Arthritis / Rheumatism

waltky · Nov 7, 2010

Bee venom useful in treating arthritis...

Bee sting can help treat arthritis
Sunday 27th June, 2010 - Venom from bee stings can help treat and even prevent arthritis, a study has revealed.

The research team from University of Sao Paulo in Brazil has found that bee venom can control the harmful inflammation in joints that leads to rheumatoid arthritis. The venom contains molecules that cause an increase in natural hormones in the body that regulate inflammation. The experts believe the bee venom can be used to develop new treatments that can help bring relief from the pain of arthritis and even prevent it from developing in the first place.

Lead researcher Suzana Beatriz Verissimo de Mello, who teaches rheumatology at the University of Sao Paulo, said bee venom causes increased levels of anti-inflammatory hormones called glucocorticoids. 'Bee venom is a complex mixture of substances that are known to induce immune and allergic responses in humans,' telegraph.co.uk quoted de Mello as saying. 'Nevertheless, bee venom has been used to treat rheumatoid arthritis for centuries. However, the placebo effect has been described in studies investigating bee venom anti-inflammatory properties in arthritic patients.

'Our data shows that bee venom prevents the development of induced arthritis in rabbits through the action of glucocorticoids,' de Mello added. Bee sting therapy, in which patients endure hundreds of stings by bees in the hope of getting better, is often used as a form of alternative medicine to treat a range of conditions such as asthma and multiple sclerosis.

http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=652616
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waltky · Sep 24, 2011

A drug used to build bone mass might help relieve arthritis pain...

Osteoporosis Drug Might Repair Joints Damaged by Arthritis
September 23, 2011 - Experiments with mice show Forteo induces thicker cartilage

A medication that builds bone mass in patients with osteoporosis might actually help repair damaged joints and could be used to treat people suffering from arthritis, according to University of Rochester Medical Center researchers. The study authors hope their findings, published in Science Translational Medicine, will lead to clinical trials to test human parathyroid hormone in arthritis patients. Many older people suffer from arthritis, which is a painful joint condition. Treatment options have been very limited for some forms of the disease. Osteoarthritis is the most common form of the disease. It occurs when cartilage breaks down, so it can no longer cushion bones as they move against each other in joints like the knee, hips, or hands.

The body maintains cartilage with parathyroid hormone (PTH). A synthetic form is used to treat the bone disease osteoporosis. It's called teriparatide, sold under the brand name Forteo. Researchers at the University of Rochester thought this osteoporosis drug might help rebuilt cartilage in arthritis patients. To find out, Michael J. Zuscik and his colleagues used mice with injured knees, simulating arthritis. Some of the animals got the drug Forteo, while others did not.

"The treatment with Forteo induced the cartilage to become thicker by 32 or 35 percent relative to animals that were given a placebo treatment," Zuscik says. Currently, osteoarthritis patients use a variety of medicines to treat pain, but available drugs do nothing to reverse the actual damage that causes the pain. "In the context of human disease, this is what we would love to do. We would love to be able to take an arthritic patient, provide them with a therapy that actually makes their cartilage thicker, so they have longer lifetime use of their joint," Zuscik says.

The researcher says it wouldn't make the joint like new, but it would roll back the clock, so that the painfully arthritic knees of a 70-year-old might become more like the pretty-good knees of a 60-year-old. More research is needed to see if Forteo would be effective in humans, and safe. Osteoporosis patients get a warning of one possible risk. Studies of Forteo in rats have found the drug increases the risk of a rare bone cancer, osteoscarcoma. But studies of other animals, including primates, have not confirmed the rat finding. Still, to be on the safe side, Forteo is not prescribed for people with a history of cancer.

Source
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waltky · Feb 16, 2012

Does anybody really know what time it is...

Body clock 'alters' immune system
16 February 2012 - Will the time affect medicine?

The time of the day could be an important factor in the risk of getting an infection, according to researchers in the US. They showed how a protein in the immune system was affected by changes in the chemistry of the body through the day. The findings, published in the journal Immunity, showed the time of an infection changed its severity. An expert said drugs were likely to take advantage of the body clock in the near future. Plants, animals and even bacteria go through a daily 24-hour routine, known as a circadian rhythm. Jet lag is what happens when the body gets out of sync with its surroundings after crossing time zones.

