Fibrin and Alzheimer's Disease

Going back to the neuro articles the thing that really stands out to me is how fibrin is concsidered the new target for Alzheimer’s disease. Fibrin correlates to beta-amyloid protein build-up in Alzheimer’s. As the beta-amyloid protein accumulates so does fibrin. According to Justin Paul, a graduate student, and Sidney Strickland, head of the Laboratory of Neurobiology and Genetics, fibrin could be an important fighting tool against Alzheimer’s. Sidney and Paul have discovered “that brains of Alzheimer’s patients have increased fibrin levels,” a finding that had previously been unexplored.

The function of Alzheimer’s is damage to the barrier that blocks blood from percolating into the brain. This damage allows fibrin and other blood proteins to seep through.

The Experiment
The researchers performed various experiments, either decreasing or increasing the deposition of fibrin in the brain’s of mice. An enzyme from snake venom called ancrod, which causes the liver to clear fibrin from the bloodstream, was used to decrease fibrin. To increase it, they used tranexamic acid, which prevents the breakdown of fibrin clots.
The Results
The effects of the experiment were as predicted. The only knew information gained from it was the fact that beta-amyloid protein plaques in the mice’s brain did not change with fluctuating levels of fibrin. However, the inflammatory cells surrounding them did. “The number of microglia associated with each plaque - the number of the little inflammatory cells that get excited by fibrin deposition - are reduced when there’s less fibrin around, and increased when you can’t degrade the fibrin,” Paul says. Also, a decrease in fibrin using ancrod decreased the blood-vessel deterioration in the brain. “So reducing inflammation might be the link to preventing blood-brain damage, as well,” says Paul.
Final Quote
“Fibrin is a critical component for increased inflammation in Alzheimer’s disease. And fibrin and fibrinogen, based on our study, should be considered a new therapeutic target. Although, beta-amyloid may be the cause of Alzheimer’s, alternative approaches need to be considered,” according to Paul.

So Many Anti-inflammatory Products to Chose From

I am amazed at all the anti-inflammatory foods posted by my fellow classmates in this forum. I did some websuring just to see what other unusual things are claimed to have anti-inflammatory properties. Suprisingly and to my relief, I found that grass fed beef (as opposed to grain-fed) and other animal foods may offer some protection from inflammation. Meat from grass-fed animals supposedly has more omega-3 fatty acids while meat from grain-fed has none, but is not lacking in saturated fat. http://www.dlife.com/dLife/do/ShowContent/food_and_nutrition/top_10_anti_inflammatory_foods.html

Ashley F. mentioned green tea in her blog, but I am a white tea and aloe vera juice junkie.
There isn’t much difference between green and white tea. Tea leaves destined for white are just harvested earlier than green tea(before the leaves open). I have a preference for white tea because it tastes purer than its green counterpart, has less caffeine, and it undergoes less processing than green tea, therefore it retains much of its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Green tea is indicated for reduction of the inflammation associated with arthritis, cardiovascular disease, and skin diseases such as psoriasis. Unfortunately, scientific evidence of the anti-inflammatory benefits of white tea is very limited and is only based on consumption in cultural population.

Unfortunately, like the info on grass-fed livestock, I could not find any primary literature on aloe vera products. What I did find was that aloe vera juice (according to studies I couldn’t find) regulates some components of the Immune system by reducing the incidence of inflammation in the kidneys, and digestive tract, reducing blood flow to tumors, and preventing carcinogens from entering the liver. http://www.ageless.co.za/herb-aloe.htm

I am saddened by the fact that there is so mch hype about foods with anti-inflammatory properties, but not many physicians are taking heed to these benefits and are very quick to prescribe a pill. Instead they should place heavy emphasis on diet and lifestlye changes (if one's physical health can be salvaged-which is almost always the case).

Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients At Higher Risk For Unrecognized Heart Disease And Cardiac Sudden Death

Doctors and researchers at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn have proven studies that patients with rheumatoid arthritis are at a much greater risk for unrecognized heart disease and cardiac sudden death.

* The risk of heart attack is already there at the time a rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis is first made.

* Heart disease can remain silent in those with rheumatoid arthritis. Regular cardiac checkups are important, as is lowering traditional cardiac risk factors, such as taking care of blood pressure and cholesterol and quitting smoking.

* Heart disease in rheumatoid arthritis patients can manifest for the first time as a cardiac sudden death.

