H1N1 Shot Blamed For Rare Disorder
February 23, 2010
AOL News
A Calgary woman regrets getting the H1N1 shot after her doctor told her it likely caused a rare and painful disorder.
Norma Goldring said she felt compelled to get an H1N1 vaccine because she is diabetic and has had a heart attack, two factors that Alberta Health noted as putting people at higher risk for serious complications from swine flu.
But soon after getting the shot last winter, Goldring felt ill.
“My body was aching and I was throwing up. Then I developed a spot on my leg,” she said.
The rash spread quickly and Goldring ended up in hospital on Christmas Day. “By the time I got to emergency, it spread pretty bad and turned to blisters.”
Her kidneys were shutting down. Doctors eventually diagnosed it as vasculitis, an inflammation that destroys blood vessels.
Her doctor, who asked not to be named, concluded it was probably connected to the H1N1 shot. Goldring, according to her doctor, is one of only 31 people since 1974 to have had this type of reaction to a flu shot.
Won’t get shot again, says Goldring
Now, even using a walker to get from her living room to her kitchen causes her excruciating pain. She is on pain killers and steroids.
“It was like I was put through a fire. It was like someone lit me on fire,” she said.
Goldring said she won’t get a flu shot again. Desmond Fordyce, her partner, said he is worried the vaccine wasn’t tested properly before widespread public vaccinations began.
“I think they’re killing you more than giving you something for making you better,” he said.
Dr. Glen Armstrong, head of the microbiology and infectious diseases department at the University of Calgary, said the H1N1 vaccine is safe. “It’s very clear that the benefits of having people get vaccinated, far, far outweigh the risks of the very small number of adverse reactions to the vaccine.”
So far, 25 million doses of the vaccine have been distributed across Canada. Nearly 6,000 H1N1 shots resulted in an adverse reaction, of which more than 200 were considered serious. Health officials are investigating 13 post-shot deaths.
Alberta health officials told CBC News they have talked to Goldring’s doctor and will continue to investigate what happened in her case.
The province has seen 1,276 people hospitalized with H1N1 since April 2009 and 71 deaths have been connected to the virus.
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Green Tea Halts Growth of Prostate Cancer Tumors
February 5, 2010
Natural News
By David Gutierrez
An extract made from one of the main antioxidants found in green tea may be able to slow the progression of prostate cancer, according to a study conducted by researchers from Louisiana state University and published in Cancer Prevention Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.
Researchers gave 26 prostate cancer patients between the ages of 41 and 68’s four capsules of day of Polyphenon E, an extract of epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) made by Polyphenon Pharma. EGCG is a powerful antioxidant to which many of the health benefits of green tea have been attributed. The dosage given to the participants in the study was equivalent to that acquired from drinking 12 cups of green tea per day.
After 12 weeks, the researchers found that levels of the prostate cancer markers Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and prostate specific antigen (PSA) had fallen by an average of 18.9 percent, 9.9 percent and 10.4 percent, respectively, indicating a slowed progression of the disease.
PSA is a marker of inflammation, and indicates disease severity in prostate cancer patients. HGF and VEGF are both produced by prostate tumors as they spread to other parts of the body.
In some patients, HGF and VEGF levels fell as much as 30 percent upon treatment with the EGCG extract.
The researchers were cautiously optimistic about the study findings.
“It’s still in an early stage,” researcher Jim Cardelli said. “Green tea can keep cancer from growing very fast, but it may not be able to shrink tumors. But it can be a good addition to traditional therapies, like chemo (chemotherapy) or radiation.”
Researchers do not know whether the same effects could be seen in other cancers, but the antioxidants in green tea have previously been linked to a reduced risk of a variety of cancers, skin and autoimmune conditions, cardiovascular disease and inflammation.
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Herb May Treat Chemotherapy Liver Damage
December 15, 2009
U.S. News
By Steven Reinberg
Chemo drugs
often cause liver inflammation, making it necessary to lower the dose or suspend treatment until the inflammation subsides. These interruptions in therapy can make treatment less effective, the researchers said.
“We found that milk thistle, compared to placebo, was more effective in reducing inflammation,” said lead researcher Dr. Kara Kelly, from New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center’s Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center in New York City.
“If these results are confirmed, milk thistle may allow us to treat liver inflammation or prevent it from occurring, which will allow better delivery of chemotherapy drugs,” she added.
The report is published in the Dec. 14 online edition of Cancer.
Milk thistle, a longtime folk remedy, is often recommended to treat liver damage and mushroom poisoning. No other treatment for liver toxicity exists, Kelly said.
