PowerPoint slides from Deborah Bircham from Live well with chronic illness's webinar 'Understanding Lyme Disease – a general introduction to Lyme'. For many people, there is a significant overlap between Lyme Disease and MCAS, and Lyme can be an underlying root cause for MCAS.
PowerPoint slides from Deborah Bircham from Live well with chronic illness' webinar 'How to Fight On in Tough Times – Tools and Tips to Foster Mental Resilience' examining some simple tools that can help us all to navigate life’s ups and downs more skillfully.
PowerPoint slides from Vicky Pearson's webinar 'How to be Heard: Advocating for yourself within the NHS'. This event was designed to help individuals learn how to approach MCAS whilst accessing medical care within the NHS and how to advocate for yourself as a patient.
PowerPoint slides from Deborah Bircham from Live well with chronic illness webinar on 'How to Sleep Well' exploring what sleep is, why we need it, and how we can support our body to get as much good quality sleep as possible.
PowerPoint slides from Roselle O'Brien's talk on 'Vagus Nerves and Mast Cells' exploring the role that the vagus nerves play in regulating stress, inflammation, and mast cell activity.
PowerPoint slides from Roselle O'Brien's talk 'Long COVID and the Mast Cell Connection' exploring what current research has shown about the long-COVID-mast cell connection and what that may mean to managing symptoms as we support our health in challenging times.
Powerpoint slides from Deborah Bircham from Live Well with Chronic Illness' webinar 'Immune Health - How to Fight off Bugs and Viruses Naturally' looking at how the immune system works, and how we can support it to function optimally using diet and lifestyle measures.
Kathleen Doheny (2023). This is a short informative article explaining the difference between clonal and non-clonal mast cell activation syndrome. It focuses on presentation of each and helpful investigations for a diagnosis. There are also useful links to scientific articles that go more in depth in the detail of the non-clonal form.
Theo Gülen (2023). This article outlines the difficulties associated with diagnosing three interrelated conditions; anaphylaxis, MCAS, and mastocytosis. It outlines each in turn, to then discuss their overlap and clinical features of their presentation alongside other mast-cell related disorders. It concludes by calling for future research aimed at identifying new biomarkers to distinguish patients with each disorder and the treatment of patients in specialized centres due to the complexity of the conditions.
Leonard B. Weinstock, Renee M. Nelson and Svetlana Blitshteyn (2023). This is a small study that explores the comorbidity of psychiatric conditions and MCAS. The study includes 8 patients with both a psychiatric and MCAS diagnosis and highlights how, treating MCAS improved the psychiatric symptoms. The study highlights how psychiatric patient's refractory to standard therapy that also have systemic symptoms should be assessed for MCAS. It calls for more studies to investigate the prevalence of MCAS in psychiatric patients not responding to standard treatments to get a better picture of this association and the potential therapeutic benefits for the patients.
Tamara T Haque, Marcela T Taruselli, Sydney A Kee, Jordan M Dailey, Neha Pondicherry, Paula A Gajewski-Kurdziel, Matthew P Zellner, Daniel J Stephenson, H Patrick MacKnight, David B Straus, Roma Kankaria, Kaitlyn G Jackson, Alena P Chumanevich, Yoshihiro Fukuoka, Lawrence B Schwartz, Randy D Blakely, Carole A Oskeritzian, Charles E Chalfant, Rebecca K Martin, John J Ryan (2023). This article outlines a study on mice that tests the effects of the SSRI fluoxetine on IgE-induced activation of mast cells. It discusses how fluoxetine suppresses mast cell activation and ATP secretion, which amplifies IgE responses. The article concludes by suggesting that fluoxetine is a promising candidate for repurposing allergy treatment.
Joseph H Butterfield (2023). This is a retrospective cohort study exploring biomarkers in MCAS diagnosis. While an increase in serum tryptase by 20% plus 2 ng/mL is required for an MCAS diagnosis, there is no agreement on what counts as significant rise in urinary metabolites such as prostaglandin D2, histamine, or leukotriene (which are also linked to MCAS episodes). The study finds that the measurements of all three urinary metabolites together is helpful for diagnosis.
Tinus Häder, Gerhard J Molderings, Frank Klawonn, Rupert Conrad, Martin Mücke, Julia Sellin (2023). This study is the first to perform a cluster analysis of MCAS patients, classifying them into subgroups based on symptoms and triggers, which could help to personalize treatment and improve patient care. The study concludes that there is utility of a cluster analytic approach and the potential of association analysis to improve the understanding of MCAS subtypes and to personalize the therapy.