It has been known that there are variations in the immune system throughout the day. Researchers are now drilling down into what causes the details. The immune system needs to detect an infection before it can begin to fight it off. Researchers at Yale University School of Medicine were investigating one of the proteins involved in the detection process - Toll-like receptor nine (TLR9), which can spot DNA from bacteria and viruses. In experiments on mice, the scientists showed that the amount of TLR9 produced and the way it functioned was controlled by the body clock and varied through the day. Immunising mice at the peak of TLR9 activity improved the immune response, the researchers said. They said humans with sepsis, blood poisoning, were known to be at a greater risk of death between 02:00 and 06:00.

Time link

When testing mice, the severity of sepsis depended on the time of day infection started and coincided with changes in TLR9 activity. Prof Erol Fikrig, who conducted the study at Yale University, said they had found a "direct molecular link between circadian rhythms and the immune system", which could have "important implications for the prevention and treatment of disease". He added: "It does appear that disruptions of the circadian clock influence our susceptibility to pathogens."

Dr Akhilesh Reddy, who is researching circadian rhythms at the University of Cambridge, said it was "known long ago" that timing had an impact on the immune system, but this was "one of the first forays" into the reasons why. The implications for healthcare could mean that drugs need to be given at certain times of day in order to make them more effective, or drugs could be made which actually target the body clock to put the immune system into its most active phase. Dr Reddy said drug companies were "all switching onto this" and were "now screening drugs at different times of the day". He could see the body clock impacting medicine "within 10 years".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-17059498
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waltky · Feb 19, 2012

Hope for osteoporosis patients...

Wireless Microchip Delivers Bone Drug
February 17, 2012 - Could one day replace daily injection for osteoporosis patients

Researchers have tested an implantable device that releases daily dosages of osteoporosis medicine. The device may one day be a cost-effective alternative to daily injections, and could help manage other diseases as well. Osteoporosis is a common condition of older people, especially women, in which bones become weak and brittle, and can break easily. There are medicines to treat osteoporosis. One kind, known as parathyroid hormone, requires daily injections for two years.

But having to give yourself a shot every day, plus the lack of tangible improvement in the patient's condition, results in what researchers call poor compliance. "And as a result, only 25 percent of the patients will go through the entire 24 months of treatment," says Robert Farra, president of MicroCHIPS, a medical device maker that developed the implantable drug delivery system.

It's only a few centimeters long, and includes up to 365 tiny compartments, each with a single dose of medicine. At the beginning of treatment, the device is inserted under the patient's skin. "For osteoporosis, the physician will program the device, and the device has the ability to release a dose at a given time, every single day. For other diseases, where the physician may want to alter the dosing schedule, they will have the ability to wirelessly reprogram that dosing schedule," Farra says.

The injectable form of the parathyroid hormone is a liquid that has to be refrigerated, but for the implantable device, the researchers developed a powered version that remains effective when sealed in its tiny compartment for as long as a year. The device itself can be implanted in a doctor's office with local anesthetic.

Farra and his colleagues say safety tests of a small, 20-dose prototype unit were successful, and they are now designing a 365-dose version. "We anticipate two years to complete the design, and then we may be required to do two additional trials, taking us out to a total of four years before the device is available on the commercial scale." The price of the device is speculative, but Farra says the cost should be similar to the current regimen of daily injections.

Source
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waltky · May 30, 2012

Granny gonna get her bones tested an' she says if the doctor's cute she might let him jump her bones...

Nasa team find 'new way' to spot osteoporosis
28 May 2012 - For many people, breaking a bone is their first clue that they have the condition

Nasa scientists believe they have found a way to spot osteoporosis bone loss at the earliest disease stages. Currently, the condition can go undetected for years and may only be diagnosed with scans after weakening of the bones has led to a fracture. The new test - designed partly with astronauts in mind as they too can suffer bone loss due to the microgravity of space - looks for traces of bone calcium in the urine. The work is published in PNAS journal.

The technique developed by scientists at Arizona State University working with the US space agency analyses calcium isotopes - different atoms of the element calcium, derived from bone and each with their own specific number of neutrons. The balance or abundance of these different isotopes changes when bone is destroyed and formed and can therefore indicate early changes in bone density. To put it to the test, the researchers studied a dozen healthy volunteers whom they confined to bed rest for 30 days. Prolonged bed rest triggers bone loss.