For the study, Kelly’s team randomly assigned 50 children undergoing chemotherapy for acute lymphoblastic leukemia to receive milk thistle or a placebo for 28 days. All the children had liver inflammation at the start of the study.
Twenty-eight days later, the children who had received milk thistle had improved liver enzymes, compared with the children who received a placebo, the researchers said.
The milk thistle group had significantly lower levels of one enzyme in particular, AST, and a trend towards lower levels of another enzyme called ALT, Kelly’s group found.
In addition, milk thistle appeared to help patients tolerate higher doses of chemotherapy. Sixty-one percent of the children receiving milk thistle needed dose reductions, compared with 72 percent of the children receiving placebo, but this difference is not significant, the researchers noted.
Related lab experiments showed the herb did not lessen the effectiveness of the chemotherapy drugs, and Kelly thinks milk thistle might reduce liver inflammation for patients with other cancers who are taking other types of chemotherapy as well. Further research is needed, she said, to determine the appropriate dose and duration of milk thistle therapy.
Her team also hopes to evaluate the herb’s ability to prevent chemo-induced liver inflammation.
Still, some experts remain unconvinced about the herb’s value in cancer treatment. Dr. Julio C. Barredo, director of pediatric hematology-oncology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, said that the study’s small size, the low doses of milk thistle used and the short time frame of the study make the findings inconclusive.
Also, there was no difference in the delay of treatment in either group, he said.
“Improvement in one liver enzyme did not lead to patients who received the drug being delayed less than patients who received placebo in getting their chemotherapy,” Barredo said.
“I don’t think that you could recommend that people go and take this supplement when they are taking chemotherapy from the results of this study,” Barredo said. “Maybe a larger study, using a higher dose is warranted.”
Liver inflammation from chemotherapy usually abates when treatment stops or doses get reduced, Barredo added.
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Treating Cystic Fibrosis Naturally with Antioxidants
December 7, 2009
Natural News
By S.L. Baker
In addition to the suffering and death they cause, cystic fibrosis (CF), diabetes, heart disease, and neurodegeneration (any disease process that involves the death of brain cells) have something else in common: scientists believe they are inflammation-based disorders. Now comes word that researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered that a natural antioxidant, thiocyanate, found in certain vegetables including broccoli and cauliflower, might treat and even prevent these chronic health problems. Bottom line: it appears thiocyanate protects cells from damage generated during the body’s inflammatory response to infection and injury.
In a study published in the November edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a University of Pennsylvania research team headed by physiology professor Zhe Lu, MD, PhD, used cell culture studies and a synthesis of known antioxidant biochemistry to show that thiocyanate protects cells against potentially harmful chemicals — hydrogen peroxide and hypochlorite (the active ingredient found in household bleach) — produced internally when the body is injured or fighting an infection. Moreover, they found that thiocyanate specifically protects cells from hypochlorite damage when that chemical is produced in immune system reactions involving an enzyme dubbed myeloperoxidase (MPO).
The researchers pointed out that thiocyanate is obtained naturally through a diet containing cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli. Blood levels of thiocyanate in the general population have been found to vary greatly, from 10 to 140 micromolars. So what happens if people don’t take in enough thiocyanate through their diets? In their paper, Dr. Lu and colleagues speculate that a lack of the antioxidant causes additional collateral damage to cells during times of inflammation. That could worsen inflammatory diseases and predispose humans to diseases linked to MPO activity, including atherosclerosis and diabetes.
For example, type 2 diabetes is associated with elevated blood levels of MPO and the University of Pennsylvania researchers noted that MPO-induced injuries to pancreas cells and endothelial cells used in their experiments were greatly reduced by adding relatively small amounts of thiocyanate. This finding raises the possibility that MPO contributes to diabetes if there is not an adequate amount of thiocyanate in the body.
What’s more, the new findings could be particular useful in the search for a treatment for CF, an inherited chronic disease that affects the lungs and digestive systems of about 30,000 children and adults in the US. CF results from a defective gene and its protein product that cause the body to produce unusually thick, sticky mucus which clogs the lungs and results in life-threatening lung infections. In fact, lung injuries caused by excessive inflammation and recurring infections cause about ninety percent of CF patients’ symptoms and mortality. Dr. Lu’s findings suggest that the lungs of people with the disease are more susceptible to the damaging effects of cellular oxidants so thiocyanate might potentially be helpful in treating the disease.
