March 6: General Interest
1899 : Bayer patents aspirin

On this day in 1899, the Imperial Patent Office in Berlin registers Aspirin, the brand name for acetylsalicylic acid, on behalf of the German pharmaceutical company Friedrich Bayer & Co.

Now the most common drug in household medicine cabinets, acetylsalicylic acid was originally made from a chemical found in the bark of willow trees. In its primitive form, the active ingredient, salicin, was used for centuries in folk medicine, beginning in ancient Greece when Hippocrates used it to relieve pain and fever. Known to doctors since the mid-19thcentury, it was used sparingly due to its unpleasant taste and tendency to damage the stomach.

In 1897, Bayer employee Felix Hoffman found a way to create a stable form of the drug that was easier and more pleasant to take. (Some evidence shows that Hoffman’s work was really done by a Jewish chemist, Arthur Eichengrun, whose contributions were covered up during the Nazi era.) After obtaining the patent rights, Bayer began distributing aspirin in powder form to physicians to give to their patients one gram at a time. The brand name came from “a” for acetyl, “spir” from the spirea plant (a source of salicin) and the suffix “in,” commonly used for medications. It quickly became the number-one drug worldwide.

Aspirin was made available in tablet form and without a prescription in 1915. Two years later, when Bayer’s patent expired during the First World War, the company lost the trademark rights to aspirin in various countries. After the United States entered the war against Germany in April 1917, the Alien Property Custodian, a government agency that administers foreign property, seized Bayer’s U.S. assets. Two years later, the Bayer company name and trademarks for the United States and Canada were auctioned off and purchased by Sterling Products Company, later Sterling Winthrop, for $5.3 million.

Bayer became part of IG Farben, the conglomerate of German chemical industries that formed the financial heart of the Nazi regime. After World War II, the Allies split apart IG Farben, and Bayer again emerged as an individual company. Its purchase of Miles Laboratories in 1978 gave it a product line including Alka-Seltzer and Flintstones and One-A-Day Vitamins. In 1994, Bayer bought Sterling Winthrop’s over-the-counter business, gaining back rights to the Bayer name and logo and allowing the company once again to profit from American sales of its most famous product.

Received & published by Henry Sapiecha

Some Common MISDIAGNOSIS
Can Land You In A Nursing Home!

HERE’S HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF AND YOUR LOVED ONES

It’s absolutely heartbreaking. All over the world, nursing homes are filled with frail, feeble residents suffering from dementia. In many cases, these folks are so far gone they don’t even recognize their own children.

But I’m going to let you in on a dark, dirty secret: Many of these patients do not have dementia at all.

Their memory loss, confusion, and delirium are caused by prescription drugs!

And so are many of their other problems.

This is not just speculation on my part. It’s fully documented in the medical journals. In fact, it’s so common that there are even medical terms for it. Like “polypharmacy,” which means giving a patient too many different drugs. And “iatrogenic illness,” which means any illness caused by doctors.

According to the medical journals, polypharmacy and iatrogenic illness are rampant throughout the globe.

• One study determined that one of the major causes of falls in nursing homes is the side effects caused by medications.
• Another study found that 97% of nursing home patients take at least one drug, with 17% taking 5 or more!
• Yet another study concluded that many drugs can cause Parkinson’s-like symptoms and concluded that “drug-induced parkinsonism is frequent.”
• And still another study listed 22 different categories of drugs that can cause symptoms that mimic Alzheimer’s… plus 14 differentover-the-counter drugs that can cause those symptoms!

Here’s a typical scenario. A healthy person goes to the doctor for a checkup and is told his cholesterol or blood pressure is high. So he starts taking medication, which causes side effects. This leads his doctor to give him a second drug to treat those side effects. But, of course, that second drug causes new side effects. So the doctor prescribes a third drug to treat the side effects of the second one!

Before you know it, the person’s health is spiraling downward and  soon needs people to take care of him. And everyone just chalks it up to “old age.”

But you can fight back against this system of medicine prescriptions becoming rampant.  First of all, make sure you always try natural remedies first. Pharmaceuticals should be a last resort, not a first option. Secondly, if you have a loved one in a nursing home, talk to a naturally minded physician about possibly weaning them off the drugs. This single step may make a huge difference to their health and well-being.

Sourced & published by Henry Sapiecha

Popular painkillers linked to heart and stroke risk

Feelin’ lucky? Then go ahead – pop that painkiller.