The technique was able to detect bone loss after as little as one week of bed rest - long before changes in bone density would be detectable on conventional medical scans such as dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). And, unlike other biochemical tests for bone loss that look for blood markers of increased bone turnover, it can give a direct measure of net bone loss. Lead researcher Prof Ariel Anbar said: "The next step is to see if it works as expected in patients with bone-altering diseases. That would open the door to clinical applications." As well as being useful for diagnosing osteoporosis it could help with monitoring other diseases that affect the bones, including cancer.

Nasa nutritionist Scott Smith said: "Nasa conducted these studies because astronauts in microgravity experience skeletal unloading and suffer bone loss. It's one of the major problems in human spaceflight, and we need to find better ways to monitor and counteract it." Dr Nicola Peel of the National Osteoporosis Society in the UK said: "It is always exciting to see new techniques being developed with the potential to increase our understanding of the evolution and mechanism of bone disease. "This approach of using calcium isotopes is very interesting and appears to have potential to detect very early changes of bone loss. "This could therefore have a future role in the clinical evaluation of patients."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-18240047
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waltky · Oct 14, 2012

My toddler has arthritis...

Arthritis can affect toddlers too, says mother of two-year-old Blaze
13 October 2012 - "Arthritis isn't something you think a two-year-old could have."

But that was the explanation Kelly O'Sullivan was eventually given for her two-year-old daughter Blaze's unusual symptoms - a rash that covered her body and swollen joints which stopped her wanting to walk. Kelly, from Bolton, says Blaze had a normal birth and developed normally, walking when she was a year old. But Blaze became ill in January this year when she was 18 months old. Kelly says: "At first she got a rash all over her and a high temperature and she didn't want to walk. "I took her to the doctor and she was given lots of different medicines, antibiotics. "Then she started walking with a limp, and it got progressively worse and her knee swelled up to the size of a tennis ball."

Doctors thought Blaze's symptoms were caused by a viral infection, but then she began to experience stiffness in her neck and this time was referred to her local hospital. Kelly said: "They still thought it was a viral infection. She was in there for about four weeks, and given intravenous antibiotics. Lots of doctors from different specialties saw her." However there was still no diagnosis - and Blaze was moved to Manchester Children's Hospital where another raft of tests, including a lymph node biopsy and a bone marrow test, were carried out. Finally - in March - she was diagnosed with systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA).

'She shouldn't miss out'

JIA refers to a group of arthritic conditions which affect children. All cause inflammation, but relatively little is known about them and how they will progress. Any problem usually starts before a child is five, and affects more girls than boys. An estimated 12,000 children in the UK have a form of arthritis. Some only have a short-term illness, while around a third continue to have symptoms into adulthood - but it is hard to predict how an individual's illness will progress. Kelly said she was pleased that Blaze had a diagnosis at last - but surprised. "I didn't know a two-year-old could get arthritis. It's not something you think they can have."

Blaze now has to have daily and weekly injections and takes steroids to control her symptoms. Kelly, who also has a two-week-old baby, says the medication is helping but Blaze cannot lead a normal toddler's life. "She should be able to run around like any normal toddler. And I can't get her into a nursery because one of the drugs she takes, methotrexate, affects the immune system and they won't take her. "I'm trying to get her a place though, because she shouldn't have to miss out."

'Worth it'
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Richard Powell · Dec 15, 2012

The set of information present in this post is quite informative as it hold information which can help us in treatment of number of diseases.Apart from this information I want to ask a simple quest that is it is essential to have medicine. I have heard about that there are number of meditation which can cure diseases from its initial stage

waltky · Jan 9, 2013

Yoga appears to help lower back pain...

'Few complementary therapies help arthritis'
8 January 2013 - Few complementary therapies appear to help musculoskeletal conditions like arthritis, say experts who have looked at the available trial evidence.

Most alternative treatments have either not been scientifically tested or subjected to limited investigations, says Arthritis Research UK. Of 25 therapies, only a handful were judged to have enough medical evidence to support their use. These included acupuncture, massage, tai chi and yoga. Very little evidence was found in support of commonly-used therapies such as copper bracelets and magnetic therapy for arthritis, fibromyalgia or lower back pain. For their analysis the researchers searched for randomised controlled trials - comparing the given therapy with a placebo, usual care or another treatment - that had been written up in English and published before the end of May 2011.