“In light of the obvious implications of this protective action of thiocyanate against the cell-damaging effect of MPO activity with regard to both CF disease and general population health, my colleagues and I will vigorously investigate the potential health benefit of thiocyanate,” Dr. Lu said in a statement to the press. “Until the research community acquires a better understanding of both positive and negative impacts of thiocyanate on human health, it would be unwise for anyone to self-administer thiocyanate because like many other chemicals, thiocyanate has adverse side effects at improper doses and/or under inappropriate conditions.”
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Car Brakes can Emmit Harmful Fumes
November 23, 2009
BioMed Central
By Graeme Baldwin
Particles from car brakes harm lung cells
Real-life particles released by car brake pads can harm lung cells in vitro. Researchers writing in BioMed Central’s open access journal Particle and Fibre Toxicology found that heavy braking, as in an emergency stop, caused the most damage, but normal breaking and even close proximity to a disengaged brake resulted in potentially dangerous cellular stress.
Barbara Rothen-Rutishauser and Peter Gehr from the University of Bern, Switzerland, and Michael Riediker from the Institute for Work and Health, Lausanne, Switzerland, worked with a team of researchers to study the effects of brake particles on cultured lung cells placed in a chamber close to the axle of a car. They said, “Brake wear contributes up to 20% of total traffic emissions, but the health effects of brake particles remain largely unstudied. We’ve found that the metals in brake wear particles can damage junctions between cells by a mechanism involving oxidative stress”.
The teams’ analysis revealed that brake wear particles contain considerable amounts of iron, copper and organic carbon. Exposure to these pollutants caused increased signs of oxidative stress and inflammation in the cells, and hard braking caused most exposure. Interestingly, some exposure still occurred even when the brakes were not being applied, presumably due to residual brake particles coming off the turning axle and the braking system.
A direct comparison to other (model) particles known to cause these stress effects in vitro was not done, so comparative statements cannot yet be made. The researchers hope that future studies will be able to determine exactly which components are involved in each cell-stress pathway. According to Rothen-Rutishauser and Riediker, “Just as for exhaust particles, efforts to diminish brake particle emissions will lead to an improved ambient air quality and so could provide better protection of human health”.
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Facts vs Assumptions in Prostate Cancer
November 23, 2009
Natural News
By Sherry Baker
This may well be remembered as the year medical “facts” about prostate cancer were shown to be riddled with wrong assumptions and downright myths. As readers of NaturalNews know, for example, recent studies have shown little if any benefit to regular prostate cancer screening tests with hundreds of thousands of men being over-diagnosed and over-treated with a potentially deadly malignancy when they actually have no lethal disease. Now comes even more startling news about the wrong-headedness of standard prostate cancer care.
It is common for men with elevated prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels to face biopsies. But scientists at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and the University of Wisconsin-Madison have discovered that elevated PSA measurements are not necessarily potential signs of prostate cancer at all. Instead, they can simply be caused by a hormone normally occurring in healthy bodies.
According to a study just published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, the researchers discovered that parathyroid hormone, which the body produces to regulate blood levels of calcium, can raise PSA levels in healthy men who do not have prostate cancer. Unfortunately, elevated PSA levels currently set off alarm bells in the mainline medical establishment, leading many men to be biopsied and then treated unnecessarily with surgery, chemo, radiation, and/or emasculating hormones.
“PSA picks up any prostate activity, not just cancer,” said lead investigator Gary G. Schwartz, Ph.D., M.P.H., an associate professor of cancer biology, epidemiology and prevention at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine, in a statement to the press. “Inflammation and other factors can elevate PSA levels. If the levels are elevated, the man is usually sent for a biopsy. The problem is that, as men age, they often develop microscopic cancers in the prostate that are clinically insignificant. If it weren’t for the biopsy, these clinically insignificant cancers, which would never develop into fatal prostate cancer, would never be seen.”
The research team investigated data from 1,273 men who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2005 to 2006. At the time of the survey, none of the research subjects reported any current infection or inflammation of the prostate gland, prostate biopsy in the past month, or history of prostate cancer. The scientists adjusted their findings for age, race and obesity because PSA levels rise with age, are higher in African-American men, and lower in overweight males.
The results? The higher the level of parathyroid hormone measured in the blood, the higher the PSA levels. And when men had parathyroid levels that were normal, but at the high end of the normal scale, their PSA measurements were increased by 43% — a range that, when seen by most urologists, would be used to justify immediate biopsies. The bottom line, according to Dr. Schwartz: “It’s likely that there are a lot of men out there with elevated PSAs that may be due to elevated parathyroid hormone rather than prostate cancer.”
