School Closures May Not Be Necessary When Swine Flu Strikes

The school closures that swept across the United States last spring during the emergence of the H1N1 swine flu needn't be repeated this fall, according to new guidelines issued Friday by federal health officials. Read more

Meltdown on Aisle 6: Finding Processed Food for Our Allergic Son

By Sean Kelley

On my first trip to the grocery store after my son, Graeme, was diagnosed with food allergies, I did something I’ve never done in a food store before: I cried.

I’m usually happiest around food, but it was a moment of rare negative emotion, and my breakdown happened in front of God, my 4-year-old daughter, Elise, and the boy who was stocking aisle six.

I had been reading my way through the store, checking every item before tossing it in the basket for foods that are now verboten in my house: peanuts, corn, wheat, soy, egg whites, and chicken. I knew I had to avoid those, but it was finding the derivatives of them in almost every product that was sending me into a state of panic and sadness. Read More

Green Tea Antioxidant May Help Prevent Alzheimer's

(HealthDay News) -- An antioxidant found in green tea appears to prevent the development of amyloid fibrils, a toxic protein associated with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, a new study finds.

Amyloid plaque is commonly seen in the brains of Alzheimer's patients and appears to disrupt the function of cells. Strategies to prevent the development of amyloid plaque are one avenue being explored in the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer's.

Now, a German team says the tea antioxidant, called epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), has potent anti-plaque ability.

"We can use small molecules like EGCG to convert certain misfolded structures of a protein into a new type of molecule, which is less toxic or not toxic for cells," said lead researcher Erich Wanker, from the Max Delbrueck Center for Molecular Medicine in Berlin.

The findings are published in the May 30 online edition of Nature Structural & Molecular Biology.

The accumulation of amyloid plaque in Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's, are thought to be caused by the misfolding of certain proteins, which then become toxic to cells. The way proteins fold is key to their function, the researchers explained.

In experiments in the laboratory, the German team found that EGCG seems to change potentially harmful proteins into proteins that are not detrimental to brain cells. "We are able to convert a toxic structure into a less toxic structure," Wanker explained.

Because EGCG binds to unfolded proteins -- which are not associated with Alzheimer's -- the discovery could lead to medications that recognize the more troublesome proteins and convert them to harmless substances.

"This method could be more generally used to get rid of or remove the concentration of misfolded proteins in cells," Wanker said. "This strategy should be tested with patients. If treated early on, it could prevent the formation of amyloid plaque," he speculated.

Whether this type of treatment could reverse plaques that have already formed in the brain isn't known, Wanker said.

He noted that the study remains basic science, and he was cautious about recommending green tea as a way of preventing Alzheimer's disease. "I don't want to do a lot of speculating which could point people in the direction that could be harmful," Wanker said. "We have to go step-by-step."

One expert believes the approach could yield real results, however.

"Red wine, yellow curry and green tea have suspected health benefits because of high content of antioxidants," said Greg M. Cole, a neuroscientist at the Greater Los Angeles VA Healthcare System, and associate director of the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. He was not involved in the study.

"This study provides evidence that a compound called EGCG, one of the major polyphenols in green tea, may be useful for diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, because it can block the formation of the filament-forming protein aggregates implicated in causing disease," Cole said.

One novel aspect of the study is the authors' demonstration that EGCG prevents toxic filament formation by redirecting the aggregating proteins to make non-toxic proteins, Cole said.

"This is surprising, because similar protein aggregate spheres called amyloid oligomers can be highly toxic to neurons and synapses," Cole said. "It will be important for the authors to prove that the EGCG-directed proteins also lack toxicity to synapses which were not present in the systems used to test toxicity," he said.

Assuming that the green tea compound has a stable effect and chronically blocks toxicity to real neurons and synapses, it could have genuine potential for Alzheimer's patients, Cole said.

"The major caveat is the very poor absorption and delivery of EGCG seen in some studies," Cole said. The fact that EGCG isn't available for patenting by pharmaceutical companies might be a problem, too, he said, since it could "limit the investment needed for clinical trials of sufficient size to prove that it really works."

In related research, a team of American scientists said that interrupting a key signaling pathway in immune system cells allowed those cells to enter the brain and attack and remove amyloid plaque.

Reporting May 30 in Nature Medicine, a team led by research scientist Terrence Town, of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, conducted their study in genetically engineered mice. The group blocked a molecule that typically suppresses a portion of the immune response. Once the system was freed up, immune cells called macrophages made their way to the brains and devoured up to 90 percent of amyloid plaques, the team said.

"If these experimental animals are representative of the clinical syndrome of Alzheimer's disease, we may have a therapeutic target that we did not have before," study co-author Dr. Jun Tan, of the University of South Florida, said in a statement.

More information
For more about Alzheimer's disease, visit the Alzheimer's Association.

Chemotherapy Has Turned Me Into a Bloodhound

Cancer drugs scramble the signals that the nose and tongue send to the brain, with bizarre results by Jason Carpenter

When one of the doctors offhandedly mentioned that my sense of taste or smell could be affected by the high-dose chemotherapy treatments I was getting in my battle against multiple myeloma, I didn't pay much attention. Not until I found I could detect the slightest whiff of anything from 20 feet. Not until anything I put in my mouth had a taste so intense that I vomited every meal for two weeks.

It was a horrible cycle that I could not break: When a meal came back up, it smelled awful and made me puke more. My mom, who spent some time at the hospital with me and at my house after I was discharged, developed a two-puke-pan routine: She would remove one pan on my command, then slip another one under me so I didn't have to endure the output.

While in the hospital, I developed a vomit association with just about everything the institution stocked for supplies: bathroom soap, hand soap, paper towels, hand sanitizer, toilet paper, and even facial tissue (I could smell tissues rippling in the air across the room). Clearly, some of this was in my head, but a good portion of it was not, according to breastcancer.com.

Thirty-two days after my transplant, I cannot smell hospital supplies without gagging. Because I need to constantly disinfect my hands and face (trying to banish germs that could attack my weakened immune system), I've had to switch to neutral-smelling antibacterial baby wipes. Things are somewhat better: I gag but don’t usually vomit, though I do risk hurling on my laptop just writing this down. I'm told this will slowly ebb over the next weeks or months.

Even my sense of touch has been affected. For the first few post-op visits to the hospital, I nearly jumped out of my skin with pain when the nurse drew blood. I have had my blood drawn hundreds of times, and it's never hurt like this. The nurse noticed and said, "Your nerves are sensitive because of the chemo. It's completely normal."

Normal, my ass. I'm a bloodhound; my food tastes as if someone turned the volume to 11; and I screech like a little girl when I have my blood drawn. But I’ll say it again: I'll take all these wacky side effects over cancer.

As to my progress, I went to the doctor today and my white blood count is back up to 4.1 (close to the low end of normal), my platelets are good, and my red blood cells are charging back. The doctor is so pleased with my recovery that I don't need to see her for three weeks. She even said that I can start to ease the restrictions of being around people. Which means I’m planning to play poker again, tonight, latex gloves and all.