But you’d better hope that today’s not the day your luck finally runs out, because some of the most commonly used pain meds carry a major death risk.

The drugs are those nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories used by millions for everything from arthritis to headaches to back pain. And now, researchers say they can double, triple, and even quadruple your odds of heart attack, stroke, and an early death.

Swiss researchers looked at data from 31 “gold-standard” trials that included 116,429 patients, and found that ibuprofen – a med probably in your own home right now – can triple the risk of stroke.

And diclofenac, a widely used generic prescription NSAID, can quadruple the risk of death from heart attack and stroke.

These problems aren’t rare by any stretch. In fact, the researchers say that for every 25 to 50 patients who take NSAIDs for a year, there will be one extra heart attack or stroke.

That’s overall.

But they also believe that patients who already have heart problems could face a much higher risk when they pop those pills – like the millions of seniors who battle both heart disease and arthritis.

The researchers found naproxen (aka Aleve) to be the “safest” of the NSAIDs, but don’t kid yourself – “safest” doesn’t mean “safe.” All painkillers carry risk – and regular use of any NSAID can lead to bleeding problems, ulcers, and more.

And that means you need to be careful with how – and how often – you use these things, no matter how old you are or what risks you face.

If you need one from time to time, you need one – and I won’t stand in your way.

But if you’re taking one of these things regularly, there’s clearly something else going on – and you and your doc need to get to the bottom of it.

If you go looking for that answer at the bottom of a painkiller jar, you could find yourself at the bottom of a grave.

Sourced & published by Henry Sapiecha

New study shows placebos have positive effects

It’s the miracle cure Big Pharma hopes you never hear about – proven to beat antidepressants, painkillers, anxiety meds and more.

This amazing pill can stop headaches cold, end stomach problems, beat arthritis pain and even give you the bedroom boost you’ve been looking for (and that goes for the ladies, too).

It’s cheap, comes with no side effects, has withstood the test of time and regularly destroys some of the world’s best-selling drugs in gold-standard studies.

So what are you waiting for? Ask you doctor about placebo – and as soon as he stops laughing, tell him you’re serious… because a new study proves you don’t even have to duped into taking one to enjoy its benefits.

It can even work if it says “placebo” right on the bottle!

Researchers divided 80 irritable bowel patients into two groups: One got zippo, the other got a placebo.

These patients were told up front that they were getting a placebo, and docs didn’t hype it with any New Age mumbo- jumbo – they told the patients that it didn’t matter if they “believed” or any of the other hokum that’s often associated with the placebo effect.

After three weeks, 59 percent of the placebo patients showed significant symptom relief, versus just 39 percent of the do-nothings. The placebo patients also had double the rate of overall improvement, according to the study in PLoS ONE.

That means placebo isn’t just “right” for irritable bowel syndrome – it’s actually on par with some of the most powerful drugs that have been approved for the condition.

Since those meds come with some awful side effects – including a possible worsening of IBS symptoms – the question has to be asked: When will the FDA pull those meds and replace them with this new wonder drug, placebo?

Answer: Never.

Of course, placebos work for far more than IBS – they’ve been proven to be effective for all the conditions I mentioned earlier and then some. In fact, short of a flesh wound, broken bone or bout with deadly bacteria, there’s no reason not to consider a placebo.

After all, what’ve you got to lose?

And if your doc isn’t interested in playing along, show him the wallet effect – and take your business elsewhere.

Sourced & published by Henry Sapiecha

Scientists excited about

‘key’ to solving cancer

Researchers are closing in on a cure for cancer.

Scientists leading the battle against cancer say they are on the verge of acquiring their most valuable weapon yet.

Leading international cancer researcher Michael Stratton said obtaining the genetic make-up of the disease, expected in the next five to seven years, would give scientists the key to unlocking the secrets of what causes it.

He said they may even be able to determine the influence of outside effects, such as the environment and occupational impacts, on the development of cancer.

Professor Stratton, who has made international headlines for his cancer discoveries, said such insights could help solve several mysterious cancer clusters in Queensland, including the 18 cases of breast cancer at the former ABC site in Toowong.

“The sequencing [will be] like a new microscope being applied to cancer,” he told brisbanetimes.com.au.

“With the much deeper understanding of the genes that are abnormal … and actual DNA abnormalities of these genes, we’re anticipating that over the next few years we will acquire a better understanding of what those outside factors might be that are implicated in causing individual clusters.”