For arthritis, they found 53 trials of 14 different therapies among nearly 6,000 patients. Only tai chi and acupuncture appeared to work. For fibromyalgia there were 50 trials of 17 different therapies in more than 3,000 patients. Acupuncture and massage came out top, closely followed by tai chi and relaxation therapy. For sore backs, yoga and acupuncture appeared the most effective, and there was some evidence to also support the use of osteopathy and relaxation therapy as well as the Alexander technique which focuses on posture and movement.

Lower back pain was the most investigated condition, with 75 trials of 14 different therapies across over 11,600 participants. According to the lead author of the report, Dr Gareth Jones from the University of Aberdeen, there is very little evidence for most complementary therapies. "There's either no evidence that they're effective or there's some evidence that they are not effective. "But there are some exceptions, like acupuncture and the whole body therapies like massage and tai chi, which do appear to work."

Waste of money?
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waltky · Feb 5, 2013

Does sunshine prevent rheumatoid arthritis?...

Sunshine may 'reduce arthritis risk'
4 February 2013 - Living in a sunnier climate may reduce the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis, according to US researchers.

Their study of more than 200,000 women, published in the journal Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, suggested a link between sunlight and the risk of developing the disease. They speculated that vitamin D, which is produced in sunlight, may protect the body. Experts warned that people should not spend all day in the sun. Rheumatoid arthritis is caused by the body's own immune system attacking the joints and it can be intensely painful. It is more common in women, but the reason why a patient's own defences turn against them is unknown.

Sunny side

Researchers at Harvard Medical School followed two groups of more than 100,000 women. The first were monitored from 1976 onwards, the second from 1989. Their health was then compared with estimates of the levels of UV-B radiation they were exposed to, based on where they lived. In the 1976 group, those in the sunniest parts of the US getting the highest levels of sunshine were 21% less likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis than those getting the least UV radiation. However, UV levels had no affect upon the risk of rheumatoid arthritis is the 1989 group.

The report's authors said: "Our study adds to the growing evidence that exposure to UV-B light is associated with decreased risk of rheumatoid arthritis." They suggested that "differences in sun protective behaviours, eg greater use of sun block" could explain why the younger group of women showed no benefit from living in sunnier climes. One theory is that difference in levels of vitamin D, which is produced when UV radiation hits the skin, could affect the odds of developing the disease. Low levels of vitamin D have already been implicated other immune system disorders such as multiple sclerosis.

Dr Chris Deighton, the president of the British Society for Rheumatology, said it was an "interesting study" which "gives us more clues" about how the environment can affect the chances of getting rheumatoid arthritis. He added: "We cannot advocate everybody sitting in the sunshine all day to protect from rheumatoid arthritis, because UV-B burns people and increases the risk of skin cancer. "The treatment options in rheumatology have transformed the lives of patients with this crippling disease in recent years and anything that adds to our knowledge is welcomed."

Sunshine vitamin
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Angedras · Feb 5, 2013

Rheumatoid arthritis is truly, a dreadful disease. And unfortunately, treatment (long term/maintenance) seems to be a choice of the lesser of two evils.

Thank you for all your informative articles Waltky.

waltky · Feb 6, 2013

Angedras:

Thank you...

... hope I've been able to provide some info...

... that might help people.

waltky · Dec 24, 2013

Granny gonna get it fer her rheumatism...

Scientists Create Artificial Joint Cartilage
December 23, 2013 ~ For millions of people around the world, arthritis is an unfortunate - and painful - part of getting older. As the condition progresses, it can require surgery to replace with plastic or metal hardware the worn cartilage that no longer cushions the joint. But these artificial joints are not ideal, so researchers using innovative technologies are working to create an artificial cartilage thats more like the real thing.

Arthritis is a very painful condition. The operation to treat it is not much better. Anybody who has had a knee, shoulder or hip joint replaced knows that artificial metal or plastic joints also can be painful and limit movement. But coming up with a better alternative for eroded cartilage - a substitute thats both load-bearing and cushioning at the same time - has been a challenge.