See Jason Carpenter's ongoing video postings about his life with cancer. Warning: Some expletives.

Stem Cell Transplant Update: Advice On Hair Falling Out

Gene Tweak Reverses Aging in Mouse Skin Cells

(HealthDay News) -- Scientists say they've been able to temporarily return old skin cells to their youthful state by blocking the activity of a single gene.

"This gene gets more and more active with age," said lead researcher Dr. Howard Chang, an assistant professor of dermatology at Stanford University. "It doesn't exist to make us old. It is active in a number of processes, including the immune system and inflammation."

Chang said tweaking the gene, which produces a protein called NF-kappa-B, will not serve as a "fountain of youth" for the foreseeable future. The protein has a number of functions, some involved with cancer, and as-yet-unknown side effects must be explored before its safety is known. But one possible use is to help heal wounds more quickly in older people, he noted.

What's exciting about the discovery is that a single gene can have an immediate effect on older cells, Chang said. "People have known that you can affect the aging process with drastic interventions, like calorie restriction. Now we are talking about a single gene that, if blocked in an individual who is already old, can return cells to a youthful status, at least temporarily."

The researchers came across NF-kappa-B by searching existing data on genes that become more or less active as people get older. They found that the activity of a number of those genes is regulated by the protein.

They then used a genetically engineered mouse model to test the effect of inhibiting NF-kappa-B activity in a patch of skin cells.

After two weeks, a patch of treated skin from a 2-year-old mouse not only had the same genetic activity as that of a newborn animal but also looked more youthful, with more dividing cells.
It's fascinating "to engineer a mouse so that the rest of the mouse is old, but that one patch is young, to see that even locally, in a targeted way, you can affect the aging process," Chang said.

The finding also adds support to the theory that aging is not simply a process of wear-and-tear but the result of specific genetic changes, he said. And it shows that at least locally and temporarily, those changes can be stopped, Chang added.

The gene treatment has to be used cautiously, because NF-kappa-B is involved in so many different processes in the body, he noted.

A question to be asked now is, "What is the long-term effect of blocking the aging process for a while?," Chang said. "Would the tissue age rapidly again after the treatment stopped, or would they take much longer to age? It's important to sort these things out."

Long-term blockage of the gene would raise serious issues in terms of side effects, Chang said, since the gene is involved in so many body processes. Short-term use -- for wound healing, for example -- might sidestep those problems.

More information
There's more on skin aging at the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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Prostate Cancer Survival Varies by Season

(HealthDay News) -- Men diagnosed with prostate cancer in the summer and fall have a better chance of survival than those diagnosed in the spring and winter, a new study of Norwegian men suggests.

"Summer and autumn months correspond to times when vitamin D is highest (in Norway).

Although the study does not prove vitamin D is the determining factor, it does suggest that this possibility should be studied further," study co-author Dr. Tomasz Beer, director of the prostate cancer program at the Oregon Health & Science University Cancer Institute, said in a prepared statement.

In the study, a team of American and Norwegian researchers analyzed data for more than 46,000 Norwegian men diagnosed with prostate cancer from 1964 to 1992.

Compared with men diagnosed in the summer and fall, those diagnosed in the winter and spring were 20 percent more likely to die within three years after diagnosis. The study was published in the journal The Prostate.

The researchers also examined whether survivability was affected by factors such as eating foods high in vitamin D (such as fatty fish), taking vacations in sunny southern locations, and where the men lived in Norway.

Only age seemed to have a influence -- younger men had a slightly better rate of survival. The researchers noted that the capacity of skin to produce vitamin D when exposed to sunshine is about 40 percent lower in men 75 and older than in men 60 and younger.

Vitamin D, which has been shown to inhibit cancer growth, may also help maintain immune system health and help regulate cell growth and differentiation, Beer said.

More information
The American Cancer Society has more about prostate cancer.

Genetic Analysis Offers Insights Into AIDS Resistance

(HealthDay News) -- Variations in three genes play a critical role in how different people infected with HIV respond during the early stages of their infection.

This finding, detailed in the July 20 issue of Science, could help scientists find vaccines as well as new treatment targets for people infected with the AIDS-causing virus.

"There are new mechanisms of control of HIV1 that are implicated by these findings," said study senior author David Goldstein, a professor of molecular genetics and microbiology at Duke University and director of the school's Center for Population Genomics and Pharmacogenetics.

"We don't yet know how to capitalize on those new mechanisms to develop new treatments, but it establishes directions for exploring new treatment options."

The study results are the first to emerge from the Center for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Immunology (CHAVI), a seven-year project funded by the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) with a goal of understanding the genetic influences on early responses to HIV infection. Many more studies are planned.

"We're really only just getting started," Goldstein said.

"It is a very important study," said NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci. "It's significant for a couple of reasons. First of all, it used a technique that is going to be increasingly used in the genetics of medicine and that is to do a genome-wide association study to try and identify genes or modifications of genes which we call polymorphisms that are associated with certain expression of disease."

People infected with HIV have widely varying responses to their infection, with some falling sick quickly and others successfully fighting off full-blown AIDS for years or even decades.

One measurable difference is the level of circulating virus in the blood during the "stable" period after a person is infected but before he or she develops symptoms. This "viral load" is generally an indication of how well the person's immune system is fighting off the infection.

The new study searched for genetic differences that might explain variations in viral loads.
"One of the big questions in HIV is what are the determinants of the great variability in individuals being able to handle the virus. That's a big, big open question," Fauci said. "One of the ways to address that is to say look, there are some people whose viral set point, the level at which the body holds the virus in the absence of therapy, that varies enormously from person to person. We have no idea why that's the case. This study came up with three gene polymorphisms which appear to be associated very strongly with the ability to set the viral load.

The combination of those explains about 15 percent of the variation in viral load among patients."

"The approach that we've taken is to use these natural differences among individuals in how well they can control the virus after infection as a pointer to new ways to act against the virus," Goldstein said. "That variation is huge. Some can push viral levels so low they will never progress to AIDS, whereas others can hardly contain it."

It took the international team of geneticists 18 months to identify the three crucial genes. In the end, they identified 486 appropriate patients from a possible universe of 30,000 people worldwide, and did genome-wide scanning on these patients. The study participants could not be undergoing treatment (as this would affect viral load levels), they had to know when they became infected, and there had to be high-quality laboratory estimates of their viral load.

This was the first time a genome-wide approach has been used for an infectious disease, the researchers said.
Two of the gene variants -- or polymorphisms -- were found in genes controlling the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) system, which helps identify foreign invaders and tags them for destruction. These genes, HLA-A and HLA-B, are switched off by HIV when it enters the body so the immune system is no longer able to recognize the virus as foreign.

Research published in the May 13 issue of Nature Genetics also implicated the HLA-B gene. That study found that HLA-B, in combination with another gene, KIR3DL1, might confer some protection against AIDS progression.

But HIV doesn't seem to be able to shut off HLA-C, the third gene variant identified by the researchers behind the new study. "This had not been a focus of attention in the past because it was not known that it is important in the control of HIV," Goldstein said. "We've now implicated this part of the immune response as being important so it now becomes a focus."