Despite numerous environmental tests of the Toowong site, scientists have not been able to link anything between the high number of breast cancer cases there.

The ABC abandoned the site in 2006 and is struggling to sell the riverfront property.

Professor Stratton said there were unexplained cancer clusters all over the world, including on Long Island in New York.

He said while the disease was common and such clusters may be coincidence, it was possible there were hidden environmental factors – “something we don’t know about”.

Such cases could be re-examined following the expected breakthrough on cancer genomics, Professor Stratton said.

“When these clusters occur we have to document them carefully, we have to collect as much information about them as we can … and then keep these materials for later on when we have new ways of looking at these clusters,” he said.

Professor Stratton is in Queensland as part of an International Cancer Genome Consortium workshop and delivered a speech at the University of Queensland last night.

He leads a research team that recently developed a pill that rapidly shrinks skin cancer tumours – the first cancer drug to harness knowledge from the full decoding of human DNA.

Professor Stratton said cancer research had come a long way in the past century.

“Go back 100 years or more, before they applied a microscope to cancer, all they knew was cancer was lumps that appeared to spread [in the body],” he said.

“There’s plenty more to be done … but the fact that we have succeeded in part for those cancers [with a cure] … should give us hope that we’d be able to do more in the future.”

Sourced & published by Henry Sapiecha

ACTOS DRUG FOR DIABETES HAS SERIOUS SIDE EFFECTS ON THE BODY

DIABETES IS A CURABLE DISEASE IT IS SAID – TRUE OR FALSE?

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has published a review regarding the long term adverse effects of Diabetes drug Actos to the body. According to the study, data acquired from patients taking Actos has shown more risk of getting bladder cancer. The extended consumption of the drug has shown significance in affecting a person’s susceptibility to bladder cancer.

The presence of unwanted side effects has been one of the primary issues surrounding the use of diabetes pharmaceutical drugs. Another diabetes drug, Avandia, has also been subjected to several debates by health professionals and FDA experts regarding its overwhelming side effects, including the increase of heart failure risk. But the lack of other quality options proven curative or beneficial to controlling diabetes keeps these drugs, including Actos, in the market.

FDA has yet to conduct further studies regarding Actos and its potential influence over bladder cancer risk.  The results may spell the difference between getting the red light, or the green light, with regards to consumption. However, early human and animal studies had linked Actos to the condition.  In fact, the agency had required Takeda Pharmaceuticals, the manufacturer of Actos, to conduct their own study regarding the potential risks brought about by the prolonged use of the drug, especially its influence over bladder cancer. The study is expected to last for 10 years.  Results on its 5th year reveals that intake of the drug did not show increased risk of getting bladder cancer. But when the researchers focused on the patients who had taken the highest dosage of the drug in their lifetime, a significant increase in bladder cancer risk was apparent. The increase in risk was observed in patients who had taken the drug for at least 24 months.

In their published statement, the FDA refused to assure the public that Actos increases the risk of bladder cancer. They advised patients who are taking Actos as a maintenance drug to stop taking the drug and seek consultation from their physicians or a medical professional for alternative ways to control their diabetes, especially if they are finding Actos an unsuitable option, and if they have been experiencing the probable onset of the proposed side effect.

A Closer Look at Diabetes

Diabetes of Diabetes Mellitus with an international symbol of a blue circle is not just one disease but is actually a group of metabolic diseases wherein the person’s body has high blood sugar levels. This is either caused by the body’s reduced capacity to produce insulin or the cells’ incapacitation to respond to insulin in controlling the body’s sugar level.

The usual symptoms of increased sugar levels in the body are increased thirst or polydipsia; frequent urination or polyuria; and increased hunger or polyphagia. The three classifications of diabetes are related to the reasons for the increased sugar level in the person’s body:

• type 1 diabetes is when the person’s body is producing less insulin than what the body needs;
• type 2 diabetes is when the cells in the person’s cells fail to respond to the insulin hormone that the body produces;
• Type 3 diabetes is a special case in pregnant women who experience increased sugar levels during pregnancy.