This may be because these two diseases have common origins, however the fact that the diseases are multifactoral, is the only known fact. Oftentimes, rheumatoid arthritis patients seek medical attention for unrelated symptoms, and upon ordering an electrocardiogram for a patient, revealed a past 'silent heart attack.' Perhaps patients with rheumatoid arthritis have such severe and constant joint pain, that prescribed medications are allowing them to not be as responsive to chest pains. "We suspect that the systemic inflammation that characterizes rheumatoid arthritis also promotes cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular death," says Sherine Gabriel, M.D. There are still ongoing studies and research to explain this phenomena and means to prevent increased risk.

For full article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/02/050204121639.htm

DAA, PPAR + MCP-1

After reading 'Active spice-derived components can inhibit inflammatory responses of adipose tissue in obesity by suppressing inflammatory actions of macrophages and release of MCP-1 from adipocytes' article, i found another article that talks about a substance inhibiting MCP-1 activity. Dehydroabietic acid (DAA) is an abietic acid derivative contained in Terpenoids of many herbal and dietary plant substances. An experiment done by M-S Kang et al showed that DAA acts as an agonist of PPARs (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors), which is a ligand-activated nuclear transcription factor that regulate lipid metabolism and homeostasis. PPAR-gamma subtypes has been shown to mediate anti-inflammatory effects on macrophages once it is activated so if DAA stimulates PPAR-gamma subtypes release by binding to its receptor then it can induce anti-inflammatory response on macrophages thereby inhibiting the pro-inflammatory cytokine release from macrophages. From their experiment, they found that DAA does indeed inhibit the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-alpha) and chemokine (MCP-1). Since DAA activates PPAR, which is important on lipid metabolism and homeostasis, its a valuable medicinal and food component for regulating the inflammatory changes in obese individual.



http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T99-
4RP0MX3-1&_user=56761&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=
d&view=c&_acct=C000059541&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=
56761&;md5=3f210d5eace7bc095185f91066c889ea

Maybe we can learn from Ayurvedic medicine

After reading the article “Turmeric extracts containing curcuminoids prevent experimental Rheumatoid arthritis” by Janet Funk I wanted to find out a little more about Ayurvedic medicine. In particular I wanted find out what other herbs they believe to have helpful or healing powers. I found a list on Wikipedia called the “list of herbs and minerals in Aryuveda, and most of them have the therapeutic use that Aryuvedas are claiming. I think we could take notes from their culture on some things and not on other things.

For example camphor, is a herb that they use for thirst, obesity, burning sensations, throat problems, asthma, excessive sweats and a few other things. I personally identify it as the main ingredient in moth repellents, however; it has other uses such as embalming, fireworks and rust preventative coating.

It is amazing to see the use of this one herb from one spectrum to another, how it can “help” a person and how it can enhance man made materials in a completely unrelated way.

The website with the list

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_herbs_and_minerals_in_Ayurveda

Metal and Vitamin Toxicity

I have a strong interest in integrative medicine and I think complimenting modern medicine with Ayurvedic practices is a good idea. But upon doing some research I think there is an area where people should limit their intake. The Center for Disease Control found that, “Some Ayurvedic medicines contain metals and minerals that can lead to toxicity of the liver. “During 2000-2003, a total of 12 cases of lead poisoning among adults in five states associated with ayurvedic medications or remedies were reported to CDC.”
MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2004 Jul 9;53(26):582-4.
Another study found that herbs, minerals and metals have led to cases of, “status epilepticus,5 fatal infant encephalopathy,6 congenital paralysis and sensorineural deafness,7 and developmental delay.8 Since 1978, at least 55 cases of heavy metal intoxication associated with Ayurvedic HMPs in adults and children have been reported in the United States and abroad. JAMA. 2004 Dec 15;292(23):2868-73.
The medicines that were found to contain it were; Bal Chamcha, Bala Guti, Bala Sogathi, Balguti, Kersaria, Gesari, Karela, Maha Sudarshan Churna, Mahalakshmi Vilas Ras, Navratna Rasa, Safi, Shilajit, Swarna.
So I would take some caution taking more than the prescribed dosage on these medications.
Also I think this applies to any vitamin or mineral. People have the same problem when they take too much vitamin D. It can lead to vitamin toxicity. Sometimes people think the more vitamins the better but that is not true in this case.

