Health knowledge made personal
Blood pressure change at middle age significantly raises the risk of having a heart attack or a stroke during one’s lifetime.
Phthalates, some of which have been implicated in adverse developmental and reproductive effects in laboratory animals, are present in 50 prescription...
Rose hip (Rosa canina) extract may help to reduce blood pressure and improve cholesterol, among obese men and women.
Hardly fabulous, the American Diet gets a failing grade from the US Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC).
Daily supplements of strawberry powder may improve heart health measures, in obese men and women.
Dendrimers, a type of nanoparticle, delivers steroid therapy directly to damage-causing cells associated with neuroinflammation, implicated in age-related...
Men who are physically fit in their 40s, and maintain that fitness level for a decade, reduce their risk of all-cause death by 30%.
UK researchers identify the proportions of cancer in the population that associate with lifestyle and environmental factors.
Low vitamin D levels associate with higher degrees of insulin resistance.
Among a group of young, pregnant Danish women, a low intake of fish or omega-3 fatty acids associated with an elevated risk of cardiovascular disease.
January 2012
27–29
Fellowship in Anti-Aging, Regenerative & Functional Medicine:
Module XX
February
24–26
Fellowship in Anti-Aging, Regenerative & Functional Medicine:
Module III or XIV(B)
March
22–24
Fellowship in Anti-Aging, Regenerative & Functional Medicine:
Module II or VI or XIV
April
May
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Both dry age-related macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa are caused by neuroinflammation, which progressively damages the retina and can lead to blindness. Macular degeneration is the primary cause of vision loss in older Americans, affecting more than 7 million people, and retinitis pigmentosa affects 1 in 4,000 Americans; presently there is no cure for either of these diseases. A collaborative research study among investigators at Wayne State University, the Mayo Clinic and Johns Hopkins Medicine shows that steroids attached to the dendrimers – a type of nanoparticle – targeted the damage-causing cells associated with neuroinflammation, leaving the rest of the eye unaffected and preserving vision. Lead researcher Raymond Iezzi, from Mayo Clinic (Minnesota, USA), explains the team’ study tested the dendrimer delivery system in rats that develop neuroinflammation leading to retinal degeneration. The target was activated microglial cells, the immune cells in charge of cleaning up dead and dying material in the eye. When activated, these cells cause damage via neuroinflammation a hallmark of each disease. Dendrimers are tree-like, non-cytotoxic polymeric drug delivery vehicles (~ 4 nm). Surprisingly, the activated microglia in the degenerating retina appeared to eat the dendrimer selectively and retain them for at least a month. The drug is released from the dendrimer in a sustained fashion inside these cells, offering targeted neuroprotection to the retina. The treatment reduced neuroinflammation in the rat model and protected vision by preventing injury to photoreceptors in the retina. Although the steroid offers only temporary protection, the treatment as a whole provides sustained relief from neuroinflammation.
Raymond Iezzi, Bharath R. Guru, Inna V. Glybina, Manoj K. Mishra, Alexander Kennedy, Rangaramanujam M. Kannan. “Dendrimer-based targeted intravitreal therapy for sustained attenuation of neuroinflammation in retinal degeneration.” Biomaterials, Volume 33, Issue 3, January 2012, Pages 979-988.