"It might be that this gene represents a vulnerable point for HIV," he added. "As far as we know, HIV can't act against it."
The three gene variants identified in the study explain 15 percent of the variability in how well people contain their viral load. "In genetic terms, that's a lot," Goldstein said. "These are very important genetic effects."

The next CHAVI study will look at what factors might protect people from becoming infected with HIV in the first place.

More information
Visit CHAVI for more on cutting-edge HIV/AIDS research.

Cancer Vaccines Are Proving Their Mettle

(HealthDay News) -- Vaccines against deadly pancreatic and head and neck cancers are showing real promise and may one day become an important part of treatment, researchers report.
Researchers are also confirming that cervical cancer vaccines are both highly effective and long-lasting, according to two other studies.

All of the new findings were presented Tuesday at the American Association of Cancer Research's annual meeting in Los Angeles.

In one report, a team led by Andrew Lepisto, a postdoctoral researcher in the department of immunology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, presented the results of a phase I trial of a vaccine for pancreatic cancer.

In that trial, Lepisto's team gave an immune cell-based vaccine to 12 cancer patients who underwent surgery for pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest malignancies, because it is often caught too late

"Patients who are eligible for surgery represent about 20 percent of all pancreatic cancer patients," Lepisto said during a teleconference. The five-year survival rate after surgery is only about 20 percent, he added.

"The goal of the vaccine was to raise a strong immune response to prevent the cancer from coming back," Lepisto explained.

"We found that if we did the surgery and followed up with the vaccine, we extended patient's lives from a 20 percent five-year survival rate to over 42 percent," he said. "There are five patients who are long-term survivors."

Lepisto is planning to use the five surviving patients to understand how the immune vaccine extended their lives.

Another study was led by Sanjay K. Srivastava, an assistant professor in the department of pharmacology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. His team found that an extract of triphala -- the dried and powdered fruits of three plants -- caused pancreatic cancer cells to die in mice.

"Our results demonstrate that triphala has strong anticancer properties given its ability to induce apoptosis [natural, programmed cell death] in pancreatic cancer cells without damaging normal pancreatic cells," Srivastava said in a prepared statement. "With follow-up studies, we hope to demonstrate its potential use as a novel agent for the prevention and treatment of pancreatic cancer," he added.

In a third presentation, a team at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine say they've developed a vaccine that uses parts of the immune system to target p53, which is a protein that suppresses tumor growth. The scientists used the vaccine to treat head and neck cancer cells.
"In cancer, p53 is either mutated or altered," Theresa Whiteside, a professor of pathology, immunology and otolaryngology, said during the teleconference. By targeting the unchanged parts of altered p53 cells with a vaccine that activates the immune process, her team was able to produce killer cells that destroyed tumor cells. The vaccine also boosted the supply of immune "helper cells," which help the killer cells do their job.

"We can generate killer cells and helper cells in patients with head and neck cancer," Whiteside said. "On the basis of this study, we have initiated a phase I clinical trial in patients with head and neck cancer," she said.

In two other presentations, researchers presented data on the benefit of widely publicized vaccines that prevent most cervical cancer. The vaccines do so by preventing infection with the major strains of human papillomavirus (HPV), thought to be the cause of most cervical malignancies.

In the first report, Dr. Stanley Gall, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Louisville, and colleagues reported that a new HPV vaccine made by GlaxoSmithKline was safe and effective.

"The vaccine was 100 percent effective in preventing precancerous lesions from HPV types 16 and 18 for up to five to six years," Gall said during the teleconference. These types of HPV account for about 72 percent of all cervical cancers, he said.

Overall, the vaccine showed 68 percent efficacy regardless of the type of cancer-causing HPV virus, Gall said. "The protection goes beyond what is expected from a vaccine that is targeted to type 16 and 18 alone," he said. "It protected against type 45 and 31 and also extended protection up to five years," he said.

In the other report, Dr. Darron R. Brown, a professor of medicine and infectious disease, at the Indiana University School of Medicine, and colleagues showed that the currently available vaccine, Gardasil, made by drug giant Merck, is 99 percent to 100 percent effective in preventing cervical cancer from HPV types 16 and 18. The study involved more than 12,000 women.

"In addition, 241 women who received Gardasil five years ago are still 100 percent protected from HPV 16 and 18 and have high sustained antibody levels," Brown said during the teleconference. "This is very encouraging," he said.

More information
http://dreddyclinic.com/integrated_med/cancer.htm

Breast Cancer Vaccine Shows Promise

(HealthDay News) -- U.S. scientists say they've developed a breast cancer vaccine that stimulates a powerful immune system response to tumor cells.

In mice, the "synthetic peptide" vaccine stimulated an anti-tumor T-cell response that identified and prevented the spread of breast cancer cells. T-cells are white blood cells that play an important role in immune response.

A team at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., tested the vaccine on female mice that had the cancer-producing oncogene HER-2/neu. The mice received the vaccine at the early stage of tumor development.

The vaccine either slowed or stopped the progression of breast cancer in all the mice, the team reported Tuesday at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in Los Angeles.

Because synthetic peptides alone do not usually trigger a strong immune response, the vaccine was given in combination with a "Toll-like receptor" stimulant, which mimics the way invading bacteria would spur the immune system into action.

"We found that we could train the immune system to recognize these synthetic peptides as dangerous foreign agents of the HER-2/neu gene by mimicking what the bacteria would do in your body. The body responded by killing everything that expressed HER-2/neu in high amounts," study author Dr. Pilar Nava-Parada said in a prepared statement.

Using this approach, it would likely take only one immunization to build an immune system response powerful enough to destroy a tumor.

To date, attempts at creating effective cancer vaccines have produced mixed results. This and other new studies suggest that scientists are moving closer to creating viable cancer vaccines, the Mayo researchers said.

More information about breast cancer.

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Multiple Sclerosis Drug Combats Vision Loss

(HealthDay News) -- A controversial multiple sclerosis drug called Tysabri also reduces vision loss associated with the disease by 47 percent, a new study found.

"Vision loss is probably one of the most disabling things that happens to people with MS," said lead researcher Dr. Laura J. Balcer, an associate professor of neurology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. "The exciting thing is, first, that we now have an eye-chart test that can pick that up and can show if treatments help vision. Second, this particular drug appears to help prevent vision loss."

In the study, Balcer's group looked at the results of two trials -- called AFFIRM and SENTINEL -- that included 2,138 people with relapsing MS. More than half the patients received Tysabri (generic name natalizumab) every four weeks for two years.

To evaluate eyesight, the researchers used a specially developed eye chart of low contrast letters. They found vision loss was reduced by as much as 47 percent among the people taking Tysabri, compared with those taking a placebo.

"Vision is one more dimension of MS that the drug helps," Balcer said. "It has already been shown that the drug reduces the rates of relapses and disability."

Balcer thinks that other MS drugs may have similar effects on vision, and there is now a test that can be included in trials to evaluate this. "Now, we can get to see how these other medications may help vision," she said.

The findings are published in the April 17 issue of the journal Neurology.