Natural Methods of Preventing and Controlling Diabetes

Compounds that have been scientifically proven to contain curative and preventative qualities against chronic and degenerative diseases have been discovered to be found in natural sources like fruits and vegetables. People are beginning to be more aware and are now more open to the natural methods of preventing and curing diseases due to the overwhelming side-effects of pharmaceutical drugs to their bodies. In fact, most of the compounds used in pharmaceutical drugs are found in nature but the process and integration of other chemicals make the drugs harmful to the body. Medicines made entirely from natural substances have been flooding the market in synch with the rising demands for organic medicines. In the case of diabetes, the disease is finding powerful enemies in the form of innocent-looking fruits and plants.

Blueberries

There are many foods known to be potent against diabetes. A study conducted by Professor William Cefalu of the Center for the Study of Botanicals and Metabolic syndrome revealed that regular consumption of blueberries may increase the body’s sensitivity to insulin. Blueberry bioactives are thought to have positive effects in reinforcing the body’s sensitivity to insulin; thus, giving the cells more capacity to respond to the said hormone. The study consisted of a group of 32 obese individuals, who were insulin resistant but non-diabetic. The participants were asked to consume a smoothie containing blueberry bioactives for 6 weeks on a daily basis. 67 percent of the participants showed an increase of sensitivity to insulin by 10 percent while the rest of the group produced similar effects. Professor Cefalu also added that the study was the first of its kind to be conducted and the promising results will call for further research and experimentation.

Bitter Gourd

Bitter gourd or bitter melon is a fruit endemic in Asian countries. It has unique bitter characteristics and has been proven to have high nutritional value. Clinical studies showed that bitter gourd contain compounds that are potentially effective in lowering concentrations of glucose in the body. The fruit’s protective properties such as the polypeptide-P and charantin act like insulin and supplement the insulin naturally produced by the body. The consumption of 50 to 60 milliliters of bitter gourd juice has shown positive effects in lowering down the body’s sugar level. Bitter gourd products have been an established supplement to insulin for diabetics.

Cinnamon

Incorporation of cinnamon to daily diet has shown benefits in lowering the risk of type 2 diabetes; a condition where the cells are becoming tolerant to insulin. Cinnamon has been clinically proven to optimize the cell’s sugar consumption and half a teaspoon of cinnamon is the recommended daily dosage to lower the risk of type 2 diabetes.

Healthy Diet and Exercise prevents Diabetes

What we put in our mouth and our lifestyle usually contribute to the diseases we develop. Diabetes can be effectively prevented through healthy diet and a healthy lifestyle. Studies have shown that diabetics usually have an unhealthy body mass index. The body’s blood sugar levels are primarily influenced by the food we eat and along with it, the lack of exercise is one of the reasons for the body’s failure to consume sugar properly.

Sources:
diabetes.webmd.com
diabetes.webmd.com
naturalhealthontheweb.com
suite101.com

Sourced & published by Henry Sapiecha

Deathstalker Scorpion Venom

Could Improve Gene Therapy

for Brain Cancer

Science (Aug. 11, 2010) — An ingredient in the venom of the “deathstalker” scorpion could help gene therapy become an effective treatment for brain cancer, scientists are reporting. The substance allows therapeutic genes — genes that treat disease — to reach more brain cancer cells than current approaches, according to the study in ACS Nano.

Miqin Zhang and colleagues note that gene therapy — the delivery of therapeutic genes into diseased cells — shows promise for fighting glioma, the most common and most serious form of brain cancer. But difficulties in getting genes to enter cancer cells and concerns over the safety and potential side effects of substances used to transport these genes have kept the approach from helping patients.

The scientists describe a new approach that could solve these problems. Key ingredients of their gene-delivery system are chlorotoxin, the substance in deathstalker scorpion venom that can slow the spread of brain cancer, and nanoparticles of iron oxide. Each nanoparticle is about 1/50,000th the width of a human hair. In tests on lab mice, the scientists demonstrated that their venom-based nanoparticles can induce nearly twice the amount of gene expression in brain cancer cells as nanoparticles that do not contain the venom ingredient. “These results indicate that this targeted gene delivery system may potentially improve treatment outcome of gene therapy for glioma and other deadly cancers,” the article notes.

Sourced & published by Henry Sapiecha

Gumbi Gumbi & the cancer sure claim

Gumbi Gumbi: Rare member of family Pittosporaceae

Gumbi Gumbi is a medium to large tree, native to certain areas of Australia only, and very sparsely found. Because of its scarcity, but similarity in appearance to other species, it is often confused with trees more widely found.