Turmeric: The Magical Antioxidant and Anti-inflammatory Spice

Since most of the articles this week focused on spices, I did some more research on anti-inflammatory spices. I found that the top 12 anti-inflammatory spices are Ginger, Turmeric, Black Pepper, Cinnamon, Rosemary, Basil, Cardamon, Chives, Cilantro ,Cloves, Garlic, and Parsley. There seemed to be the most information on Turmeric though. Turmeric is a spice that belongs to the ginger family and it is found in curry. Along with turmeric's role as an anti-inflammatory to treat arthritis, people also use it for other health conditions. Turmeric is an antioxidant that can help prevent cancer and can protect vital organs. It can also be used to treat digestive problems or be made into a paste to help treat skin problems such as cuts, scrapes, acne, and diaper rashes. The website suggested taking 1.5-3g of turmeric a day to help with digestive problems, but for the anti-inflammatory effects you need to take 3-5 g 3 times a day (that doesn't sound so pleasing to me). It's usually taken in by dissolving the powder in water or tea. It can also be dissolved in oils and applied to the skin where it penetrates through follicles and sweat glands. Turmeric has been used for a long time in Chinese medicine and many people believe it is effective. This is more of a recent subject in western medicine that should be studied a lot further. In the mean time we should start dumping turmeric powder in our drinks....who's gonna bring it to frog & firkin?
You can see the turmeric article here http://www.pureinsideout.com/turmeric-curcuma.html
Thanks for a great semester Dr. Cohen!

Turmeric As An Antiinflammatory

Turmeric is a perennial native to Asia that has been used in traditional medicine for the treatment of inflammatory disorders. This experiment studied its efficacy of curcuminoid-containing turmeric extracts in prevention/treatment of Rheumatoid arthritis. An essential oil-depleted turmeric fraction(41% of the three major curcuminoids) was effective in preventing joint inflammation in both the acute and chronic destructive phases of arthritis when treatment was started before the onset of inflammation. The problem was that it had no significant impact when started after the onset of inflammation. Another sample containing 94% of the curcuminoids was better in preventing arthritis. Daily low doses inhibited joint inflammation in both the acute and chronic phases. The arthritic inhibition was close to that caused by a six-fold higher dose of the turmeric fraction. The results suggest that the “extra” components of the turmeric fraction, other than the major curcuminoids, may work against the protective action of the curcuminoids. The curcuminoids appear to be responsible for the antiarthritic effect. Take home message=if you have arthritis, Asia is the place to be….just kidding. I made this short and sweet due to exhaustion but if you have any questions, feel free to post...Have a great summer! Happy Graduation to all who have completed!!!

Strawberry, bitter melon juices + anti-inflammatory

Since we're doing anti-inflammatory for the last weeks of the semester i thought id look up easily accessible foods that has anti-inflammatory effects. I found an article by J-Y. Lin and C-Y Tang who conducted an experiments on strawberries, loquat, mulberry and bitter melon juices to examine their anti-inflammatory effects on LPS-stimulated peritoneal macrophages cultures taken from mice. Lin and Tang chose these fruits/vegetable because of their properties that exhibit anti-inflammatory responses from previous experiments. It has been found that fruits such as strawberries contain compounds that inhibits COX activity and have demonstrated that it has an anticancer activity as well while mulberry fruit extracts inhibit atherosclerosis on rats in cholesterol-rich diets and bitter melon are used in traditional medicine by Asian countries as treatment for diabetes. What they found was that

The fruit juice extracts were taken from strawberry, loquat, mulberry and bitter melon bought from a supermarket in Taiwan. Peritoneal macrophages were taken from mice and divided into 3 different LPS-induced inflammation models. Model A was an inflammation-prophylactic cell culture (peritoneal macrophages were exposed to 0, 10 and 500 microgram/ml concentration of fruit juices before LPS stimulation), model B was designed where peritoneal macrophage cell cultures were first stimulated with LPS then administered 0, 10 and 500 microgram/ml concentration of fruit juices and model C was designed to examine the effects of fruit juice administration to cell upon cytokine production clearance with simultaneous acute LPS stimulation. What they found was that loquat, bitter melon and mulberry administration significantly decreased levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines while strawberry (along with the other fruits/veg.) increased IL-10 production in dose-dependent experiment model A. Administration of bitter melon and loquat also significantly increased IL-10 production in model C, suggesting that strawberry, loquat, mulberry and bitter melon all have prophylactic anti-inflammatory properties by decreasing pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1beta, IL-6 and TNF-alpha) and increasing anti-inflammatory cytokine (IL-10) production in LPS-induced inflammation in mice peritoneal macrophages.