Tysabri's history has been marked by some controversy.

It received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval in November 2004, only to be pulled from the market three months later after several patients in clinical trials developed a rare but deadly viral infection of the brain called progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy. In June 2006, the FDA allowed the drug to return to the mart, but with strict conditions. According to the new guidelines, Tysabri can only be administered by approved doctors, infusion sites and pharmacies that register and comply with a patient-safety program designed by Biogen-IDEC, the maker of Tysabri, and approved by the FDA.

One expert thinks that despite the vision benefit, Tysabri should be reserved for patients with aggressive MS or those who failed other medications.

"This study confirms the benefits of this particular MS drug in relapsing MS patients," said Dr. Anne H. Cross, a professor of neurology at Washington University School of Medicine, in St. Louis. "In addition, it validates the use of a new vision test which is relevant to MS."
But the benefit to vision doesn't negate the risks associated with the drug, Cross said. "I don't think I will change my prescribing habits based upon this paper," she said. "I will probably continue to use it in the same type of patients I have been using it in in the past."

However, Nicholas LaRocca, the director of health care delivery and policy research at the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, said the new study provides additional insight into the benefits of the drug and may influence the decision whether to start using it or not.
"For patients who are on natalizumab or considering natalizumab, this gives them another piece of information to consider as they are trying to make their decision," he said.

According to the U.S. National Institutes of Health, multiple sclerosis is an unpredictable disease of the central nervous system that can range from relatively benign to somewhat disabling to devastating, as communication between the brain and other parts of the body is disrupted. Many researchers believe MS to be an autoimmune disease -- one in which the body, through its immune system, launches a defensive attack against its own tissues. In the case of MS, it is the nerve-insulating myelin that comes under assault.

More information
http://www.dreddyclinic.com/findinformation/mm/multiplesclerosis.htm

Steam & Sauna Bathing Offers Multiple Rejuvenating & Healing Benefits

Written by The International Steam Therapy Association

Part 1
Most people laugh when they hear that the Finnish Olympic team lugs a portable sauna with them wherever they go. However, the fair-haired Nordic athletes might be doing more than simply acting out a home-sick longing for the slender birch trees and island dotted lakes of the homeland. They could be on to a secret, non-drug-induced means of giving themselves an edge in the fierce competition of modern-day Olympics.

Although most people simply consider it a pleasant means of relaxation, sweat therapy might in fact have powerful heath-enhancing effects.

In the test of time is any measure, steam bathing has certainly withstood it. For thousands of years people of all cultures have indulged in the soothing warmth of sweat baths. The Romans are well-known for their elaborate baths. The wealthy of 200 B.C. India did not consider their mansion complete unless it included a bathhouse with a steam room. The Muslim Hamman, or bathhouse, with its domed, central steam chamber is stall an integral part of life in Muslim countries. A derivation of the Hamman, the Turkish bath, has been popular in Europe for centuries.

Today, steam and sauna facilities are an integral part of the hydrotherapeutic offerings at European and American spas, and steam rooms and saunas are a common feature of health clubs and public pools. Yet, there is surprisingly little awareness of the wide ranging benefits of steam and sauna bathing. There is evidence that these sweat-inducing treatments stimulate the immune system, improve circulation, and help the body to purge itself of impurities.
Hippocrates, the founder of Western medicine more than two-thousand years ago said, "Give me the power to create a fever, and I shall cure any disease."

Although often misunderstood as a symptom of disease, fever actually is a part of the body's natural healing response. Steam baths, sauna, and other heat-inducing treatments elicit similar healing responses in the body, and consequently are often called "artificial fevers".

During a fever, the functioning of the immune system is stimulated, while the growth of bacteria and virus is forced to slow down. The production of white blood cells, the primary agents of the immune system, is increased, as is the rate of their release into the blood stream. The generation of antibodies speeds up, as does the production of interferon, an anti viral protein that also has powerful cancer-fighting properties.

Apart from stimulating the immune system, fever slows down the proliferation of invading organisms by creating an inhospitable environment. At 104 degrees F., for example, the growth rate of the polio virus is reduced up to 250 times; at 106 degrees pneumococcus, a bacterium responsible for pneumonia, dies.

Part 2
Before the advent of antibiotics, syphilitics were often infected with malaria to prevent the spread of the disease. In addition, there is evidence that the frequent fevers of malaria might function as a cancer-protecting factor. Dr. Paavo Airola in his book, Worldwide Secrets of Staying Young relates the story of the Pontine swamps near Rome in Italy, which, until a few decades ago, were a breeding ground for malaria-carrying mosquitoes. The swamps were dried out, and the malaria disappeared. However, during the next decades, that area, which had before been almost free of cancer, saw an increase in cancerous diseases. After a generation, the cancer incidence level of that area had reached the level of the rest of Italy.

Malignant cells are selectively destroyed at temperatures of 106 to 110 degrees F., so the frequent fever attacks of people in the malaria-infected area might have mobilized the body's own defenses too frequently for a cancer to take hold.

Although the artificial fever induced by sweat therapy does not have the comprehensive effect of real fever, it still produces a striking effect on a number of bodily processes.

There is evidence that artificial fever works as an immune system stimulant by increasing the number of white blood cells in the body. In a 1959-review of studies on the effects of heat treatments, Mayo Clinic researcher Dr. Wakim and colleagues cite findings indicating that the number of white blood cells in the blood increased by an average of 58% during artificially induced fever. Researchers also have found increases in the activity of the white blood cells during induced fever.

In addition, as in the case of bodily induced fever, the raised temperature during the artificial fever reduces the growth rate of most bacteria and viruses, giving the immune system time to mobilize its own forces. Indeed, many regular steam or sauna bathers have experienced that a good, long sweat bath at the early onset of a cold or flu can help ward off the disease before in manifests as actual symptoms.

Apart from the immune system-stimulating effects of sweat therapy, many thought it as one of the most effective and painless detoxifying treatments available.

Dr. Veronica Butler, medical co-director at the Raj, a health center based on principles of Ayurveda, recommends herbalized steam baths, called swedenas, to clients as part of the ancient Ayurvedic purification treatment, known as panchakarma.

According to the classical Ayurvedic texts, for maximum results, a swedena or steam bath should be given while keeping the head cool and the client supine.

"A swedena clears the shrotas, the channels through which the biological intelligence flows," says Dr. Butler. "If impurities clog these channels, the flow of intelligence in the body becomes more susceptible to disease."

Part 3
Heat speeds up the chemical processes in the body, making steam and sauna bathing one of the simplest and most comfortable ways to rid the body of accumulated toxins. As the pores open up and the million of sweat glands start to excrete, the body rids itself of metabolic and other waste products. Sweat contains almost the same elements as urine, and for this reason, the skin is sometimes called the third kidney. It is estimated that as much as 30% of bodily wastes are eliminated by way of perspiration.

However, more than common metabolic waste products are secreted through the skin. Natural health practitioners often notice that when heavy smokers get a steam bath for a body wrap (where the body 'simmers' for up to 45 min. Under hot covers), they will leave a yellow residue on the towels. Reino Tarkianinen, President of Finlandia Sauna, reports that when the company replaces sauna benches from public baths, a thick, black layer of accumulated tar can be found underneath the benches.

