Celadrin – or cetyl myristoleate – is one of a number of supplements taken by arthritis sufferers, but it really came into its own recently when the government withdrew popular painkillers like Vioxx from the market due to health concerns. This left many arthritis suffers with no option but to consider an operation to relieve their pain. An operation or a supplement like Celadrin? Many decided to try the less invasive option first.
Traditionally, doctors have not been keen to offer supplements to their patients, but many are increasingly coming to see that products like Celadrin may be a suitable alternative for those people who for some reason cannot – or choose not to – have an operation.
A scientist who was trying to understand why he couldn?t induce arthritis into mice discovered Celadrin about a decade ago. It contains a blend of eight stable fatty acids that can easily penetrate cell membranes and by providing lubrication to the cell membranes and decreasing inflammation it supports joint health. In fact, research has shown that it definitely improves not only the range of motion in a joint affected by arthritis, but balance, strength and endurance were also improved.
Placebo-controlled studies in 2002 showed that the subjects were able to perform several day-to-day functions like climbing stairs and even simply walking that had been painfully difficult before. Some subjects were even able to return to jogging, an exercise that had been impossible for some time due to the pain and stiffness experienced from arthritis.
University bio-chemist Dr. Daniel Gallaher PhD, prescribes Celadrin for many of his patients and has had no side-effects reported. The pills may need to be taken for at least two months before improvement is noticed, though in some cases this time is considerably shorter. Some patients have noted a dramatic improvement within a few days of applying the lotion.
Daniel Hoeffal MD, advises his patients to take the product scientifically. That is, no more than one supplement at a time and stick to the instructions on the bottle. If several supplements are taken at once, there is no way of determining which was the one responsible for giving relief.
Celadrin comes in pill form and topical lotion and is quite affordable compared to some other supplements, with the pills costing less than $20 a bottle and the lotion half that. It is available as a stand-alone product, or combined with other products such as Glucosamine
Always consult your health care professional before taking supplements, as some can interfere with the absorption of other medications, while others may change how internal organs function, cause blood pressure or clotting
Savient Pharmaceuticals, Inc, has been conducting a clinical trial of its experimental gout treatment drug Puricase. Puricase is intended for use in patients that have not had success in treatment of their gout with other therapies.
The trial included 212 patients, of which 158 completed the randomized trial. The company reported that 19 of the patients that received Puricase during the trial experienced serious to severe infusion reactions, including chest and back pain.
Of the 212 patients, 3 that were receiving Puricase died during the trial, 1 in the placebo group died before the first placebo dose.
Today, Savient disclosed information about 2 deaths that occurred after completion of the study. One of these patients was assigned to the Puricase group and the other to the placebo group. That person’s death occurred 4 months after the last placebo was administered. According to Savient, the deaths were unrelated to Puricase.
Savient indicated that it does not request follow-up post-study information on patients that quit the trial or did not enroll in the Open Label Extension.
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Originally posted 2008-02-29 18:37:39. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
One of the more common recommendations for treating arthritis is the use of heat. The Arthritis Foundation’s website recommends using heat to relax muscles and stimulate blood circulation. They suggest using dry heat, such as heating pads or heat lamps, or moist heat, such as warm baths or heated wash cloths.
Other options for applying heat without being tethered to an electrical cord or sitting in water include the use of wraps. But is there one type that is better than another?
A team from the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis took a look at the relative benefits of using a special heat-retaining infrared-reflective versus a cotton-based sleeve for treating knee osteoarthritis. In this randomized study, 52 patients with diagnosed osteoarthritis of the knee were divided into 2 groups. One group was were provided with a verum sleeve (specially fabricated to retain body heat) and the other group was given a placebo (cotton) sleeve.
The participants of the study were directed to wear their sleeve for at least 12 hours a day for 4 weeks on the most painful knee. After the 4 week period their pain level was measured using the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis (WOMAC) Index. The group using the verum sleeve reported a 16% decrease in pain while the control group reported a 9.7% decrease. The difference between the groups was not considered statistically significant.
Additionally, 12 of the participants who believed correctly that they had the verum sleeve reported a significantly higher (27%) decrease in pain. Comparatively, the participants that received the verum sleeve but believed they had received the placebo reported only a marginally significant (13%) improvement in pain.