So, eat your fruits and vegetables :)!

http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy1.library.arizona.edu/ehost/detail?vid=2&hid=114&sid=194fc15b-49fb-421c-a4b9-411eb893a794%40sessionmgr107

Bee Venom; Antinociceptive and Anti-inflammatory?

I remember reading an article earlier in the semester that used Bee Venom as an alternative treatment for patients suffering with MS. Now it's potentially helpful in arthritis?
The paper "Bee Venom Pretreatment Has Both an Antinociceptive and Anti-inflammatory Effect of Carrageenan-Induced Inflammation", Lee et.al. provided some very interesting informmation that under normal conditions, bee venom is nociceptive. This statement seems very vague for reasons as follows. Does the bee venom have to bee administered directly to the site of inflammation or does it have peripheral effects as well? I was under the impression that there is most likely always inflammation occurring somewhere in every person at any given time so would this deter the bulk of individuals from being under normal conditions?
On another note, I would like to thank SarahD for better defining Fos and Carrageenan (CR); I wasn't too sure what they were, so thanks for clearing that up.
Researchers used CR to induce inflammation in rat models proceeding Bee Venom injection. To my surprise they acutally found that bee venom was successful in suppressing inflammation; aside from creating a small response of its own such as irriation at the injection site, etc.
It just tickles me to think that cures for some common diseases could be right under our noses or in our gardens.

Carrageenan and Fos

While reading the article outlining the antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory effects of bee venom, I realized I had no idea what carrageenan or Fos were. These were both key components of the paper and so I decided to define both terms as best I could in order to clarify for any other uniformed people like myself. :)

Carrageenans are a group of substances composed of linear sulphated polysaccharides extracted from red seaweed. This group of items is utilized in many varying fields. One use of carrageenan is as a thickening, gelatin like substance in many foods. There are three main commercial classes of carrageen, which include the lota gels, kappa gels, and lambda gels. This latter type of carrageen forms a gel when mixed with proteins, and is also the type of carrageen used in the experiments regarding the anti-inflammatory properties of bee venom. Lambda carrageenan solution of 1-2% causes inflammation, swelling, and pain in when injected into animal experimental models.

I had a hard time finding a definition for Fos. What I did find is that Fos is a protein found within the body that is usually at a low concentrations until a neuron is activated by an external stimulus, such as pain. I also found that Fos expression can increase with other factors as well, such as metabolic changes. I am actually wondering if anyone can give me a clearer definition on what Fos actually is.

Popularity of Bee Venom Treatment

I find it very interesting that so many people are willing to be treated with bee venom to cure their ailments. Many people even prefer it to western medicine, or at least many people, especially in Asia find it an affordable alternative to mainstream health care. I'd like to encourage everyone to read the information on the alternative medicine of bee sting venom and its popular use at the following website: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16751949/

I find the topic of alternative medications quite interesting, because I really believe that at least some of what people have found over time to work against disease must have a foundation. I am definitely not stating that every all natural cure out there is THE cure to all diseases, but I like that the papers this week look into spices and bee venom as possible means to curing or preventing disease.

Oil Pulling Therapy: Effective Natural Detoxification, Stimulation of Elimination, Self-Help Cure and Prevention of Many Diseases Including Cancer?

Over the weekend I was talking to a friend that told me about an oil detox treatment. I was curious about it and decided to investigate more on this treatment. The name of the treatment is Oil Pulling Therapy.

