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Cancer patients appeared to benefit from natural killer cells obtained from donors in an experimental method of treating cancer that involved an aggressive army endowed with the ability to home in on malignant cells and destroy them. The natural killer cells were pre-treated with nicotinamide, a compound widely known to most people as niacin, or vitamin B3. It's a substance with a special affinity for natural killer cells. The innovative approach boosted the impact of natural killer cells and brought about remissions in patients with otherwise recalcitrant cancers. "We conducted a first-in-human phase 1 clinical trial testing adoptive transfer of...

Stem cell-based therapies are becoming increasingly common, especially in the treatment of blood cancers like lymphoma and leukemia. In these cases, the patient's cancerous blood stem cells are removed and replaced with new, healthy ones. However, up to a quarter of cases end in death because replenishing of blood cells is too slow. Scientists already know that stress causes HSCs to slow down—reconstituting the entire blood-cell supply system can be overwhelming. In terms of biology, this stress causes increased activity in mitochondria, the energy-producing organelles of the cell. To meet the high demands of rebuilding blood cells, the mitochondria of...

Vitamin D ...the researchers found that adults who took vitamin D supplements daily lived longer than those who didn't. Probiotics ...they're useful in very specific circumstances, but it's not necessary to continually take them on a daily basis. Zinc ...the mineral significantly reduced the duration of the cold, and also made symptoms less severe. Niacin ...Also known as vitamin B3, niacin is talked up as a cure for all sorts of conditions (including high cholesterol, Alzheimer's, diabetes and headaches) but in most of these cases, a prescription-strength dose of niacin has been needed to show a clear result. At over-the-counter...

Revised guidelines for heart health are set to move away from target-based approach. Soon after Joseph Francis learned that his levels of ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol sat at twice the norm, he discovered the short­comings of cholesterol-lowering drugs — and of the clinical advice guiding their use. Francis, the director of clinical analysis and reporting at the Veterans Health Administration (VA) in Washington DC, started taking Lipitor (atorvastatin), a cholesterol-lowering statin and the best-selling drug in pharmaceutical history. His LDL plummeted, but still hovered just above a target mandated by clinical guidelines. Adding other medications had no effect, and upping the...

Nicotinamide, commonly known as vitamin B3, may help the innate immune system kill antibiotic-resistant staph bacteria, the so-called "superbugs". In lab work done with mice and human blood, researchers found high doses of the vitamin increased the ability of immune cells to kill the bacteria by 1,000 times.The discovery opens the door to a new arsenal of tools for dealing with antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections, such as those caused by methicillin-resistant S. aureus or MRSA, that have killed thousands of people around the world. They are increasing in hospitals and nursing homes, and also rising in prisons, among athletes, people in...

A LITTLE KNOWN OBSCURE FACT, IS THAT BILL W., THE CO-FOUNDER OF ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, PRODUCED AND WROTE THREE PAPERS ABOUT THE BIOCHEMICAL ASPECTS OF ALCOHOLISM. BILL, SUFFERED HORRIBLY FROM DEPRESSION MOST OF HIS LIFE, BOTH BEFORE AND AFTER SOBRIETY. HE FOUND SOME SUBSTANTIAL RELIEF FROM HIS DEPRESSION IN 1960 AFTER MEETING TWO DOCTORS IN NEW YORK; ABRAM HOFFER AND HUMPHREY OSMOND. THESE TWO DOCTORS WERE RESEARCHING ALCOHOLISM AND MENTAL HEALTH DISORDERS IN CANADA. AFTER MEETING HOFFER AND OSMOND BILL BEGAN TAKING VITAMIN B-3 (NIACIN). BILL FOUND SUCH A GREAT RELEASE FROM HIS DEPRESSION, THAT HE SET OUT TO ADVANCE THIS...

Vitamin shots may help protect multiple sclerosis patients from severe long-term disability, a study suggests. Currently, there is no effective treatment for the chronic progressive phase of MS, when serious disability is most likely to appear. Researchers cut the risk of nerve degeneration in mice with MS-type symptoms by giving them a form of vitamin B3 called nicotinamide. The Children's Hospital Boston study appears in the Journal of Neuroscience. MS, which affects about 85,000 people in the UK, is a disease of the central nervous system. It causes the break down of the myelin sheath, a fatty protein, which coats...