Many people believe there to be as many as six varieties with only one having medicinal properties and another being toxic. Our investigations and experimentation with propagation suggests this is not the case at all. We believe there is only one true Gumbi Gumbi.

Currently Gumbi Gumbi is extremely rare, as only one tree is found growing naturally in an average of 400 sq/km (250 sq/miles) and it is not being farmed to any large extent. One significant reason for its rarity is that Gumbi Gumbi saplings and young trees are commonly ravaged by wildlife and roaming farm stock, such as Kangaroos and cattle, prior to reaching maturity. Animals instinctively know what is good for them, as did the early indigenous people. We modern people, on the other hand, are only now beginning to understand.

Gumbi Gumbi trees are by nature very slow growing and difficult to propagate. In order to ensure the required properties are inherent within trees grown in other than their naturally occurring environment; certain conditions have to be met. Mature trees develop a taproot to 60 feet in natural conditions. Many people have attempted to grow Gumbi Gumbi from seeds and saplings and failed to attain mature trees.

Scientific Analysis

Tests undertaken using Leaf and Leaf Extract from Gumbi Gumbi Natural plantation (Central Queensland, Australia)

Summary
Gumbi Gumbi contains significant amounts of elements known to aid in benefiting health.

Further testing has also shown Gumbi Gumbi to be very high in Saponins. This assists with the delivery of the inherent benefits of Gumbi Gumbi Leaf when used as a tea as per our brewing instructions.
TEST REPORT — Chemical Analysis
Gumbi Leaf: 5 July 2006

TEST REPORT — Chemical Analysis
Gumbi Tea: 21 September 2006

Note:
Concentrations in ppm are equivalent to mg/Kg or mg/L
N.D. = Not Detected

Constituent Summary of extracts of Pittosporum Angustifolium (gumbi gumbi)

Saponins:

The major constituent of gumbi gumbi extract was found to be saponin (a sulphonated di- or tri- terpene). Saponins are natural detergents found in plants (that is, they contain water soluble and fat soluble components and dissolve in water to form a stable soapy froth).

Saponins have commercial uses in a number of applications such as in beverages such as root beer and slurpies (to provide the foamy “head”). Saponins have also found application as emulsifiers for photographic film preparations and cosmetics (such as shampoos and lipsticks) and as industrial frothers for ore separation. Saponins also have anti bacterial and anti-fungal properties1. Saponins decrease blood lipids, lower blood glucose response, and as an antidote to acute lead poisoning2.

Extracts containing saponins currently have a wide application. For example, they are used in animal livestock production facilities for ammonia and odour control as well as in gut bacteria control. Certain saponins form strong insoluble complexes with cholesterol which has application in cholesterol lowering in humans. Bile acids metabolised by bacteria in the colon form secondary bile acids, some of which are known promoters of colon cancer. The feeding of saponins to laboratory mice has shown a reduction in the formation of preneoplastic colon lesions1. This has a potential in the prevention and treatment of colon cancer in humans. Saponins also have application as use for adjuvants in vaccines (adjuvants increase immune-stimulation, by using saponins their emulsifying properties can also be utilised).

Saponins are highly toxic to cold blooded animals and some have been identified in snake venom, starfish, and sea cucumber. Some are toxic to humans.

Tannins:

The term tannins is widely applied to large polyphenolic compounds that contains sufficient hydroxyl and/or carboxyl groups to form complexes with proteins and other large molecules. Tannins are classified into two groups — notable hydrolysable tannins, and condensed tannins. The term tannin refers to the use of tannins in tanning animals hides.

Tannins are almost ubiquitous in the plant kingdom. They are astringent and bitter in taste. Their astringency causes the dry and puckery feeling in the mouth following consumption of red wine, strong tea or un-ripened fruit.

They are also predominantly responsible for the colour of the above and hydrolysable tannins have long-term antioxidant properties (the reaction of hydrolysable tannins in red wine is attributable to the “maturing” of the wine). Tannins are found in fruits, berries, smoked foods, beer and wines (more tannin is found in red wines than in white), citrus juices, condiments (such a cloves, tarragon, vanilla and cinnamon), legumes, and chocolate3. Tannins have shown potential antiviral, antibacterial, and anti parasitic properties. They have also been studied for their effects on the treatment of cancers and their inhibitory effect on HIV.

Alkaloids:

Alkaloids are naturally occurring chemical compounds containing basic nitrogen functionality.

