Professor Yoshika Sekine's Slideshow PATM study

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The MEBO Research community around the world is most grateful to researcher Professor Yoshika Sekine, for carrying out a much needed study into PATM and for publishing a paper on his findings (in Japanese). In addition, we are most grateful to Professor Sekine and his colleague, Dr. Yasuhiro Konishi, M.D., of the Konishi Clinic in Japan for presenting a classic case of PATM in the Japanese TV show "World Astonishing News", as noted in a post in this blog, "Japanese Study: Elevated petrochemicals in PATM". This research discusses the petrochemicals found in skin gas analysis of sufferers of this syndrome. You have provided our international community with information we can now use in our Raising Awareness Campaign, and for this, we are profoundly grateful!

‘An exploratory study on “people allergic to me” syndrome based on measurement of trace gases released from skin surface and microbial species in nasal cavity of a patient’


Abstract

There exist some people who claim his/her body odor provokes allergy-like reactions of people in their near vicinity, which include sneezing, runny nose, cough, itchy eyes, and red eyes. Such a diathesis, called “people allergic to me (PATM)”, has been gradually recognized in other countries. However, the term “PATM” has been hardly heard in Japan, and there have been no reports focusing on PATM in academic journals so far. After receiving a request for advice from a male subject, we conducted a medical interview, measurement of trace gases released from human skin surface, measurement of volatile chemicals from the subject’s underwear, and microbiological test of the nasal cavity of the patient. The results showed that greater amounts of chemicals, such as toluene and xylene, were detected in skin-gas samples from the subject than in those from a control subject. Moreover, some chemicals, such as hexane, propionaldehyde, and toluene, which showed relatively high levels of emission from the subject’s skin, were also detected in the underwear of the subject. The microbial species that was isolated from the nasal cavity of the subject with the highest abundance was Staphylococcus epidermidis (Bacilli; Bacillales), which is known as a resident skin flora. In addition, Arthrobacter phenanthrenivorans (Actinobacteria; Micrococcales), which releases a ditch-like smell, was cultured on isolation medium, and its presence might have a relationship with the PATM condition. Furthermore, Rhodotorula mucilaginosa (Basidiomycota; Sporidiales), which is a fungus that is known to cause red water scale in bathrooms/washrooms, was isolated from the nasal cavity of the subject. To the best of our knowledge, the isolation of this latter species from the human nasal cavity has not previously been reported. Taken together, there is a possibility that PATM is not a product of patients’ imagination but represents a genuine disease that has yet-to-be-investigated.


Citation:
KAWAKAMI, Yuji & SEKINE, Yoshika & KIMURA, Keita & TODAKA, Michihito & ODA, Hisayuki. (2018). An exploratory study on "people allergic to me" syndrome based on measurement of trace gases released from skin surface and microbial species in nasal cavity of a patient. Indoor Environment. 21. 19-30. 10.7879/siej.21.19.


Online link to the full publication: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324134401_An_exploratory_study_on_people_allergic_to_me_syndrome_based_on_measurement_of_trace_gases_released_from_skin_surface_and_microbial_species_in_nasal_cavity_of_a_patient

María

María de la Torre
Founder and Executive Director

A Public Charity
maria.delatorre@meboresearch.com
www.meboresearch.org
MEBO's Blog (English)
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Raising Awareness about PATM

It is MEBO’s aim to allow its members from around the world to have a voice and the opportunity to tell their story to the world. For this reason, the MEBO Raising Awareness Campaign was created. This video is made by a young university student in the Middle East, who wants the opportunity to comment on the study carried out by Professor Yoshika Sekine and his team of researchers (2018). The graphs shown in this video taken from Professor Sekine’s Slideshow presentation for the MEBO Conference clearly show the presence of chemicals and microbes found on PATM subjects.

In this video, Muhammad also addresses Olfactory Reference Syndrome (ORS), which many in the medical community resort to, for lack of research to form a more targeted diagnosis. It is for this very reason that the American Psychiatric Association (APA) listed ORS in the Appendix for Further Research classification. It is now classified as “an Obsessive Compulsive Spectrum Disorder with a strong anxiety component. As such, it belongs in the new Anxiety and Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum Disorders category,” says Dr. Jennifer L. Greenberg, Psy.D., with the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School., who studied our MEBO community in 2010. This classification now calls for mental health therapy for body odor and PATM sufferers to be focused on treating the anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder that comes with having these conditions, as opposed to being administered medication for delusional symptoms, in order to help sufferers become functional members of society.

While many delusional patients are treated with antipsychotics, Greenberg said, "What we are starting to think more about is that the disorder presents like disorders that are closer to obsessive compulsive disorder.

"ABC News article on ORS"

This MEBO member who suffers from PATM Syndrome, represents a large sector of the MEBO population who have observed how those around them, and in some cases their own children, experience allergic reactions when they are near the PATM sufferer. “It’s like ‘the cat’ entered the room, and my kids start to sneeze, get teary eyed, when they get near me, and then their symptoms stop when I leave! I am their father, and I want to be able to be with them without inflicting these symptoms on my own kids!” says a PATM sufferer.

Thank you Muhammad for telling your story and representing the whole PATM community around the world.

María

María de la Torre
Founder and Executive Director

A Public Charity
maria.delatorre@meboresearch.com
www.meboresearch.org
www.mebo.com.br/
MEBO's Blog (English)
El Blog de MEBO (español)
MEBO Brasil - Blog (Portuguese)

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SUPPORT THE MEBO MISSION: Click Amazon button at right sidebar of this blog when shopping online for the holidays
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MEBO Annual Conference, Savannah 2018

Excerpts from Prof Sekine's PowerPoint Presentation, MEBO Annual Conference, Savannah, Ga.