The findings are especially important for black men, the researchers stated, because about 20% of them have high parathyroid hormone levels compared to about 10% of Caucasians. And that results in African-American men being placed at a higher risk for unnecessary biopsies and over-treatment.
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Colloidal Silver – The Natural Antibiotic
November 13, 2009
Natural News
By Mike Adams
Colloidal silver is one of the best natural antibiotics yet discovered in human history. For many health applications, it’s safer, cheaper and far more effective than traditional antibiotics. The effectiveness of colloidal silver is such a huge threat to the pharmaceutical industry that the FDA (and even the FTC) has engaged in an all-out assault to threaten and intimidate colloidal silver companies in order to drive them out of business.
Aren’t you curious to find out what they don’t want you to know about colloidal silver?
To help provide answers to NaturalNews readers, we’ve gathered this collection of supporting quotes describing the seemingly-miraculous properties of colloidal silver. Read and enjoy!
Colloidal silver vs. antibiotics
Silver was used 1,200 years ago by Egyptians, Romans, Greeks, sailors, and then by the pioneers who populated our country. They used it for various illnesses and to keep their foods and liquids from spoiling. Prior to 1938, before antibiotics, colloidal silver was used by doctors as their main substance to fight bacteria in a more natural way than through the antibiotics they use today. Antibiotics can harm our kidneys and liver functions. Colloidal silver promotes healing.
- Defeat Cancer by A. Gore Gregory
Olive leaf extract, colloidal silver, acidulous, royal jelly, and mushroom extracts are examples of products that may be a better first choice than antibiotics. When our bodies are toxic the immune system becomes the garbage collection system. Saunas and hot baths help to eliminate toxins that overwhelm the body’s immune system. This is a natural way to boost your immune system by freeing it up to do what it does best. The bottom line is this – you need to stay away from antibiotics.
- More Natural Cures Revealed: Previously Censored Brand Name Products That Cure Disease by Kevin Trudeau
I’m not suggesting that colloidal silver should be avoided altogether. I think it is ideal for some purposes and might be of use in an emergency or for last-ditch treatment of a bacteria that has grown resistant to antibiotics. However the use of this medication must be approached very cautiously. Because colloidal silver loses its potency over time, the best bet is also a kit that permits mixing the solution and using it immediately. You should then discard any excess you cannot use. Whenever you use it, keep in mind the fact that the silver will be accumulating in your body.
- Attaining Medical Self Sufficiency by Duncan Long
Colloidal silver is a natural broad-spectrum antiseptic that fights infection, subdues inflammation, and promotes healing. It is a clear golden liquid composed of 99.9 percent pure silver particles approximately 0.001 to 0.01 micron (1/1 to 1/100,000 millimeter) in diameter that are suspended in pure water. It can be taken by mouth, administered intravenously, or applied topically. Colloidal silver is available in health food stores.
- Prescription for Nutritional Healing, 4th Edition: A Practical A-to-Z Reference to Drug-Free Remedies Using Vitamins, Minerals, Herbs & Food Supplements by Phyllis A. Balch, CNC
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Asthma May have Link to Acetaminophen
November 06, 2009
Eurekalert
New research shows that the widely used pain reliever acetaminophen may be associated with an increased risk of asthma and wheezing in both children and adults exposed to the drug. Researchers from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, conducted a systematic review and metaanalysis of 19 clinical studies (total subjects=425,140) that compared the risk of asthma or wheezing with acetaminophen exposure.
The analysis showed that the pooled odds ratio (odds ratio for all studies combined) for asthma among users of acetaminophen was 1.63. The risk of asthma in children who used acetaminophen in the year prior to asthma diagnosis or in the first year of life was elevated to 1.60 and 1.47, respectively.
Furthermore, results showed a slight increase in the risk of asthma and wheezing with prenatal use of acetaminophen by mothers. Researchers speculate that acetaminophen’s lack of inhibition of cyclooxygenase, the key enzyme involved in the inflammatory response of asthma, may be one explanation for the potential link between acetaminophen use and asthma.
Pom-up the Volume – Pomegranate Douses Inflamation
November 06, 2009
Natural News
By David Gutierrez
Emerging research continues to strengthen the evidence that pomegranate extracts can be used to treat chronic inflammation, and the diseases that go along with it.
Short-term inflammation is a normal immune response, but chronic inflammation has been linked to a number of diseases including heart disease, cancer, diabetes, arthritis, dementia and autoimmune disorders. Scientists are increasingly coming to believe that pomegranate helps combat inflammation, in part due to its exceptionally high content of antioxidants, particularly those in the ellagitannin family, such as punicalagins and punicalins.
