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A new research case series presents food as medicine as a potential treatment for autoimmune diseases, describing three patients with chronic autoimmune disease who showed remarkable improvement after following a predominantly raw dietary pattern high in cruciferous vegetables and omega 3 fatty acids. The research focused on three women with systemic lupus erythematosus and Sjögren's syndrome who adopted a nutrition protocol that emphasized leafy greens, cruciferous vegetables, flax or chia seeds for omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, and water and included predominately raw foods. All three women reported that nearly all their symptoms of both diseases resolved after just four weeks...

In a post hoc analysis of the Phase II NOBILITY trial, researchers found that treatment with obinutuzumab—an antibody that targets a protein expressed on certain immune cells—was superior to placebo for preserving kidney function and preventing flares in patients with lupus nephritis, a kidney condition associated with the autoimmune disease lupus. The analysis compared with standard-of-care treatment alone, the addition of obinutuzumab to lupus nephritis treatment reduced the risk of developing a composite outcome of death, fall in kidney function, or treatment failure by 60%. Adding obinutuzumab also reduced the risk of lupus nephritis relapses by 57% and significantly decreased...

A woman trapped in her own mind for two decades has woken up and is able to be with her family again thanks to a revolutionary new treatment. April Burrell was just a 21 in 1995 when she suffered a traumatic event while studying accountancy at university in Maryland, US, that left her suffering from constant visual and auditory hallucinations. She was diagnosed with a severe form of schizophrenia, a devastating mental illness that dramatically alters sufferers' sense of reality. April spent the next 20 years trapped in a cationic state, unable to recognise her family and having her every...

Type I interferon (IFN) is a powerful immune activator that is present at high levels in the majority of patients with lupus, an autoimmune disease. Researchers report positive results from the first placebo-controlled long-term trial of anifrolumab—a human monoclonal antibody that targets the type I IFN receptor—in patients with lupus. In the long-term extension trial of two earlier phase 3 trials, patients continued anifrolumab 300 mg, switched from anifrolumab 150 mg to 300 mg, or were re-randomized from placebo to either anifrolumab 300 mg or continued placebo, administered every 4 weeks, with all patients also receiving standard therapy. Anifrolumab was...

John Sweeney, a prominent British investigative journalist who has long covered Russian President Vladimir Putin, wrote in his new book that he feels the leader looks "seriously ill" with puffy cheeks that make him resemble a hamster. In his forthcoming book (out July 21), Killer in the Kremlin, Sweeney described changes he has noticed in Putin's demeanor and physical appearance that he said scare him. He theorized the use of steroids for Putin's changes, noting the president could have started taking the medication years ago to treat a back injury sustained after falling off a horse. According to Sweeney, this...

For most of us, the immune system works to protect us from bacteria, viruses, and other harmful pathogens. But for people with autoimmune conditions, the body's white blood cells instead perceive other cells and tissues in the body to be a threat and attacks them. While some immune disorders, like allergies, can sometimes be treated, autoimmune conditions such as multiple sclerosis (MS) remain incurable. Our research has shown that you can stop the immune system attacking the nerves – which is what happens in MS. We did this by giving the immune system ever-increasing doses of the same molecule that...

OCONOMOWOC, Wis. (CBS Local) — A Wisconsin woman who has taken hydroxychloroquine for 19 years to treat lupus says the anti-malarial drug will not protect someone from COVID-19. Kim, who doesn’t want to show her face or give her full name, says after the pandemic began, she only left her Oconomowoc home to go the grocery store. But by mid-April, she started feeling coronavirus symptoms. “Weak all over. Coughing, fever. The fever was very high,” she told WISN. “It just went downhill from there. I couldn’t breathe no more.” Kim said she tested positive for COVID-19. “When they gave the...

In Italy, only 20 out of 65,000 chronic Lupus patients got COVID-19. In an article published in Il Tempo, one of Italy’s leading independent newspapers (Britannica.com), Annalisa Chiusolo, a prominent pharmacology researcher, described the mechanism of action of SARS-CoV-2. By understanding this mechanism, it is possible to target and select the most effective drugs against COVID-19 with accuracy and precision. The coronavirus affects the ability of the hemoglobin to transport oxygen, creating the preconditions for lung complications, known to be associated with COVID-19: breathlessness, acute respiratory distress syndrome, and death.Discovering the theory of viral replication is the first step of...

Hydroxychloroquine is one of many medications frequently used in rheumatology practice. Its remarkable versatility is attested by its routine use in lupus, in patients with an autoimmune coagulopathy, in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, as well as those with a low-level inflammatory arthropathy. It’s an amazing medication, with a novel history and wide array of indication and multiple actions that we now better understand. . . . . .The HCQ story begins in 1638 when the wife of the Viceroy of Peru, Countess Cinchona, acquired malaria while living in the New World. Rather than getting the “approved” therapy, blood-letting, she was...

One morning during my last semester in college, I woke up with a strange rash on my face. When it didn’t go away after exhausting a tube of over-the-counter cortisone, my mother persuaded me to see a doctor. The diagnosis was lupus: a life-changing autoimmune disease in which the body literally attacks itself. The physical effects of the disease are cruel, including excruciating joint pain, organ damage, dramatic hair loss, and debilitating fatigue—most of which I have experienced again and again, often for long stretches, throughout my life. And while lupus can be managed, it has no cure. For three...