There are three main types of alkaloids — true alkaloids, proto alkaloids, and pseudo alkaloids. Both true alkaloids and proto alkaloids are derived from amino acids, while pseudo alkaloids are not derived from amino acids.

Alkaloids are alkaline and they are reactive compounds that have pharmacological effects at low doses and are used as medications and recreational drugs. Cocaine, caffeine, nicotine, and Quinine are all examples of alkaloids. Alkaloids form water soluble salts and may exist in the free-state, as salts, or as N-oxides — depending on pH or physiological conditions. These properties make them have enormous application as medications.

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Snake Venom Studies Yield Insights

for Development of Therapies

for Heart Disease and Cancer

Science(July 30, 2010) — Researchers seeking to learn more about stroke by studying how the body responds to toxins in snake venom are releasing new findings that they hope will aid in the development of therapies for heart disease and, surprisingly, cancer.

The Japanese team is reporting in a Journal of Biological Chemistry “Paper of the Week” that they are optimistic that inhibiting a protein found on the surface of blood cells known as platelets may combat both irregular blood clotting and the spread of certain cancers throughout the body.

“The finding that platelets not only play a role in blood clotting but also in the development of vessels that allow tumors to flourish was quite unexpected and paves the way for new research on the role or roles of platelets,” says Katsue Suzuki-Inoue, the associate professor at the University of Yamanashi who oversaw the 13-person team’s work in professor Yukio Ozaki’s laboratory.

About platelets, blood clots and stroke

Under normal conditions, platelets are activated to become sticky when blood vessels are injured, and their clumping together (aggregation or clotting) naturally stops bleeding. But, irregular platelet aggregation caused by disease can lead to dangerous clots or even stroke if a clot clogs or bursts in a vessel that carries oxygen and nutrients to the brain.

“When a blood clot, or thrombus, forms during the body’s normal repair process, it’s doing its job,” says Suzuki-Inoue. “But, thrombotic diseases, such as heart attack and stroke, are leading causes of death in developed countries. Understanding and manipulating the underlying chemical reactions could help us save many lives.”

But what does this have to do with snake venom? It’s sort of a long story.

How venom can prevent or cause clotting

“Snake venom contains a vast number of toxins that target proteins in platelets,” says Yonchol Shin, an associate professor at Kogakuin University who specializes in snake toxins. “Some of those toxins prevent platelets from clotting, which can lead to profuse bleeding in snake bite victims. Others, like the one we’ve focused this research on, potently activate platelets, which results in blood clots. Identification of the molecular targets of many of these toxins has made an enormous contribution to our understanding of platelet activation and related diseases.”

Intrigued by the then-recent discovery that elements in snake venom can promote irregular aggregation of platelets — the kind that leads to clots and stroke — Inoue’s and Ozaki’s team set out in 1997 to understand better the molecular underpinnings of those chemical reactions. They hoped that whatever they learned could be applied to the search for new therapies for irregular blood clotting caused by disease.

In 2000, another set of investigators came across a protein on the surface of platelets and dubbed it C-type lectin-like receptor 2, or CLEC-2. At the time, it remained unclear how CLEC-2 was produced or what its job was, but the team suspected it was worth further study.

After six years of research and collaborations with British investigators, the team in 2006 discovered how rhodocytin — a molecule purified from the venom of the Southeast Asia pit viper Calloselasma rhodastoma — binds to the CLEC-2 receptor protein on the platelet surface, spurring the platelet to clot with others like it.

Then, in another JBC “Paper of the Week” in 2007, Suzuki-Inoue and her colleagues reported how a separate molecule, called podoplanin, binds to the CLEC-2 platelet receptor protein very much like the venom molecule does. Discovered in 1990, podoplanin is a protein expressed on the surface of cancer cells, and, when bound to the CLEC-2 receptor on platelets, it spurs blood clotting, too.

“To shield themselves from the immune system, cancer cells send out a chemical, podoplanin, which binds to the CLEC-2 receptor protein on platelets, telling the platelets to get together and form a protective barrier around the cancer cells. Once enveloped, the cancer cells are not detected by the immune system and are able to bind to blood vessels’ inner linings and spread, or metastasize, throughout the body,” she explained.

Using a mouse model, the team in 2008 showed that blocking the tumor protein podoplanin from binding with the platelet receptor protein CLEC-2 could prevent tumors from metastasizing to the lung.

