Immunity Health News

As people age past 50, their neurons begin to shrink, while other brain cells become more active. In particular, microglia — the small immune cells that sense injury and the presence of pathogens in the nervous system — have shown increased activity, producing higher amounts of signaling molecules called cytokines.

Researchers suggest that these cells may become dysfunctional as our brains get older. Because higher levels of cytokines have been associated with neurodegenerative diseases, scientists are paying close attention to the role of microglia in these disorders.

In older mice, the functioning and responsiveness of the cells themselves to an artificially induced immune response appeared to be intact in the aging brain. However, because the older microglia started out at a higher rate of activity,

their overall cytokine levels were higher. “Which means that the impact of having an infection may be greater on the older animal or older person,” says McEwen, head of the Harold and Margaret Milliken Hatch Laboratory of Neuroendocrinology. In turn, that could mean that the same dose of certain anti-inflammatory drugs given to older patients might have a different result than it would in someone younger.

Read more.

About 4800 parents of autistic children believe their children’s autism is a result of vaccination.

Their theory is that thimerosal, a mercury-containing preservative once included in many vaccines and removed from most in 1999, can combine with the measles, mumps and rubella vaccination to damage the immune system. This damage, they said, can lead to autism, a developmental disorder characterized by speech and often severe social impairments.

The petitioners want access to the $2.5-billion Vaccine Injury Compensation Trust Fund established by Congress two decades ago, and have brought their case to the Vaccine Court.

An arm of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, the vaccine court consists of judges, called special masters, who determine whether people who say they or their children have been harmed by vaccines deserve compensation.

On June 26, three special masters finished listening to the first case in the Omnibus Autism Proceedings, brought by the parents of Michelle Cedillo, 12, of Arizona. In large part, the hearing served as a time for each side — the families and experts retained by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services — to present its first argument.

The court is expected to hear three tests and then make a ruling on those. If they side with the parents, the court is likely to set up a framework for compensation to the others.

Read the whole article.

Leading dietitian Karen Inge recommends her “Fantastic Four” herbs — garlic, ginger, oregano, and basil — as a way to boost not only flavour, but immune health as well.

“Being a rich source of antioxidants and other phytonutrients, integrating herbs and spices into your diet is one of the simplest ways to help look after yourself,” she said.

“Herbs and spices are now considered to be functional foods, which means they provide additional benefits to the body and do far more than just add flavour to food.”

Read more.

Here’s a story to make you think twice about any new vaccines being offered in the neighbourhood:

A polio vaccine introduced in mid-2005 in Uttar Pradesh (India) by the World Health Organization has failed to prevent 56 people from contracting polio, and there is even suggestion that the vaccine itself is the cause.

The kind of blame shifting and selective follow-ups reported remind me of The Constant Gardener.

Click here to read the whole article.

Just when you think you’ve got the final word on something…

A few days ago, I posted on the latest research on Vitamin C, which concluded that it didn’t really help the average person with colds.

Now…

Executive Director of Alliance for Natural Health Dr Robert Verkerk says: “These headlines have been triggered by a small update to an existing review that does not reflect any significant new research findings.”

The alliance argue that the Cochrane review has a number of fundamental flaws.

They say it looked at a poor range of vitamin C doses, participants did not take the supplement often enough and incompatible trials were pooled together.

Read more.

Researchers from VIB and Ghent University are beginning Phase I of human testing of their new Universal Flu Vaccine.

that is, the candidate vaccine is being administered to a small group of healthy people in order to verify the safety of the product and to provide an initial insight into the vaccine’s effect on the human immune system.

While the external structure of all flu viruses changes each year through mutation — thus becoming unrecognizeable to our immune systems antibodies and requiring a new vaccine — all human flu viruses known carry the so-called M2 protein on their surface, and it is this which the vaccine targets.

There is much controversy concerning overvaccination. Keeping in mind that flu viruses cause 3 to 5 million hospitalizations and 250,000 to 500,000 deaths per year, and the looming threat of a pandemic flu virus like the Spanish Flu of 1918, perhaps this vaccine would be worth consideration.

Read more.

Alopecia areata is thought to be an autoimmune disease affecting about one percent of the population. The body’s immune system mistakingly attacks its own hair follicles, presenting bald patches in the scalp or beard.

It strikes women and men in equal numbers and is found in all races.

The cause is probably an immune attack by the body on its own hair follicles. What sets off the attack is something yet to be explained. Often, alopecia areata runs in families. Sometimes it’s seen in association with other illnesses, like type 1 diabetes, lupus, asthma or thyroid gland inflammation.

Read more about treatment.

The wiki link above is also full of information.

We all know someone — perhaps even the person smiling back from the mirror at us — who will swear as to the efficacy of Vitamin C as an immune system enhancer. Of course, they don’t really need to swear, because “everybody knows” that Vitamin C is good for preventing and healing from colds. Everyone except researchers, that is.

The researchers, from the Australian National University and the University of Helsinki, focused on research where participants were taking daily vitamin C supplements.

But their conclusion appears to suggest that the idea vitamin C supplements fight off colds is a myth. They found that only individuals under extreme physical stress, such as athletes and soldiers, stood to benefit.
Read the whole article.

Of course, colds aren’t the only reasons for taking Vitamin C. Let’s not forget about scurvy, and of course it is used daily in the body in a range of metabolic reactions. The researchers do acknowledge that taken in combination with other ingredients, such as echinacea, it may have unknown health benefits.

As if there weren’t enough things to keep pregnant mothers on edge, scientists have now discovered that women who contract respiratory infections during their second trimester have a 7 times greater likelihood of having a child with schizophrenia, as well as an increased risk of autism.

The good news, however, is that the scientists

found that it was the mother’s immune response that caused the problem, rather than the virus itself.

This means that they are

closer to a therapy to reverse the effects of viruses on fetuses.

Read the whole article.

In case you care about the welfare of all those poor mice whose immune systems are worked on for our benefit, news from the Times Online says that the new research will be done exclusively with computers.

Scientists are predicting an end to the era of human and animal drug testing, saying that computer models will one day become so advanced that they will be able to predict the body’s response to various substances.

The use of computer models would bring “unprecedented benefits” to medicine, and possibly even dispense with the need for drugs altogether, as doctors discovered ways to prompt the body’s own immune system to react to threats, rather than introduce artificial remedies, they said. Read the whole article.

(Forgive the Star Trek theme the last couple of days. I don’t know what’s come over me.)