COVID-19 mortality and vaccine efficacy in nursing homes: does vitamin B12 deficiency play a role?

Henry Olders, P.Eng, MD, FRCPC Affiliate Member, Dept of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, Canada Abstract It is believed that nursing home residents experience more disease severity and higher mortality from COVID-19, compared to community-dwelling elderly with similar comorbidities. Among the possible explanations for this phenomenon is the difference in vitamin…

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Why do mammalian males have scrota?

My hypothesis is that the scrotum, which in mammals, is often exposed, relatively hairless, and with thin skin and little subcutaneous tissue, may have evolved for perhaps a different reason than simply to provide a lower temperature for spermatogenesis. Consider that humans produce about 25,000 sperm every minute. Why so many?…

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The role of diet in gout

Gout is caused by an excess of uric acid (urate) in the system, which can then form crystals in various places, including the joint of the big toe. Crystals in the joint cause inflammation and pain. Excess uric acid can be due to excessive dietary intake of purines, insufficient urinary…

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Methionine content of food items

To facilitate following a methionine restriction diet, I’ve put together a Filemaker “solution” (Filemaker’s name for a database using their platform) which will provide you with the methionine content for the majority of the items in the USDA nutrients database, version SR27. The solution also includes the content of cysteine,…

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Methionine Restriction abstracts

Grandison, R. C., M. D. Piper, and L. Partridge (2009) Nature 462:1061-1064. Amino-acid imbalance explains extension of lifespan by dietary restriction in Drosophila. Dietary restriction extends healthy lifespan in diverse organisms and reduces fecundity. It is widely assumed to induce adaptive reallocation of nutrients from reproduction to somatic maintenance, aiding…

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Research Proposal: Treating Cancer-Related Anorexia-Cachexia
 with a Methionine Restricted Diet

Henry Olders, MD November 6, 2013 Research Proposal: Treating Cancer-Related Anorexia-Cachexia with a Methionine Restricted Diet Anorexia and cachexia are frequent concomitants of the later stages of cancer, and contribute significantly to poor quality of life (QOL). Moreover, family members and friends of cancer patients with anorexia and cachexia are…

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Ritalin (methylphenidate)

Ritalin • -more effective than sertraline in improving cognitive function and maintaining alertness in patients with traumatic brain injury (Lee H 20 p97) • better tolerated than sertraline (ibid.) • -found effective in hypoactive delirium, apathy, depressive syndrome (Meyers BJ 148 1738) • -accelerates antidepressant response in elderly (Lavretsky H…

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Affective disorders, sleep patterns, and treatment implications

Affective Disorders, Sleep Patterns, and Treatment Implications Problem issues in treatment of affective disorders Only 60-70% of depressed patients respond to antidepressants (in carefully done studies). The clinical reality is worse. In some patients, antidepressants worsen agitation, may increase suicidality We still don’t understand what causes depression, or how antidepressant…

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A diet for life

What disease affects 33% of Canada’s population, and costs the health care system $6 billion per year? Obesity, spreading rapidly around the world, doubles in prevalence every five years. Clearly an epidemic. In the U.S., 1995 marked a milestone, when the prevalence of overweight in adults reached 50%. And this…

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Prosody in affective disorders and schizophrenia: diagnosis using computer simulations of neural networks

Henry Olders, MD, FRCPC Douglas Hospital Verdun, Quebec, Canada 2 Oct 1990  Introduction Effect of medication on negative symptoms An NIMH double-blind, placebo-controlled study of the effects of antipsychotic withdrawal (four weeks drug-free) followed by four weeks’ treatment with fluphenazine HCl in 19 young patients with chronic schizophrenia showed that…

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Biology and Psychiatry: Some Missing Pieces in the Puzzle

Presented at the Academic Seminar, Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, on 1982-3-26, during my first year of residency training in psychiatry. Download a pdf of the article Henry Olders, M.D. Jewish General Hospital Institute of Community & Family Psychiatry A. Introduction Since starting my explorations in psychiatry last summer, I…

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