being infected are often easy to misdiagnose, as some people infected with Lyme may not exhibit the telltale bulls-eye rash. The later stage is generally when people get untreated, highly problematic Lyme disease.

While a French-based biotech group Valneva has produced a new Lyme vaccine, it is currently in early human trials, and at least six years away from being publicly released.