Now there [...] No related posts.]]> I posted late last year about research that indicated women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) experienced improvement in their RA symptoms during pregnancy. This research found that the relief was related to the amount of fetal DNA in their blood. The higher the level of fetal DNA, the greater the level of relief.

Now there is a Swedish study that has found that women that breast-feed for more than a year after the birth of their children have a reduced risk for developing rheumatoid arthritis.

The research, conducted by a team from Malmö University Hospital, analyzed case history for 136 women with RA and 544 without. Women who breastfed for 13 or more months had a 54% reduced risk of developing RA and those that breastfed for 1 to 12 months had a 26% reduction in risk compared to women that never breastfed.

In addition, women who gave birth to more children tended to have a lower risk of rheumatoid arthritis by 13% for each child. However, breast-feeding appeared to be a more significant factor in the development of RA.

There has been a dramatic increase in the number of women who breast-feed for more than six months according to the researchers. They concluded that it is difficult to say whether there’s a link between higher rates of breast-feeding and a corresponding decline in the number of women with rheumatoid arthritis. But the result of this study adds to the list of benefits of breast-feeding for both infant and mother.

The results of this study were published May 13th in the online journal Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.

Originally posted 2008-05-16 22:14:17. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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The active compound in chang [...] No related posts.]]> An ancient Chinese herb that has been used for 2,000 years to treat malaria and reduce fevers is now being tested for use in treating autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis. The new drug is made from the herb chang shan, from the root of the blue evergreen hydrangea.

The active compound in chang shan, febrifugine, is too toxic for use as a modern drug. U.S. Army scientists created a febrifugine derivative called halofuginone in the 1960’s as a possible malaria drug, but discontinued additional study. Scientists had not been able to determine how the drug worked.

But recently Harvard Medical School researchers Mark S. Sundrud, PhD, Anjana Rao, PhD, and colleagues show that halofuginone inhibits Th17 cells. Th17 cells are a specific kind of immune cell that was not identified until 2006.

Researchers discovered that Th17 cells regulate autoimmune inflammatory responses. Those are the types of immune response that can result in several diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, eczema, psoriasis, inflammatory bowel disease, type 1 diabetes and multiple sclerosis,.

“Halofuginone may herald a revolution in the treatment of certain types of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases,” Rao says in a news release.

Current treatments for autoimmune diseases inhibit many different immune responses, which leaves patients vulnerable to infections and cancers. However, a drug that specifically inhibits one type of immune response would be a major breakthrough. It may be that Halofuginone is such a drug.

“This is really the first description of a small molecule that interferes with autoimmune pathology but is not a general immune suppressant,” Sundrud says in the news release.
An added bonus: Halofuginone could probably be taken orally, rather than by injection.

The current findings by Drs. Sundrud and Rao are based only on mouse studies. They must be refined and confirmed in humans before any actual drug is developed.

The findings of this research are published in the June 5 issue of Science.

Originally posted 2009-06-09 15:08:03. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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A recently published study shows that the Chinese herb Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F (TwHF), also [...] No related posts.]]> Although recent advancements in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) therapies have led to a increased number of available treatments, quite a few of those therapies have side effects that result in some users discontinuing treatment or seeking complementary and alternative medicines.

A recently published study shows that the Chinese herb Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F (TwHF), also known as “lei gong teng” or “thunder god vine,” improved joint tenderness and pain in a small sampling of people treated with the medicinal plant.

The report says that people who took an extract of the herb’s roots for 6 months experienced significant improvement in RA symptoms compared to those who took the anti-inflammatory drug sulfasalazine.

Thunder God Vine

Scientists say that thunder god vine has been used for centuries in China to treat an assortment of inflammatory diseases, and a few small clinical trials have suggested that the thunder god vine may benefit people with rheumatoid arthritis.

This study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine,

To perform the analysis, 121 people with rheumatoid arthritis were randomly assigned to take 60 milligrams of TwHF 3 times a day or 1 gram of sulfasalazine twice a day for 24 weeks.

Dr. Christine Laine, an internist who edited the study, said

“It is too early to say whether or not the study defines a specific role for the therapy. The finding brings forward convincing evidence that thunder god vine has an effect similar to that of sulfasalazine.”

However, the thunder god vine may also cause unwanted side effects, and has the potential to significantly reduce male sperm.

Sixty-two patients dropped out before prior to completing the study. But after 24 weeks of treatment, researchers found 67% of the people taking TwHF experienced at least 20% improvement on a standard measure of rheumatoid arthritis symptoms than the other group.

Researcher Raphaela Goldbach-Mansky, MD, MHS, of the National Institutes of Health, and colleagues say the study was not long enough to demonstrate if thunder god vine also helped to hinder the progression of joint destruction from RA. But if additional studies confirm these results in larger numbers of people, thunder god vine may provide an affordable natural treatment option for rheumatoid arthritis.

Originally posted 2009-08-18 20:34:31. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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Furthermore, RA patients that [...] No related posts.]]> A recent research study has shown that when a patient’s first Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) symptoms occur can have an impact on the severity of the disease. If the disease onset was in winter the outcome was worse six months later when compared to patients whose symptoms began in summer.

Furthermore, RA patients that showed their first symptoms in spring also showed poorer outcomes compared to summer-onset patients.

The research was led by Dr. Gaël Mouterde of the Immuno-Rheumatology Department at Lapeyronie Hospital, Montpellier, France. The research analyzed x-rays from the French ESPOIR cohort and included 736 patients who were 36 to 60 years old. Of these, 567 were women.

According to Dr. Mouterde; “During our study of predictors of radiographic progression, we have unveiled a distinct relationship between RA progression and seasonal onset and postulate that this could be as a result of either a vitamin D deficiency or environmental factors, such as winter viruses, influencing protein citrullination. This finding may assist towards the identification of RA patients at a higher risk of developing structural damage, in order to propose early intensive therapy and minimize disease progression.”

No differences were visible in study participants a full year later. Researchers think that’s because these initial environmental factors have less of an effect over the long term.

Results of a new study were presented at EULAR 2009, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Originally posted 2009-11-13 06:50:10. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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