Lawrence B. Afrin, Tania T. Dempsey and Gerhard J. Molderings (2023). This article discusses the role and limitations of antibody testing in MCAS patients. As MCAS causes abnormal antibody production, it can mimic antibodies that can lead to diagnostic confusion and misdiagnosis of autoimmune or infectious diseases. The article suggests that healthcare professionals should exercise caution with positive antibody test results in MCAS patients. It states that the monitoring of clinical symptoms and repeated testing over time should be used to avoid misdiagnosis caused by misleading results.
Joanna Baran, Anna Sobiepanek, Anna Mazurkiewicz-Pisarek, Marta Rogalska, Aleksander Gryciuk, Lukasz Kuryk, Soman N Abraham, Monika Staniszewska (2023). This article provides a comprehensive overview of therapeutic approaches targeting mast cells, making it highly relevant to the treatment theme. It discusses the role of mast cells in the immune system, their overactivity in pathological states, and various therapeutic strategies to manage these conditions.
Stevent Sumantri, Iris Rengganis (2023). This article explores the similarities between long COVID and MCAS; long COVID-19 is persistent inflammatory state that causes abnormal mast cell activation and the release of inflammatory cytokines. This connection opens therapeutic opportunities for patients with long COVID that have clinical symptoms consistent with MCAS.
Chloe Hall (2023). This article gives an overview of dietary triggers associated with MCAS and dietary recommendations for the management of MCAS symptoms. It is targeted to dieticians, outlining their role in identifying dietary triggers in MCAS, safely re-introducing foods where anaphylaxis has occurred in the past, and in fostering a healthy relationship between MCAS patients and food.
Paula Navarro-Navarro, Iván Álvarez-Twose, Alba Pérez-Pons, Ana Henriques, Andrea Mayado, Andrés C. García-Montero, Laura Sánchez-Muñoz, Oscar González-López, Almudena Matito, Carolina Caldas, María Jara-Acevedo, Alberto Orfao (2022). This article discusses the potential utility of investigating KITD816V in genomic DNA to increase diagnostic sensitivity for MCAS. It states that, while KITD816V is a key marker for systemic mastocytosis, it is less detectable in blood for patients with low levels of the mutation, such as patients with c-MCAS. It suggests that tracking the KITD816V mutation over time could help identify patients at higher risk of disease progression.
Susan V. Jennings, Celeste C. Finnerty, Jessica S. Hobart, Mercedes Martín-Martínez, Kristin A. Sinclairf, Valerie M. Slee, Julie Agopian, Cem Akin, Ivan Álvarez-Twose, Patrizia Bonadonna, Angela S. Bowman, Knut Brockow, Horia Bumbea, Claudia de Haroo, Jie Shen Fok, Karin Hartmann, Nicole Hegmanns, Olivier Hermine, Monika Kalisiak, Constance H. Katelaris, Jacqueline Kurzs, Patrizia Marcis, David Mayne, David Mendoza, Alain Moussy, Genija Mudretzkyjz, Nicoleta Nidelea Vaiaaa, Marek Niedoszytko, Hanneke Oude Elberink, Alberto Orfao, Deepti H. Radia, Sophie Rosenmeierz ∙ Eugenia Ribadad ∙ Waltraud Schinhofenff ∙ Juliana Schwaab, Frank Siebenhaar, Massimo Triggiani, Giuseppe Tripodox, Rocio Velazquezo, Yvon Wielinkkk, Friedrich Wimazal, Timo Yigitff, Celia Zubrinich, Peter Valent (2022).This article focuses on the perspectives of those with mast cell diseases (namely mastocytosis and MCAS). It details a project aiming to expand our understanding of patient needs and to propose actions that address those needs. Issues reported include struggles relating to the rarity of mast cell diseases, the impact of the diseases on quality of life, the diagnostic process and the need for further research. It also identifies possible solutions to these challenges.
Giuseppe Murdaca, Alessandro Allegra, Alessandro Tonacci, Caterina Musolino, Luisa Ricciardi, Sebastiano Gangemi (2022). This article analyses the relationships between mast cells and vitamin D, highlighting their roles in allergic diseases, bone metabolism, and skin conditions. It discusses how vitamin D influences mast cell activation, degranulation, and pro-inflammatory mediator release. Therefore, the findings suggest that vitamin D is a potential therapeutic strategy for managing mast cell driven conditions such as MCAS.
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