Oil Pulling Therapy consists of thoroughly sloshing certain types of common oils (sunflower or sesame) in the mouth for approximately 20 minutes. Swishing is believed to activate the enzymes that draw toxins from the blood. This practice is believed to remove toxins and destroy natural mouth germs while stimulating the body's eliminatory system and increasing metabolism which leads to improved health. According to Dr Karach, a naturopath, the therapy has both preventative and curative effects.
Lothar Hirneise’s, a new cancer treatment center in Germany, prescribes oil pulling as part of the daily morning routine in conventional and alternative cancer treatment

Dr. Karach claims that oil pulling has healed illnesses such as bronchitis, tooth pain, diseased teeth, headaches and migraines, eczema, thrombosis, chronic sleeplessness, arthritis & related illnesses, diseases of stomach and intestines (ulcers, peritonitis), kidney, liver, and heart disease, blood disorders (chronic blood disease like leukemia), woman’s diseases and hormonal disorders, and disease affecting the nervous system (such as encephalitis, meningitis, neuro-physiological paralysis). It has been also claimed to prevent the growth of malignant tumors, to be a heart attack preventative, to cure disease brought about toxic drugs, and it is also thought to cure diabetes. Dr. Karach claims to have cured a patient with chronic blood disease of 15 years using this oil therapy. He also claims it increases human lifespan. And, in terminal diseases such as cancer, Aids and chronic infections, this therapy has helped symptoms disappear without side effects.

Patients with more than one disease tend to experience a worsening of the symptoms initially which is a sign (according to naturopaths) that the disease is disappearing.

Oilpulling.com claims that the therapy can cure acute diseases in two to four days, while chronic disease will take more time. Some times even more than a year.

According to the article, in 1996 the Indian Daily Newspaper, conducted a survey among its reader regarding the effect of oil pulling. 1041 readers responded, 927 of them reported healing effects (one of more diseases), 114 did not report any disappearance of disease. Some of the chronic diseases reported cured were:

-Diseases like polio, cancer, leprosy, polycystic kidney, neural fibroma, paralysis: 72 cases.
-Female reproductive diseases: 21 cases
-Diabetes: 56 cases
-Heart Disease and blood pressure: 74 cases
-Arthritis and joint pains: 91 cases
-Digestive system: 155 cases
-Allergy and respiratory diseases: 191 cases, and more.

According to the article, no one has done any placebo-controlled double-blind studies on the benefits of oil pulling so any published material on this topic can easily be dismissed a as simple anecdotes based on the powerful placebo effect.

There is a lot of information regarding OP but non of the articles that I found explained the physiological effect of this therapy.

Here are some of the articles I found related to this topic (and there is a lot more):
http://www.healingcancernaturally.com/detoxification-oil-pulling.html
http://www.earthclinic.com/Remedies/oil_pulling.html
http://www.oilpulling.com/
http://www.thecolonet.com/colonet_newsletter.pdf
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/24247

Green Tea, Does it increase efficacy of antibiotics???

To add to the previous post of natural alternatives as anti-inflammatory, here is an article discussing a natural healthy approach to increasing the efficacy of antibiotics. I happened to come across this article from discoveryhealth.com and thought it might be of some interest since there have been many encouraging words from multiple sources about the benefits of green tea in ones daily diet.

Green Tea Boosts Antibiotics for Superbugs (3-21-2008)

Green tea can help antibiotics be three times more effective in fighting drug-resistant bacteria, even superbugs, according to a study by researchers at Alexandria University in Egypt.

Green tea is common in Egypt, and it's likely that many people there drink it while taking antibiotics.Therefore, the researchers wanted to determine if green tea would decrease or increase the effectiveness of antibiotics or have no effect.

"We tested green tea in combination with antibiotics against 28 disease-causing microorganisms belonging to two different classes," Dr Mervat Kaseem, of the university's pharmacy faculty, said in a prepared statement. "In every single case, green tea enhanced the bacteria-killing activity of the antibiotics. For example, the killing effect of chloramphenicol was 99.99 percent better when taken with green tea than when taken on its own in some circumstances."

Kaseem and colleagues also found that green team made 20 percent of drug-resistant bacteria susceptible to cephalosporin antibiotics, an important type of antibiotics to which new drug-resistant strains of bacteria have evolved resistance.

In almost every case and for all types of antibiotics they tested, the researchers found that drinking green tea at the same time as taking the antibiotics appeared to increase the action of the antibiotics and reduce drug resistance in bacteria. In certain cases, even low concentrations of green tea were effective.

The study was to be presented Monday at a meeting of the Society for General Microbiology in Edinburgh, Scotland.

"Our results show that we should consider more seriously the natural products we consume in our everyday life," Kaseem said. "In the future, we will be looking at other natural herb products such as majoram and thyme to see whether they also contain active compounds which can help in the battle against drug resistant bacteria."

article taken from: http://health.discovery.com/news/healthscout/article.html?article=614042&category=3&year=2008