Health Education Information and Resource Services
The focus of HEIRS Research is provide insight and information and encourage technology innovations and development of resources for those who suffer from chronic illness and disability and broaden the focus of research on environmental illness to include the social and cultural aspects of wellness and ill-health. It is important to remember that illness is not only a personal experience but how it is perceived is in part, culturally and socially defined. Environmental illness is one label put on a variety of health conditions that is not new or exclusive to human beings because to some extent they occur or are observed in animals. I hypothesize the dysregulation of the Nrf2/SIRT pathway (which includes a number of proteins) is important for the development of a majority of symptoms common to these conditions. Because other organisms have homologs of this pathway it is easier to compare some of symptoms of environmental illness in them. Also, it is easier to study these homologs in them because the simplicity of their physiology and shorter life cycle.
If one studies population health they will find illnesses similar to environmental illnesses including those in indiginous populations. More and more, new research supports that the root of environmental illnesses are changes in the genetic code and (whether permanent or temporary) and gene expression from environmental influences that motivate those changes and expression. Epigenetics is the study of acquired traits that can be passed on and while these kinds of changes in gene expression are mostly adaptive when they result in disease, they are maladaptive. A goal should be to determine the effects of modern-day influences whether environmental, behavioral, cultural or genetic conditions which alter cellular pathways and epigenetic changes and my focus is how the alterations in the Nrf1/Nrf2/SIRT1/PGC-1a pathway effects the development of environmental illnesses including chronic fatigue syndrome, PTSD, multiple chemical sensitivity, fibromyalgia, diabetes, obesity, asthma, allergies, intolerances, neurodegenerative disease, etc. Nrf2 interacts with the neurogasotransmitters NO, H2S and CO through interaction with HO-1 and expression over a hundred genes and changes in their expression (whether too much or too little) greatly influence detoxification and numerous physiological processes and systems when absent may have deleterious effects that are quite unexpected. Past studies have demonstrated changes in Nrf2 signaling may effect expression of proteins involved in mitochondrial dysfunction, heart disease, vascular disease, premature aging, neurodegenerative disease, mental health issues, asthma, nerve damage and a host of others.
Some of the issues and topics of HEIRS Research include:
- Agriculture and Food Production
- Ecohomes, Interiors and Landscapes
- Environmental Contaminants
- Environmental Illness Research
- Education
- Emergency Preparedness
- Evolutionary Biology
- Geneological and Population-based Research
- Government
- Aging and Lifespan Studies
- Medical and Health and Alternative Medicine Research
- Military Matters
- The Nrf2 Pathway
- Nutrition
- Occupations and choice of careers
- Pet Care
- Pharmacology
- Physical Fitness and Physical Therapy
- Public Safety and Emergency Services
- Therapy and Assistance Animals
- Travel decisions and leisure activities
- Vitamins and Supplements