From snake venom to platelets to tumors

The recent investigations by the team, published in the JBC online July 4, hinged on the generation and study of genetically engineered mouse embryos that lacked the platelet receptor protein CLEC-2. In the end, the experiments showed that CLEC-2 is not only necessary for blood clotting but also necessary for the development of a different type of vessel, specifically lymphatic vessels that carry fluid away from tissues and prevent swelling, or edema.

“During fetal development, the CLEC-2 deficiency disturbed the normal process of blood clotting and, in fact, the normal development and differentiation of blood and lymphatic vessels,” says Masanori Hirashima, an associate professor at Kobe University. “They had disorganized and blood-filled lymphatic vessels and severe swelling.”

Podoplanin, Hirashima explains, is also expressed on the surface of certain types of lymphatic cells and is known to play a role in the development of lymphatic vessels: “These findings suggest that the interaction between CLEC-2 and podoplanin in lymphatic vessels is necessary for the separation between blood vessels and lymphatic vessels.”

It has been known that tumors generate blood vessels to promote their growth, and it’s possible that the formation of lymphatic vessels also may contribute to the spread of cancer throughout the body, says Osamu Inoue, an assistant professor at the University of Yamanashi.

“We speculate that the interaction between the platelet’s CLEC-2 protein and the podoplanin molecule in lymphatic cells plays an essential role in the creation of lymphatic vessels, thereby facilitating tumor growth. If this is the case, a drug that blocks that interaction would prevent the spread of tumors through lymphatic vessels,” Inoue said.

By being deemed a “Paper of the Week,” the team’s work is categorized in the top 1 percent of papers reviewed by the JBC editorial board in terms of significance and overall importance. Other contributors included Guo Ding, Satoshi Nishimura, Kazuya Hokamura, Koji Eto, Hirokazu Kashiwagi, Yoshiaki Tomiyama, Yutaka Yatomi and Kazuo Umemura.

Sourced & published by Henry Sapiecha

Revealing  Health News from Medicine’s Most Notorious Myth-Buster

5 Vaccinations You Should Never Get

Pharmaceutical companies haven’t been shy about sticking generations of Americans with round after round of vaccines to prevent even obscure illnesses. Trust me, kids have a better chance of tap dancing on the moon with Elvis than dying from rubella.
Of course, Big Pharma has decided not to limit their junk vaccines to the children’s market.
Over the past several years in particular, drug companies have aggressively marketed vaccines for adults, using scare tactics to get otherwise sane people to roll up their sleeves in droves. Many of these vaccines are useless, and some are downright dangerous. These five vaccinations are theworst of the worst.
1. Human Papillomavirus (HPV)––Gardasil

One of the biggest designer vaccinations that Big Pharma is shoving down our throats thesedays is the HPV vaccine, Gardasil. This vaccine is needless and, history has shown, dangerous.
Yet women are paying $360 a pop to be injected with it.
The most frustrating part of this whole sham is that Gardasil’s manufacturer, Merck, has drawn on the aid of cancer––medicine’s greatest boogeyman––in order to sell its product. Merck would have us believe that by inoculating against HPV, we’ll stop cervical cancer, at which point Gardasil becomes the “cure for cancer.” This is such a load of bull that we’re going to need a backhoe todig our way out.
According to FDA reports made public through the Freedom of Information Act (that means the government wasn’t volunteering this information, by the way), Gardasil has been linked with a variety of dangerous and even deadly side effects.1 Just since September 2007, the vaccine has been linked to 10 deaths from blood clotting, arrhythmia, and at least one allergic reaction. The vaccine has further been linked to 10 spontaneous abortions and six instances of Guillain-BarreSyndrome, a disease that causes the immune system to attack the nervous system, and which maylead to paralysis.
The FDA report further included evidence of nearly 150 instances of serious injury that resultedfrom the vaccine, and a multitude of outbreaks of warts on the genitals, face, hands, and feet. Thesewarts are most likely caused by the HPV virus and are a condition that should have been avoided through the use of the vaccine.
And while these side effects certainly haven’t affected every patient, the effects are so serious that no sane person should want to subject themselves or their children to this injection. This isespecially true when prevention is as simple as keeping your pants on.
You see, the “dirty” little secret about HPV is that it’s a sexually transmitted disease. Want to avoid HPV?

Skip the shot and get some condoms.