A stampede for an unproven “cure” for Covid-19 is clearing the pharmacy shelves of a medicine that is vital for up to 5 million people around the world suffering from lupus, as countries bow to populist pressure and abandon the trials that would show whether hydroxychloroquine works against coronavirus infection. Both Italy and France have said doctors can now prescribe hydroxychloroquine – a less toxic version of the malaria drug chloroquine – even though there is no robust evidence to prove that it is effective against Covid-19. Popular pressure for access to the drug has been ramped up by pronouncements...

Some doctors are writing prescriptions for a drug that may help treat coronavirus for their family and friends, one pharmacist said, calling their actions "unethical and selfish." Hydroxychloroquine has not been clinically proven to be safe or successful in treating coronavirus, and yet the increased demand for it is making it harder for people who need it to control their chronic diseases to get it. Hydroxychloroquine is a less toxic derivative of chloroquine, an anti-malaria drug. It often treats autoimmune diseases, such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, and is sold under the brand name, Plaquenil. Recent data show chloroquine orders...

US doctors are hoarding two rumored “anti-coronavirus” drugs for themselves and their families, helping to drive a nationwide shortage, a report said Tuesday. The doctors are prescribing chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine for themselves and their loved ones even though there is no scientific proof that the pharmaceuticals combat the contagion — and as lupus and arthritis sufferers who use the medicine go without, according to pharmacists and state regulators who talked to ProPublica. “It’s disgraceful, is what it is,” said Garth Reynolds, head of the Illinois Pharmacists Association, which was alerted to the situation through calls and emails from concerned members.

One of the unfortunate realities of clinical research is that much of it doesn’t bear fruit in the way its intended beneficiaries would like it to, i.e. resulting in cures for the diseases from which they suffer. It often leads researchers into blind alleys and cul-de-sacs rather than transformative medical breakthroughs. Even so, this experimentation is necessary, if only to learn from their past failures and mistaken assumptions-a process illuminated brilliantly in The Emperor of All Maladies, the first comprehensive biography of cancer-and ultimately discover successful treatments and therapies. But this presupposes a consistent stream of funding to enable research...

Explanation: A new star, likely the brightest supernova in recorded human history, lit up planet Earth's sky in the year 1006 AD. The expanding debris cloud from the stellar explosion, found in the southerly constellation of Lupus, still puts on a cosmic light show across the electromagnetic spectrum. In fact, this composite view includes X-ray data in blue from the Chandra Observatory, optical data in yellowish hues, and radio image data in red. Now known as the SN 1006 supernova remnant, the debris cloud appears to be about 60 light-years across and is understood to represent the remains of a...

6 year old boy Josia Cotto’s mom and dad had no choice than to let him rest peacefully as their child was fighting a brain tumor that was inoperable for a period of 10 months. His mother said that they knew that they could do nothing about their son as they say he was unresponsive and did not open his eyes. They covered him in a soft blanket in white and blue and held on to the tiny hand one last time before the ambulance took him to a local hospital. She said that they told Josia that he had...

A lighting expert who has overseen lighting projects including the Statue of Liberty and the Petronas Towers expressed concerns on Capitol Hill Thursday about the safety of certain types of new light bulbs. Appearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Howard M. Brandston spoke in favor of the "Better Use of Light Bulbs Act" – a measure which would overturn elements of a 2007 law mandating that traditional incandescent light bulbs be phased out over the next few years. In his testimony, Brandston claimed that parts of the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act serve as a “de-facto...

FDA NEWS RELEASE For Immediate Release: March 9, 2011 Media Inquiries: Erica Jefferson, 301-796-4988, erica.jefferson@fda.hhs.gov; Morgan Liscinsky, 301-796-0397, morgan.liscinsky@fda.hhs.gov Consumer Inquiries: 888-INFO-FDA FDA approves Benlysta to treat lupus First new lupus drug approved in 56 years The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Benlysta (belimumab) to treat patients with active, autoantibody-positive lupus (systemic lupus erythematosus) who are receiving standard therapy, including corticosteroids, antimalarials, immunosuppressives, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Benlysta is delivered directly into a vein (intravenous infusion) and is the first inhibitor designed to target B-lymphocyte stimulator (BLyS) protein, which may reduce the number of abnormal B cells thought...

Starting at 10AM we will present a special edition of the Jim Vicevich Show. Sandra Raymond, from the Lupus Foundation of America will be joining us, as well as Lisa Sartorius, the President of the Connecticut Lupus Foundation, as we take some time to raise money for Lupus research. Click here to contribute. Look for the “DONATE NOW” on the left hand side of the donate page. Read more about Lupus below the fold. As many of you may know I have Lupus. Lupus (SLE, CLE, SCLE) is a debilitating autoimmune disease, and while it’s affects on each individual can...

Facing a federal lawsuit accusing "America's toughest sheriff" of failing to cooperate in a Justice Department investigation into allegations of discrimination in his arrest of illegal immigrants, Sheriff Joe Arpaio on Wednesday unveiled a new armed "Immigration Posse" to combat illegal immigration in Arizona.   Sheriff Arpaio, who heads the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office in Phoenix, said the new armed posse ---
which includes Hollywood actors Steven Seagal, Lou Ferrigno and Peter Lupus ---
could help his deputies enforce immigration laws in the state. But, more importantly, he said the new posse "would provide a means by which citizens could...