In Finland, research is being done on the use of sweat therapy in the treatment of people who are chemically affected. The purifying effects of perspiration could also be behind claims that steam and sauna treatments can help cur or control such ailments as acne and arthritis.

Last but not least, steam and sauna bathing produces powerful therapeutic effects simply by increasing circulation. As the carrier of the rebuilding forces of the nutrients to all parts of the body, the bloodstream plays a crucial role in the maintenance of health.

Steam and sauna treatments have a stimulating effect on the cardiovascular system. The pulse rate increases from 75 beats per minute to between 100-150 beats per minute during a 15-20 minute treatment. This increases blood circulation, but not blood pressure, since the heat also causes the tiny blood vessel in the skin to expand, accommodating the increased blood flow. The dilation of the capillary vessels enables the bloodstream to carry great amounts of nutrients to the skin, enhancing the nutritive status of the skin. The flushed, youthful look that steam and sauna bathers maintain for up to several hours after treatment is due to this effect.

Which is the best way of taking a steam or sauna treatment?
First of all, it is good to be aware of the distinction between the two. Most people think of the heat of a sauna as dry heat and the heat of a steam room as wet, humid heat. This distinction is only partially correct. Sauna bathers in Finland splash water on the heated stones in the sauna, raising the humidity level to as much as 40%. Without that, the hot, dry sauna air can irritate the mucus membranes.

Part 4
In the hydrotherapeutic tradition used at European and America spas, sweat therapy is used in preparation for massage as a means of increasing the suppleness of the muscles and creating a deep sense of relaxation in body and mind. In the Ayurvedic tradition of India, which has gained popularity in the U.S. in recent years, steam treatments are part of the traditional purification treatment panchakarma, where they are used after massage to help the body get rid of toxins dislodged during the treatment.

Sweat treatments can also be enjoyed on their own, as a workout for the cardiovascular system, a deep-cleansing treat for the body, an immune system booster, and a soothing and invigorating refreshment for the mind.

There are a few precautions to keep in mind. Because of the increase in cardiovascular activity caused by the high heat, sweat therapy is not recommended for people with heart disease or other cardiovascular problems. Individuals with high blood pressure pressure should first consult their doctor.

In addition, the treatment is not advised for pregnant women, small children, or the elderly. Do not take a sweat treatment if you have a fever or an open wound. If you have been working out, be sure that your body has had time to cool down before exposing it to the heat of a sweat bath.

Limit treatment time to 10 to 15 minutes. Drink plenty of water of herbal tea before and after the sweat bath to replace fluids lost during the treatment. The sweat glands can secrete up to 30 grams of sweat per minute, or almost one pint per 15 minutes, so dehydration is a very real possibility, if you are not careful. Fatigue and other indications of dehydration can occur with as little as 1 to 2% loss in body weight.

The main thing to keep in mind is to enjoy the process. Do not push your body beyond its comfort level; the point is not to sweat it out the longest, but to allow your mind and body to luxuriate in this health-enhancing and invigorating miniature spa treatment.

Working up a sweat is one of our oldest folk remedies. "Give me an opportunity to create fever and I will cure any illness," said the Greek physician Paramenides two thousand years ago.

Today, besides creating a relaxing sense of well-being, relaxes and loosens muscles tissue, reducing daily buildup of tension and increasing muscle flexibility:
-boosts blood circulation, which helps aching and injured muscles to recover faster, because the stronger the flow of blood, the faster metabolic waste products are carried off. -stimulates vasodilatation of peripheral blood vessels, which relives pain and speeds healing of sprains and strains; -speeds up the metabolic processes of vital organs and endocrine glands resulting in a calorie loss of between 200 and 450 in a 20 minute session.

Part 5
According to Michael Marino, research associate at Lennox Hill Hospital's Institute of Sports Medicine and Athletic Trauma in New York City:
"….. heat exposure stimulates the hypothalamus, the gland that normally maintains and stabilizes body temperature to dissipate the excess heat. Heart rate increases as more blood flow is diverted from the inner organs towards the extremities of the skin. This automatic "cooling" reaction is actually a form of beneficial stress, a passive kind of cardiovascular exercise that helps to keep the body's system alert and functioning well."

The beneficial stress of heat on the heart is confirmed by physical fitness expert Bernard Gutin, Professor of Applied Physiology and Education at Teacher's College, Columbia University:
"Heat acts as a form of mostly beneficial stress on the body that produces physiological changes in heightened blood pressure, stepped-up heart rate and an increase in stress hormones."
According to Dr. Paavo Aviola, an author in health matters:

"The sauna increases the eliminative, detoxifying and cleansing capacity of the skin by stimulation of sweat glands. A steam bath provides a mild cleansing process for the skin as certain body fluids are released through the skin. It also promotes healthy skin tone and texture due to increased blood circulation."

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The Benefits of Steam Sauna and Ozone

The use of a sauna should be an important part of any detoxification program.

The sauna increases the eliminative, detoxifying and cleansing capacity of the skin by stimulation of the sweat glands and also promotes healthy skin tone and texture due to increased blood circulation.

Using the steam sauna with ozone allows the steam to surround the body and ozone can be introduced through the skin.

Humid heat opens the pores, which allows the ozone through the skin to the bloodstream, where it can travel to the fat and lymph tissue. It is very important to cleanse the lymph tissue of toxins and the ozone/steam sauna is the easiest and best way to accomplish this.

Artificially induced hyperthermia (rising body temperature results in the destruction of bacteria and viruses) combined with heavy sweating and a cleansing effect initiated by ozone will result in elimination of toxins accumulated mainly in the lymphatic system relieving the liver from the difficult task of dealing with them.

Through the centuries, men and women have used steam to purify the skin, soothe sore muscles, boost circulation and to simply relax.

The combined action of moist heat and ozone cleanse the lymphatic system, which carries 90% of the body's fluids.

Ozone brings oxygen to the tissues for enhanced health and vitality.

The combination of steam and ozone is a natural, effective way to promote a refreshing sense of well-being.

We believe that a an Ozone/Steam Sauna cabinet represents a pleasant and easy to follow form of body cleansing.

Benefits of ozone sauna: Relaxes and loosens muscles by reducing the buildup of lactic acid and increasing muscle flexibility. Oxidizes toxins so they can be eliminated through the skin, lungs, kidneys and colon.

Boosts blood circulation, helping injured muscles to repair quicker. Stimulates vasodilatation of peripheral blood vessels relieving pain and speeding the healing process. Eliminates bacterial and viral infections of all kinds.

Speeds up the metabolic processes of the inner organs and endocrine glands resulting in a loss of 200-450 calories in a 20 minute session.

Newest research shows steam hyperthermia an effective treatment for: * Detoxification programs * Immune system deficiencies * Pain management * Cancer * Arthritis * Stress and muscle tension * Increasing body metabolism * Elimination of toxins * Blood circulation

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Constipation and Acne

Constipation and acne are two problems affecting hundreds of thousands of people on a daily basis.