Farshid Guilak, professor of mechanical engineering and orthopedic surgery at Duke University in North Carolina, is part of a team working to create a strong yet softer, more supple replacement for worn away cartilage. He foresees that implanting this synthetic cartilage would be a much less radical operation than current joint surgery. So, just basically replacing the part that is worn out, not cutting out both sides of the joint and putting a lot of metal in there," said Guilak.

Tiny interwoven fibers make up the three-dimensional fabric scaffold into which a strong, pliable hydrogel is integrated and injected with stem cells, forming a framework for growing cartilage.

At the heart of the synthetic cartilage is an innovative fabric scaffold, which Guilak and colleagues at Duke developed in collaboration with researchers at Harvard University in Massachusetts. The novel material is made of seven layers of miniscule interwoven fibers, each about as thick as a human hair. A water-based gel is infused into the scaffolding, making it strong, flexible and lubricated.

Then, the patients stem cells would be injected into the fabric. Guilak says they could grow between the layers into a living cartilage one millimeter thick that is customized to the patients diseased joints. I think what we will be able to do if this succeeds is just remove the worn out cartilage and basically cap it with this material, which would just replace the cartilage itself and leave all the native bone in place. So its a much less invasive surgery and hopefully replace it with a living cartilage," he said.

Guilak and colleagues are now planning animal experiments with the synthetic cartilage. An article on the development is published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials.

http://www.voanews.com/content/scientists-create-artificial-joint-cartilage/1816363.html
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waltky · May 1, 2014

Uncle Ferd gonna get Granny one o' dem bubble suits so she can bounce back up when she falls...

Falls also problem for middle-aged with arthritis
1 May`14 Falls are just as much of a problem for middle-aged adults with arthritis as they are for older people, a new government study shows.

In a telephone survey, about a third of adults 65 and older with arthritis said they had taken a tumble in the last year. But slightly more of those aged 45 to 64 reported falling. More of the middle-aged group reported being injured from falls; 17 percent compared to 12 percent in the older group.

Thursday's report was issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About half of Americans 65 and older complain of arthritis symptoms like joint pain and stiffness. Nearly a third of middle-aged people have arthritis. The number of has been growing, mostly because of overweight baby boomers.

Arthritis can make it harder to balance and it can sap lower-body strength, contributing to falls. Walking and moderate physical exercise is recommended for those with arthritis to keep symptoms from getting worse, said the CDC's Kamil Barbour, the study's lead author. The report is based on a 2012 survey of 339,000 people ages 45 and older.

http://news.yahoo.com/falls-problem-middle-aged-arthritis-170630329.html
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waltky · Mar 17, 2016

Early human trials are underway in the U.S....

Osteoporosis in mice reversed with stem cell therapy
March 17, 2016 - Early trials of the technique are underway with humans in the United States, researchers said.

Donor stem cells injected into mice with age-related osteoporosis led to a restoration of normal bone structure, according to researchers at the University of Toronto. The proof-of-concept study found a single injection of mesenchymal stem cells from healthy mice to those with osteoporosis led to the "surprising" development of normal bone structure. MSCs are capable of becoming any cell, including bone cells, and donors do not need to match recipients because the cells won't be rejected.

In osteoporotic mice that received mesenchymal stem cells taken from healthy mice, bone structure returned to normal in about six months.

With just one widely available treatment for osteoporosis, which is effective for about two years, researchers said the MSCs could be used to prevent the progressive condition. "We had hoped for a general increase in bone health," John Davies, a professor at the University of Toronto, said in a press release. "But the huge surprise was to find that the exquisite inner 'coral-like' architecture of the bone structure of the injected animals -- which is severely compromised in osteoporosis -- was restored to normal." For the study, published Stem Cells Translational Medicine, researchers took MSCs from healthy mice, injecting them into mice with osteoporosis. Within six months, osteoporotic bones became healthy and functional, the researchers report.

In addition to the study with mice, early trials with humans are underway that could lead to larger clinical trials within the next five years. "It's very exciting," said Dr. Jeff Kiernan, a researcher at the Ottawa Hospital. "We're currently conducting ancillary trials with a research group in the U.S., where elderly patients have been injected with MSCs to study various outcomes. We'll be able to look at those blood samples for biological markers of bone growth and bone reabsorption."

http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2016...stem-cell-therapy/1891458238321/?spt=slh&or=3
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