The team, led by Dr. Steven Mazzuca, concluded that “this pilot study was insufficiently powered to be a definitive trial of the heat-retaining sleeve. Given the magnitude of changes in knee pain in the active treatment group, heat retention merits further scientific investigation as a treatment modality for patients with knee OA.”
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Originally posted 2007-11-28 22:55:53. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an auto-immune, inflammatory disease. People with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have higher levels of inflammatory proteins, called cytokines, and other cytokine related factors in their blood. According to a recent study, those markers are present as many as three years before any RA symptoms emerge.
Previous studies have shown that other markers exist several years before the onset of symptoms of RA. These include certain antibodies, such as rheumatoid factor and anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (CCP) antibodies.
The current study, conducted by Heidi Kokkonen, MSc, of Umea University Hospital in Sweden, and colleagues, included data from 85 RA patients from a population based registry in Northern Sweden. These patients had donated blood samples before the onset of their RA symptoms. Each of these patients was matched with three randomly selected controls from the same registry based on sex, age, where they lived and the time of the blood sample.
The researchers found that 50 of the 85 patients had higher levels of the cytokines than the controls. They also found the same evidence for the cytokine related factors.
In addition, the researchers also found that there was a significant relationship between the elevated levels of cytokines and the presence of anti-CCP antibodies.
These results could lead to the development of a blood test for early diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis.
“Our findings present an opportunity for better predicting the risk of developing RA and possibly preventing disease progression.”
Researcher Solbritt Rantapää-Dahlqvist, MD, of University Hospital in Umea, Sweden.
The authors of the study acknowledged that there were statistical limitations in the analysis, particularly in terms of power and the potential effects of storage time of the samples.
The results of the study were published in the February issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism
In the first study of its kind, researchers at Brown University have discovered that the lack of a protein called lubricin results in early wear of joints.
Lubricin acts as a “boundary lubricant” that reduces the friction between opposing layers of cartilage inside joints. Dr. Gregory Jay, an associate professor of emergency medicine and engineering at Brown, has been studying lubricin’s role in joint function for 20 years.
In 2005 Dr. Jay led a study to identify a process to measure the loss of lubrication in the joints. They started with rabbits with injured knees. They examined synovial fluid that was drawn from the rabbits knee cartilage and measured the lubricin. They found that within 3 weeks the lubricin had completely disappeared.
This was followed by evaluating synovial fluid drawn from the injured knees of patients in an emergency room. This procedure is common for relieving swelling that accompanies the knee injury. The results were that those people with knee injuries had substantially less lubrication than people with healthy knees.
These findings dealt with joint injuries, which is a common precursor to osteoarthritis. But how does this relate to rheumatoid arthritis (RA). RA is an autoimmune reaction against the body’s own tissues which results in inflammation, pain and loss of function. Analysis of the synovial fluid of RA patients revealed that there was no lubricating ability. This indicates that the reduction in lubricating ability is a common feature of acute and chronic inflammatory arthritic conditions.
Now he has led a team that has determined that friction in the joints due to the absence of lubricin results in wear and damage to joints.
This conclusion was a result of research in which the team studied the cartilage from the knees of mice that were bred not to produce the protein. They found that at birth the mice had smooth cartilage. But after 2 weeks the cartilage in the mice’s joints began to show signs of wear. The damage, an early sign of joint disease, was clearly seen when viewed through a microscope.
Having determined a cause and effect relationship the team continued their research by looking at the structure of lubricin to determine how in works in the joint. They viewed lubricin protein under an atomic force microscope. What they found were many rows of interlocking fibers. This protein mesh had the ability to repel a microscopic probe with water and electrical charges. This clearly demonstrated how lubricin acts as a buffer in keeping opposing layers of cartilage apart.
Dr. Jay believes that a potential treatment for preventing wear in joints for arthritis sufferers and athletes can be developed. It is possible that lubricin, or a similar protein, could be injected into hips, knees, and other joints that already demonstrate symptoms of joint disease and injury as a preventive to further deterioration. Ultimately, this treatment might nearly eliminate the need for joint replacement surgery.
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Originally posted 2007-11-08 13:42:52. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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