One hits you on the inside and the other on the outside. Could it be that more is going on with this unlikely pairing than you would first imagine?

When most people become constipated, they assume it’s just a momentary thing and they’ll soon become “regular” again. Likewise, when someone discovers a pimple or rash on their body, they usually throw some kind of drugstore cream on it and hope it goes away.

Usually, after a few days, the skin clears up and life turns back to normal. But it could very well be that constipation is leading to your skin blemishes, and that includes acne!

Constipation and Acne May Indicate Trouble
The human body is comprised mainly of water, about 55 to 60% in most adults. We already know it’s best to drink at least eight 8-oz. glasses of water a day.

If your body isn’t getting enough water, one of the first signs is constipation and acne or other skin blemishes.

Waste hardens within your colon and there are no fluids to lubricate its easy passage out of the body. You may also notice your skin begins to feel dry and cracks in certain places.

The lips, elbows and fingers are some of the first locations to notice the change. Spread all the moisturizer you want, but it’s not going to solve the problem because you must first hydrate from within.

Effects of Constipation
Another reason constipation and acne go hand in hand is the toxic effect constipation has on the body. When you’re constipated, your body isn’t getting rid of all the poisonous toxins normally expelled with a bowel movement. The toxins have nowhere to go, and they begin to accumulate before being reabsorbed into the bloodstream.

Then the toxins course through the body it goes into a state of emergency. The body senses these nasty poisons and begins trying to fight them off, trying to discover a way to detoxify itself. As a failsafe option, the toxins are expelled through the skin; but the acidic nature of the toxins causes the skin to become inflamed and thus develop acne.

If these toxins were left in the body indefinitely, they could eventually intensify to detrimental levels. Some signs you may be poisoning your system include bad breath and excess gas, bloating, depression, headaches, and “brain fog” or feeling like you can’t think clearly, and the aforementioned constipation and acne difficulties.

If your body is functioning properly and you are having regular bowel movements and eating the right foods, there is a very good chance acne can be reduced if not eliminated. Of course, the first step to changing your lifestyle involves becoming better educated. So, what foods, products or advice should one take to begin the transformation to better skin?

Positive Lifestyle Changes
Changing the way you look at food can be difficult, but it can be the most beneficial lifestyle shift you can make. Some foods aid in digestion and some can seize up the process. A high fiber colon healthy diet, with plenty of water consumption for the fiber to absorb in the colon, is one of the keys to controlling constipation and acne.

Foods Good for the Digestive System:
Fiber-rich fruits like apples, prunes, peaches, and raspberries
Fiber-rich vegetables like raw broccoli, cauliflower, kidney and lima beans, carrots, spinach, and Brussels sprouts
Whole grain cereals and breads (not enriched or bleached)
Protein-rich foods like fish, chicken, tofu, nuts, yogurt, and beans
Foods to Avoid:
You can’t have a good list without a bad list, so here are a few things you should avoid:
Caffeinated drinks
Foods with white flour or refined sugar (such as ice cream, cheese, processed foods, pizza, potato chips, etc.)
Heavy meats such as beef or pork
Alcohol
Chocolate

Cleansing the Colon
In order to regain control of your body, you need to clean it out and start fresh. The best way to accomplish this is with a thorough colon cleanse. Cleaning the colon, while it’s not a topic of everyday conversation, is one of the most important things you can do to help maintain your health and allow your body’s immune system to rebuild its strength. With a clean colon, your body can rid itself of the poisonous toxins causing constipation and acne as well as other health problems and skin conditions.

Oxy-Powder® is one of the most widely used colon cleansers; it gently cleans the colon with a unique formula of oxygenated magnesium, citric acid, and germanium-132. It thoroughly cleanses out deep-seated fecal matter, mucous, and sludge, leaving you feeling like a weight has been removed from your body. After removing all the garbage with Oxy-Powder®’s all-natural formula, your body can begin to rebuild a healthy environment within your colon for allowing good bacteria to grow in your digestive system.

As powerful as Oxy-Powder® is, it works gently enough so you don’t have to practically live in the bathroom. Once you finish the initial 7-day cleanse, you can help maintain your colon’s optimal health by following a regular maintenance program.

Helping to keep your body clean from the inside out offers many health benefits—mainly, reducing conditions such as bloating, excess gas, persistent fatigue, blurry vision, feeling heavy or lethargic, being overweight due to the accumulation of waste in the colon, and even chronic constipation.

So follow a healthful diet, stay well hydrated, get plenty of exercise, and be alert for signs such as constipation and acne symptoms as possible indicators something is not right in your normal digestive process.

more info at: http://www.dreddyclinic.com/products/oxypowder.htm

New Year, New Goal to Get Healthy

(HealthDay News) -- Have trouble sticking to that annual "get healthy" resolution every New Year? Experts at the International Council on Active Aging (ICAA) offer advice to help older Americans stay with the program in 2007.

To begin, schedule 15 minutes a day for the next four days to plan how you're going to get started. You can boost your motivation by getting a friend involved or by starting a club at your community center or place of worship.

Here are 10 tips for active, healthy aging:

• Buy a good pair of shoes. Comfortable, well-fitting shoes are essential. Foot pain is not a normal part of aging, says the American Podiatric Medical Association.
• Play games to keep your brain sharp. There are many different kinds of games -- such as trivia, memory and math -- and skill levels to suit all kinds of people. Games can also be a fun way to spend time with others.
• Go for walks, which will help improve lower body strength, maintain mobility and help prevent cognitive decline. Start easy and gradually increase your speed and distance. If you rely on a cane, walker or wheelchair, you can ask a friend to join you for outings.
• Do balance exercises to help you with everyday activities, such as reaching into cupboards. Good balance also helps prevent falls. Many exercise classes for older adults include balance training.
• Get your eyes checked. A study published this year in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that nearly all vision impairment in a large group of people older than 60 years could be improved with corrective lenses.
• Increase your physical activity. This can include yard and house work, walking to the store, or playing ball with the neighbor children. Make a weekly walking date with a friend, join a wellness center, community center, or a health club with programs geared to your interests and needs.
• Nurture relationships with family, friends and neighbors. These kinds of social connections are good for your emotional well-being.
• Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables.
• Laugh a lot. Laughing increases circulation, immune system defenses and mental function.
  Get seven to eight hours of sleep per night. If you have trouble falling or staying asleep, make a few changes such as: skipping daytime naps; adopting a nighttime routine; starting a regular exercise program. Changing habits does more to improve sleep than taking medications.
• You don't have to do all these things at once, the ICAA said. Start trying them over the next few months.

More information
The U.S. National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion has more about healthy aging.

Marathoners Run a Greater Risk for Skin Cancer

(HealthDay News) --Marathoners face heightened odds for skin cancer, including melanoma, new European research shows.

The study "confirms things we already know," said Dr. Robin Ashinoff, chief of dermatologic, Mohs, and laser surgery at Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack, N.J. "We should be counseling these people to try and do their outside activities not when the sun is strongest, to wear a hat, T-shirt, long sleeves, and to put on sunblock. They're at high risk."

