Mediterranean heritage? Italian, Jewish, etc.

[norcalmom]

lots of Irish. Maybe we've all kissed the Blarney Stone and that is why were here.

 

Dr K also has some phenotype on his website - stating that the pandas kids are early talkers, and the moms are mathematical and or OCD-ish themselves. I think more likely that highly educated and driven moms are the ones that found him. And, hey I was NOT OCD before this whole thing started. I was very laid back. And it goes against my nature to track every little thing. So pandas GAVE me OCD!

 

I think rheumatic factor - isn't that the risk for SC - its some measurable genetic factor - is it more common in northern europeans? the B lymphocyte 8/17 marker looks like something that presents a high risk genetic group. I've not seen that is found more often in different ethnic groups. I don't know why this isn't one of the tests we give our kids. I know we didn't get it. Maybe its very specialized/expensive.

 

PLUS - aren't there some active SC studies being done in South America - because it is still found there?

 

Below s is from http://www.pedrheumonlinejournal.org/April/reviewarti.htm

 

The articles is actually a pretty good summary of the connections between rheumatic fever, SC, and pandas, from a pediatric rheumatology online journal.

 

OK now for a joke...have you heard what the perfect idea of heaven is?

A place where the cooks are Italian, the cops are Irish, the engineers are German and all is run by the Swiss...

And ###### is..

A place were the cooks are Irish, the cops are German, the engineers are Swiss and all is run the the Italians!

 

And the pandas version-

A place where all doctors know pandas, your neurologist is Latimer, antibioritcs and ivig work immediately, and insurance covers everything!

###### would be-

the only doctors available are Kurlan or Singer, the neurologists are all from Yale, and the only insurance provider is Aetna!

 

 

seems we are in "limbo"

_________________________________________

 

Is this an Immunologic Process?

The biologic evidence that PANDAS in an autoimmune-mediated process is compelling, but not conclusive. A potential B cell marker was identified, magnetic resonance imaging of the brain demonstrates basal ganglia changes consistent with inflammation, and immunomodulatory therapies have been studied with benefit in some patients. Antibiotic prophylaxis, although effective in ARF, remains questionable in PANDAS.

D8/17 Lymphocyte Marker

The B cell marker D8/17 was identified as a predictor of ARF and SC, diseases recognized to have genetic susceptibility. The cell surface marker was discovered on a subset of HLA-DR positive B cells in the peripheral circulation, and the alloantigen was recognized by a monoclonal antibody labelled D8/17[15], a mouse monoclonal IgM antibody[16]. Testing involves staining peripheral B cells with the antibody and counting positively stained cells. A positive result is defined as greater than 11.8% of B cells stained (one standard deviation above historical comparison values). The percent of antigenic expression is inherited, either in an autosomal recessive or autosomal dominant manner with variable penetrance [15].

The D8/17 marker has high sensitivity for ARF, in that 90 to 100% of individuals with ARF are positive regardless of the disease activity. In initial studies, the marker’s specificity was high, as only 5-15% of healthy controls had positive expression. Therefore, it appeared to function as a trait marker for ARF. Additional support was provided when patients with poststreptococcal glomerulonephritis were found to express low numbers of positive cells. Siblings and parents of patients with ARF and SC also demonstrate higher numbers of positive D8/17 B cells than control subjects [17], which lends further support to a genetic susceptibility to ARF.

Based on the similarities of SC to other neuropsychiatric disorders, it was further hypothesized that the D8/17 marker might also be able to identify patients with OCD and TS. A group of 31 children with TS and/or OCD and 21 healthy controls were studied [18]. All patients positively expressed the D8/17 marker versus only one positive among the control patients. A subsequent study examined 27 children with PANDAS, 9 children with SC, and 24 healthy controls [19]. Eighty-five percent of the PANDAS children were positive, 89% in the SC group were positive, and only 17% of controls were positive (p<0.0001 for both comparisons). These results support the hypothesis that there may be a group of children who are susceptible to developing PANDAS instead of SC or other manifestations after streptococcal infections. Testing for the presence of the D8/17 marker cannot alone differentiate children with TS and OCD from those with PANDAS since in the first study 100% of OCD and TS patients were positive for the marker, regardless of levels of antistreptococcal antibodies. Additionally, as this test is not commercially available, it’s utility in the diagnosis of PANDAS remains unclear.

[Tamistwins]

I corresponded with Dr schulman, the pediatrician in Brooklyn,ny and she says she has a pretty pandas prone practice, all Jewish kids. She thinks Jews are genetically prone to this tendency. Hmm I have3 children, Jewish but I have never seen this before all ###### fell into my lap.

[EmersonAilidh]

Purely Scottish over here. & not because my great^27 grandpa lived in Glasgow for a few weeks, either. I wonder how much "heritage" matters with the average American, who is so cross-bred & when most people, even if their family has lived in America for generations & generations, is still considered to be from another country. Just a thought!

[Ozimum]

"I wonder how much "heritage" matters" ... I'm with you Emerson. I've been working on our family tree and the last few generations are English and Scottish, but before that various migrations meant we have Spanish-Jewish, and French lines mixed in there too. It gets more complicated the further we go back. Genetic studies might be more telling.