2. Shingles––Zostavax

Another useless vaccine with a major corporate push is the shingles vaccine Zostavax. The only reason more people don’t get it is that many insurance companies won’t cover it. You know why? It costs up to $200 per shot, and it’s an unnecessary preventative for a disease that is completely treatable and not very serious.
My recommendation is that you boost your immune system with zinc and vitamins C and E, then hang around with some kids in your family when they have the chicken pox (more on that later).
Merck––which manufactures Zostavax and also brought us Gardasil––has no clue about the long-term effects of the vaccine. The study on long-term effects conducted for FDA approval only lasted 42 days, so there is no real data on negative consequences of Zostavax over periods of several years. If you take the vaccine, understand you’ll be signing yourself up as a guinea pig in a human drug trial.
The irony here is that the whole shingles “scare” is probably the result of over-fanatical efforts by drug companies to vaccinate children against chicken pox. At least one study has shown that repeated exposure to children with chicken pox increases the immune system’s resistance to shingles.2 Essentially what this means is that by helping our youngsters suffer through their chicken pox, we were building our immunity to shingles.When kids stop getting chicken pox, we start getting shingles.
So, in a sense, Zostavax is a drug-company cure (and a very unproven one at that) for a problem caused by the drug companies.

3. Influenza

Yearly flu shots have become standard operating procedure for people of all ages. The CDC practically mandates an annual inoculation for children aged 6 months to 19 years, adults over 50,and even pregnant women. Each fall, when the colder weather forces us to huddle together for warmth,the CDC passes the warning that your family, friends, and colleagues are all little more than flu incubators. Millions rush to their doctors, hospitals or clinics to get their shots.
But here’s the big news: the flu vaccine doesn’t work.Year to year, the makers of the flu vaccine make a guess about which flu strains will be the most prevalent and then mix them accordingly.
There is currently no system in place to track the effectiveness of the vaccine and to use this data to compile the next flu vaccine. The process is arbitrary enough that they might as well stick some sugar water in a syringe and cross their fingers.
For the elderly and the very young in particular, I can’t recommend exposing potentially weak immune systems to the flu for no net gain.
As always, I recommend building a more powerful immune system with safe natural methods and staying away from jab-happy MDs when the cold months are upon us.
4. Whooping cough

Lately, the mainstream media has been harping on individual cases of pertussis, or whooping cough, as if a global pandemic is waiting around the corner. Big Pharma has their lapdogs pushing out statistics that reveal hundreds of thousands of deaths from whooping cough each year.

The truth is, this is a global statistic that is accounted for by the prevalence of the disease in third world countries without the medical resources to cure a cold, let alone whooping cough. There are only a handful of deaths attributed to this disease in the United States each year, and most of those are infants––some of whom are too young to get the vaccine.
So why is the CDC now pushing for every person to be immunized in infancy and then receive five more booster vaccinations as they advance into adulthood and old age? You have almost no chance of getting whooping cough as an infant, and you have even less chance as an adult. At $60 per booster plus the initial cost of childhood vaccination, the CDC wants us to spend $300 over the course of our lifetimes on a useless vaccine.
We are not living in the barely tamed wilderness of yesteryear.We are living in a modern society with appropriate sanitation, better nutrition, and access to health care that limits the spread of disease and treats diseases like whooping cough with ease. In the modern age, unless you plan on traveling to the third world, there is no need to go injecting yourself with a “weakened” strain of a disease that you may never encounter, and can be easily cured of if you do happen to get it.

5. Measles, Mumps, Rubella, & Chicken pox––ProQuad

Now that I’ve taken time to tell you about the dangers of some of Big Pharma’s adult vaccines,
I am going to sound the alarm for the little ones in your family. If the CDC and pharmaceutical companies have their way, every child born in the United States will get jabbed with enough needles to leave them looking like a voodoo doll; and all this before their second birthdays. The ProQuad vaccine is a cocktail of vaccines that includes the traditional measles, mumps, and rubella, plus a dose of chicken pox that is five times what a child would get in a regular vaccination.
Time has shown that toddlers given the ProQuad injection were twice as likely to have a seizure as toddlers who received MMR and chicken pox vaccinations separately. The seizure data has even caused a government advisory panel on vaccines to step back from recommending ProQuad as their method of choice.
These new horrors only add fuel to the fire that should burn down the vaccination regime. This dangerous all-in-one is a prime example of how impersonal assembly line medicine is doing more harm than good.

Sourced & published by Henry Sapiecha