According to background information in the study, there is evidence to suggest that endurance exercise, including marathon running, may raise the risk of skin cancer. Not only are outdoor exercisers exposed to high levels of ultraviolet radiation, but endurance exercise may suppress the immune system.

"Anybody who spends a lot of time outdoors -- runners, bicyclists, golfers, tennis players -- all have a lot of sun damage," confirmed Ashinoff, who was not involved in the current study.

"People who spend more time in the sun have an increased melanoma risk," added Dr. Vijay Trisal, assistant professor of surgical oncology at City of Hope Cancer Center in Duarte, Calif.
Melanoma is one of the deadliest and most aggressive of all cancers. Other forms of skin cancer, such as basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, tend to be less deadly but can be disfiguring.

The study's Austrian authors, themselves avid runners, treated eight ultramarathon runners with malignant melanoma over the past decade. All of the melanomas were located on parts of the body that were not covered or were only partially covered by clothing during exercising.

For this study, the team from the Medical University of Graz recruited 210 marathon runners (166 of them men), aged 19 to 71, at a local marathon and compared them to a group of 210 controls recruited at a skin cancer screening campaign.

All participants were examined for skin cancer and completed a questionnaire about any personal and family history of skin cancer, sun sensitivity and sun exposure. Marathoners also answered questions about their training.

Controls were more sensitive to the sun (meaning they had lighter eyes and more sensitive skin types). But the marathoners had more dysplastic nevi (atypical moles, which can become malignant melanoma) and more liver spots. The more intense the training regimen, the more pronounced the abnormalities.

As a result of their participation in the study, 24 marathoners and 14 people in the control group were referred to dermatologists for possible non-melanoma skin cancer.

Most of the marathoners (96.7 percent) said they wore shorts and short-sleeved or sleeveless shirts. Only 56.2 percent said they regularly used sunscreen while training or competing, while 41.9 percent said they used it occasionally, and 1.9 percent said they did not use it at all.

Marathoners and other outdoor exercisers should follow some common-sense rules, Trisal said, such as "don't go out at midday, wear a wide-brimmed hat and a sunscreen of more than 15 SPF."

"Everything that makes you happy and feel good is, to some extent, good for your health. However, it is now well established that endurance exercise, and in particular marathons/ultramarathons, represent emergency states for the whole body," said Dr. Christina M. Ambros-Rudolph, study lead author and a dermatologist with the Medical University of Graz.

"Taking sunscreen alone is not enough as it can lose its power with sweating. It would be important to avoid training in sun-peak hours (11 a.m. to 3 p.m.) and wear reasonable gear that covers shoulders and upper back," she added.

Ambros-Rudolph and her colleagues are currently finishing a follow-up study.

More information
For more on skin cancer, head to the U.S. National Cancer Institute.

Immune Cell Insights Could Fight Arthritis, Lupus

(HealthDay News) -- Regulatory T cells, which "police" the immune system, are produced in the thymus and not from other circulating T cells, researchers report.

The study also provides new information about how mistakes made by regulatory T cells may contribute to autoimmune disease.

The findings suggest that it may one day be possible to control the early education of regulatory T cells in children in order to prevent autoimmune diseases, according to a team from the Medical College of Georgia.

It may also be possible to introduce new regulatory T cells into people with autoimmune disease, they said.

The thymus, a small organ located in the upper/front portion of the chest, is involved in the production and maturation of T cells during fetal development and childhood. Regulatory T cells direct the immune systems' roaming T cells.

Before regulatory T cells leave the thymus, they learn to distinguish between normal body tissue and invaders such as bacteria and viruses.

However, in some cases, regulatory T cells fail to learn how to recognize all the different kinds of normal body tissue, the Georgia group explained. This, along with environmental and other factors, can result in autoimmune diseases, where the body attacks its own tissues, the researchers said.

Lupus, arthritis, and type 1 diabetes are types of autoimmune diseases.

The MCG team found that, in mice, the regulatory T cell learning process in the thymus peaks in the first six weeks of life. That's about equivalent to the first 15 years of life in a human.

The early lessons, correct or not, learned by the regulatory T cells seem to last a lifetime.

The few cells that develop later in life will likely behave like the earlier cell.
The study was published in the August issue of the journal Immunity.

More information
The U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has more about the immune system.

Spleen Cells May Prove Effective Target for Lupus Treatment

(HealthDay News) -- Research done on mice specially bred to develop lupus has uncovered an area of the spleen that may give rise to the disease.

The area is called the marginal zone of the spleen and it appears that this is where B cells from the immune system go awry and turn into cells that attack the body's own tissues and organs, researchers say.

"This current work gives rise to new possibilities for targeted therapies that are perhaps much milder and more effective than current therapies," said the study's lead author, Thomas Enzler, a visiting scholar, internist and immunologist at the University of California, San Diego.

However, he was quick to add that it would be a long time before any such potential therapy could be available for humans.

Results of the study were published Thursday in the online edition of the journal Immunity.
Lupus is an autoimmune disease in which the immune system mistakenly attacks the body's tissues and organs. The disease can affect the joints, kidneys, lungs, brain, blood or skin.

As many as 1.5 million Americans have lupus, and the disease is far more common in women than in men, according to the Lupus Foundation of America (LFA).

Previously, researchers had developed a mouse version of lupus. These mice are bred to overproduce an immune system hormone (cytokine) known as B-cell activating factor (BAFF). In humans with lupus, the BAFF cytokine is often present in much higher-than-normal levels.

B cells produce antibodies. Normally, antibodies are produced to protect against viruses and bacteria. In the case of someone with lupus, however, the B cells produce autoreactive antibodies. This means the antibodies attack normal, rather than diseased, tissue.

When the mice overproduce BAFF, they develop lupus, though the mouse version isn't exactly the same as the human version.

The UCSD researchers transplanted some of the cells from the spleens of the marginal zone of the lupus mice into mice that didn't have their own B cells. Lupus-like antibodies began to develop in these mice immediately.

The researchers also removed the spleens of some of the lupus mice when they were in the early stages of developing the disease, or the scientists interrupted the production of the B cells. When they did this, lupus was diminished or prevented.

"It seems to be that the marginal zone is really important for developing autoimmune disease in transgenic mice," Enzler explained.

Dr. Joan Merrill, medical director of the Lupus Foundation of America and head of the clinical pharmacology research program at Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, said, "This is an exciting scientific paper."

But, Merrill said, people with lupus shouldn't rush to their doctors to remove their spleens. "If a lupus patient has a splenectomy, the disease doesn't go away," she said, explaining that sometimes lupus patients have to have their spleens removed due to complications of the disease, and it doesn't cure lupus.

She also pointed out that this study was done in mice and the human immune system doesn't work in exactly the same way as the mouse immune system does.

Still, Merrill added that with this study and other research, "We're beginning to unravel some of the mysteries surrounding lupus, and I'm cautiously optimistic about the future. We're trying to find better targets and develop better and safer medicines."

More information
To learn more about lupus, visit the Lupus Foundation of America.