Prior research has already suggested that pomegranate may help prevent a number of inflammation-linked diseases. It has been shown to reduce the risk of breast cancer, to slow or even stop the formation of prostate tumors in mice, to increase the amount of oxygen available to the heart and to fight the onset of heart disease by preventing LDL (“bad”) cholesterol from oxidizing. Long-term consumption of pomegranate juice has also been linked to improvement in the symptoms of erectile dysfunction.
A research team from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland was the first to demonstrate that pomegranate extract can act directly to combat inflammation. In a 2005 study, they showed that when injected into human cells, pomegranate extract lowered inflammation and levels of enzymes that can cause cartilage to break down, as in arthritis.
The researchers followed this up with a study, published fall of 2008 in the Journal of Inflammation, in which they fed 175 milliliters of pomegranate extract to four rabbits, then compared them with two rabbits who had been given only water. All the rabbits were experiencing chronic inflammation.
The researchers found that the levels of antioxidant markers significantly increased and the levels of inflammation markers significantly decreased in the rabbits after they were given pomegranate extract.
H1N1 Vaccines Contain Cancer Causing Ingredients
October 2, 2009
VacTruth
By Dawn Crim
Most health experts will agree that vaccine reactions can occur. It is estimated that roughly 1 in every million people will react to their vaccine. Even then, health officials maintain that it is usually a simple case of inflammation at the injection site and/or a slight fever. On a rare occasion, anaphylactic shock may occur due to the patient reacting to a substance that they are allergic to.
However, the FDA recently approved four H1N1 vaccines that not only contain very questionable ingredients, but some of those ingredients have even been proven to cause cancer and death.
The FDA has awarded H1N1 contracts to the following companies: MedImmune, LLC, CSL Limited, Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics Limited, and Sanofi Pasteur. Their package inserts became public knowledge in recent weeks.
All four vaccines list hypersensitivity to eggs as a contraindication. This means that it is not advisable to administer any one of these products to a person suffering from a severe egg allergy or egg protein allergy. This contraindication may affect as many as 15 million people (based on a population of 300 million). While parents are instructed not to feed their infant eggs until 1 year of age, these same infants will be exposed to eggs by way of their H1N1 vaccine and/or seasonal flu vaccine beginning at 6 months of age.
CSL’s vaccine also lists hypersensitivity to chicken protein as a contraindication. “While most people who are sensitive to eggs can eat chicken, there is one protein that is present in both eggs and poultry — alpha-livetin, or chicken serum albumin — that can cause allergies to both foods.” It is unknown at this time how many people are allergic to the aforementioned proteins. Going into anaphylactic shock is a very real possibly if one were to receive an ingredient that he/she is allergic to.
Neomycin and polymyxin are listed as contraindications for CSL’s and Novartis’ vaccines. “Neomycin may cause damage to the kidneys and/or nerves. Kidney function and drug levels in the blood may be monitored with blood tests during treatment. Tell your doctor if you experience decreased urination, hearing loss, ringing in the ears, feeling of fullness in the ears, dizziness, numbness, skin tingling, muscle twitching, or seizures which may be signs of kidney or nerve damage.” According to Teva Pharmaceuticals, the effects of neomycin may not be evident until long after the medication has been discontinued. Just exactly how long is unclear at this time. Polymyxin has its own set of possible adverse reactions. “Neurotoxic reactions may be manifested by irritability, weakness, drowsiness, ataxia, perioral paresthesia, numbness of the extremities, and blurring of vision. These are usually associated with high serum levels found in patients with impaired renal function and/or nephrotoxicity.”
Gentamicin is listed as a contraindication for MedImmune’s vaccine. It too, has its own list of possible side effects, which may include nephrotoxicity and/or neurotoxicity.
Nephrotoxicity is when damage or injury occurs to the kidneys as a result of taking certain medications. This may include kidney failure. Neurotoxicity is when the damage involves the nerve tissue, such as paralysis or encephalitis (brain swelling).
A word of caution to parents is warranted here: several vaccine manufacturers list crying or high-pitched screaming for greater than 3 hours as a sign of a serious vaccine reaction. Though this same warning is not applicable to any one of these H1N1 vaccines, it is still a situation that a parent should be alert to. If your child is crying or screaming for a long period of time, it may be a sign of brain inflammation. You know your child better than anyone. If something doesn’t feel right, have your child evaluated immediately.
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