Lupus Biomarkers Discovered

(HealthDay News) -- People with lupus have certain molecular biomarkers that aren't present in those without the disease, a small, preliminary study has found.

"There are currently no defined biomarkers for lupus," said lead researcher Dr. Nilamadhab Mishra, an assistant professor of rheumatology at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine, in Winston-Salem, N.C.

But, in their new study, Mishra and his colleagues found that people with lupus have changes in their micro-ribonucleic acids (microRNAs) that aren't found in people who don't have lupus. "We found 40 are differently expressed between lupus patients and controls," he said.

"RNA acts like a mold for proteins," to help determine what the form and function of genes' proteins will be, explained Dr. Joan Merrill, medical director of the Lupus Foundation of America.

Mishra presented the findings on Friday at the American College of Rheumatology meeting, in Washington, D.C.

Lupus is a chronic autoimmune disease that can damage the joints, kidneys, heart, lungs, brain, blood and skin, according to the Lupus Foundation of America (LFA). The LFA estimates that about 1.5 million Americans have the disease. It occurs 10 to 15 times more often in women than in men.

The disease can vary greatly in severity from person to person, and even for an individual. Some people with lupus have periods of time when no symptoms are present. Common symptoms include achy joints, frequent fevers, extreme and lasting fatigue, a skin rash and anemia.

There are no definitive diagnostic tests for lupus, and because symptoms can come and go, it often takes months, and possibly years, before a person can be diagnosed, according to LFA.

For the new study, the researchers compared the microRNA from five people with lupus to seven age- and sex-matched people without lupus. The people with lupus were not experiencing symptoms of the disease at the time of the study and were not taking commonly prescribed lupus medications during the study period.

The researchers found 40 microRNAs with a 1.5-fold difference in expression between the people with lupus and the control participants. Six microRNAs had a greater than 3-fold difference in expression.

"We hope we've found a biomarker that can be helpful for diagnosis and to help guide treatment," said Mishra, who added that it might also be possible to develop a new targeted treatment based on this and other research.

Said Merrill: "It looks like lupus patients are making funny RNA even when the disease isn't flaring."

Merrill cautioned that while this "novel research is very good research," it's a preliminary study done on a small group of people, and more work needs to be done.

Mishra said one of the next steps is to see if these microRNA changes are present in other autoimmune diseases, such as type 1 diabetes or rheumatoid arthritis, or if they are exclusive to lupus. He also agreed that the current work needed to be replicated in a larger trial.

"What's important is that there's a lot of research going on right now about the many tiny reactions that occur in lupus. Over the next few decades, we may develop medications that are strategic," said Merrill. "We're working on trying to fix a few small interactions between proteins, rather than wallop the whole immune system."

More information
To learn more about lupus, visit the Lupus Foundation of America.


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Mom-to-Daughter Gene May Help Spur Schizophrenia

(HealthDay News) -- Daughters with a specific immune gene that too closely resembles their mother's version of the gene are more likely to develop schizophrenia later in life, new research shows.
A developing fetus inherits one copy of the HLA-B gene from each parent. The HLA-B gene belongs to a family of genes that help the immune system distinguish between the body's own proteins and those made by viruses and bacteria.
In the study, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, analyzed DNA from 274 families, including a total of 484 children who'd been diagnosed with schizophrenia or a related disorder.
The study found that daughters whose HLA-B genes closely matched their mothers' HLA-B genes were 70 percent more likely to develop schizophrenia than other children. If this risk factor could be removed, up to 12 percent of cases of schizophrenia in daughters might be prevented, the researchers said.
The study is published in the October issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics.
"Our findings clearly suggest that schizophrenia risk rises, especially in daughters, when the child's HLA-B gene too closely matches its mother's. We don't know whether sons who match are not affected, or are more affected and less likely to come to term," Christina Palmer, UCLA associate professor of psychiatry and human genetics and a researcher at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, said in a prepared statement.
More information
The American Academy of Family Physicians has more about schizophrenia.

Research Yields Family Clues to Rheumatoid Arthritis

(HealthDay News) -- Women whose brothers are affected with painful rheumatoid arthritis are more likely to develop a severe form of the disease, new research shows.
The finding adds to growing evidence that genes play a key role in the autoimmune disorder, one expert said.

"The importance of this study is that it is beginning to show us how multiple genetic factors can interact and regulate the development and course of rheumatoid arthritis (RA)," said Dr. John Hardin, chief science officer of the Arthritis Foundation and a rheumatologist at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York.

He was not involved in the research, which is published in the October issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism.

According to the Arthritis Foundation, about two million people in the United States suffer from rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune, chronic inflammatory disease in which the joints can become extremely painful. In people with RA, the immune system has an abnormal response, mistaking the body's healthy tissue for a foreign invader and attacking it.

Dr. Lindsey A. Criswell, the new study's lead author and a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, explained that her team "compared the disease features among women who had no brothers with RA to the features of women with one or more brothers with RA."

The researchers focused on 1,004 affected members of 467 families in which two or more siblings have rheumatoid arthritis. "We compared features of the disease in all the men and all the women," Criswell said, trying to build on what is already known about sex differences in the disease.

They found that women whose brothers were affected with the painful form of arthritis in which the body "turns" on itself were more likely to have high levels of an antibody associated with the disease, she said. According to Criswell, this information could be useful to both physicians and patients to help predict the course of the disease.

It's already known that RA affects women three times as often as men, and that it strikes men later in life. While women develop RA anywhere from adolescence to menopause, it is rarely seen in men under age 45.

Criswell's team found that while the disease occurs later in men, male patients showed more signs of "erosive" disease. They were also more likely than women to test positive for rheumatoid factor and antibodies to "cyclic citrullinated peptides" or CCP, both hallmarks of the disease.

Men with RA were more likely to have a history of smoking and to have a gene called HLA-DRB1, a subtype of the genetic marker HLA-DR4, which is known to be associated with the disease. Women whose brothers had RA also had higher anti-CCP antibodies and were more likely to have this gene, compared to females whose brothers do not have RA, lending support to the idea that the disease runs in families.

According to the Arthritis Foundation, people with the genetic marker HLA-DR4 may be at increased risk of getting RA; the marker is found in white blood cells and helps the body differentiate between its own cells and foreign invading ones.

"It has been clear for a long time that RA runs in families," Criswell said. "But like many diseases, the genetic cause is complex. There is not a single gene that determines who will and won't get it but rather a number of genes. We have been facing a challenge of identifying multiple genes in addition to environmental factors."

Genetic information is helpful for a number of reasons. "[It] might influence how we treat them, and whether men or women are at greater risk," Criswell said. Family histories might also alert the doctor and the patient to expect the course of the disease to be more severe.

The study adds to our understanding of the disease, said Hardin. "We have [identified] two genes so far, but it's clear other genes are involved," he said.

The take-home message of the study is that patients should tell their doctor if they have a brother with the disease, Hardin said. Rheumatologists, too, should remember to ask patients if other family members have the disease.

More information
For more on rheumatoid arthritis, head to the Arthritis Foundation.