Lupus Triggers Inflammation in Various Parts of the Body

FROM Medical News Today

Heart Disease Is A Major Complication Of Lupus - February Is National Heart Month
Also Included In: Cardiovascular / Cardiology
Article Date: 04 Feb 2008 - 2:00 PST

Lupus is a chronic (lifelong) disease in which the immune system fails to tell the difference between foreign invaders, such as viruses and bacteria, and the body's own cells. The immune system then produces auto-antibodies ("auto" means "self") which mistakenly attack healthy tissue. These auto-antibodies cause inflammation, pain and damage to various parts of the body, including the heart, lungs, kidneys and brain. READ MORE.

Ankylosing spondylitis: Chronic Inflammation in the Spine can lead to other Joints and Organs

From MedicineNet.com

What is ankylosing spondylitis?

Ankylosing spondylitis is a form of chronic inflammation of the spine and the sacroiliac joints. The sacroiliac joints are located in the low back where the sacrum (the bone directly above the tailbone) meets the iliac bones (bones on either side of the upper buttocks). Chronic inflammation in these areas causes pain and stiffness in and around the spine. Over time, chronic spinal inflammation (spondylitis) can lead to a complete cementing together (fusion) of the vertebrae, a process referred to as ankylosis. Ankylosis leads to loss of mobility of the spine.

Ankylosing spondylitis is also a systemic rheumatic disease, meaning it can affect other tissues throughout the body. Accordingly, it can cause inflammation in or injury to other joints away from the spine, as well as other organs, such as the eyes, heart, lungs, and kidneys. Ankylosing spondylitis shares many features with several other arthritis conditions, such as psoriatic arthritis, reactive arthritis, and arthritis associated with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. Each of these arthritic conditions can cause disease and inflammation in the spine, other joints, eyes, skin, mouth, and various organs. In view of their similarities and tendency to cause inflammation of the spine, these conditions are collectively referred to as "spondyloarthropathies." For more information, please read the following articles; Psoriatic Arthritis, Reactive Arthritis, Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis. Read More

Chronic Allergies May be Linked to Parkinsons Disease

From Timesonline.co.uk

A study by US scientists has shown that sufferers of allergic rhinitis, a condition that causes symptoms of having a “permanent cold”, appear to be at much greater risk of the degenerative neurological condition. The research, which explored possible links between conditions that cause inflammation and the breakdown of brain cells, found a marked increase in cell death in rhinitis sufferers.

In the paper, published this week in the journal Neurology, they speculate that the inflammation produced by the allergy may release certain chemicals in the brain and inadvertently kill brain cells, as seen in conditions such as Parkinson’s. Between 8,000 and 10,000 Britons have Parkinson’s diagnosed each year, although experts say that in many other cases it is mistakenly identified as a different condition. Read More

NOTE: data is sourced from Neurology, but linked article comes form Timesonline.co.uk. The Journal of Neurology is a fee based site.

Chronic Arthritis Inflammation Linked to Heart Attacks

From ScienceDaily.com reporting Mayo Clinic Findings

Highlight:
Scientists have known for some time that people with rheumatoid arthritis have a greater risk of dying from a heart attack, and a new study from Minnesota's famed Mayo Clinic points to a joint inflammation as the main cause for the trend.

"We believe that inflammation is a strong risk factor for cardiovascular disease," says the study's lead researcher.

While the experts are still unsure of exactly why rheumatoid arthritis's inflammation of large joints may lead to heart attack deaths, they say that issue is under investigation. In the meantime, they say, it's apparent that, keeping a patient's heart attack risk factor to its minimum is a matter of keeping inflammation to its minimum, too. Read More

Growing Evidence Inflammation is the Factor in Heart Attacks

From the Cleveland Clinic

Role of inflammation -
Growing proof inflammation is a major risk factor for heart disease

A recent Associated Press story by Daniel Q. Haney has lead to numerous stories in the news and press concerning the importance of inflammation in the role of coronary artery disease development and progression.

Inflammation (triggered by environmental factors or genetic influences) causes a sequence of actions in the coronary artery such as, plaque rupture, thrombus formation and embolization into the blood vessels within the heart - placing one at increased risk for heart attack.

Dr. Paul Ridker, a cardiologist at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital has conducted several studies over the past few years, suggesting the importance of inflammation in triggering heart attacks. This may explain why those with a normal cholesterol level may still have a heart attack. Read More

Inflammation linked to Increased Lung Cancer Risk

From the American Association for Cancer Research and the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

Gene Variations Link Inflammation and Increased Lung Cancer Risk

Inflammation is part of the immune system’s arsenal to combat the effects of infection and cell damage. However, prolonged or intense inflammation could lead to conditions within the lung environment that foster cancer, Engels said. Previous studies have shown that diseases associated with lung damage, such as tuberculosis and asthma, increase the risk of developing lung cancer. Likewise, exposure to tissue-damaging substances like silica and asbestos, inhaled into the lungs, has also been shown to increases lung cancer risk. Read More

Chronic Inflammation Linked to Cancer

From the American Cancer Society

Chronic Inflammation Linked to Cancer

Body's Immune Systems Can Make Healthy Cells Change

Article date: 2002/06/06

The relationship between chronic inflammation and cancer gets a careful look in a report in the journal Oncology (Vol 16, No 2: 217-229). Some cancers are known to occur more frequently in people with certain inflammatory diseases — like inflammatory bowel disease and hepatitis. The authors believe an understanding of what is going on in the cells of these diseases may one day lead to better prevention and treatment for cancer. Read More

FDA Issues Anti-Inflammatory Drug Alert

From WebMD.com
by Todd Zwillich

WebMD Medical News

Back in April 7, 2005 the following announcement was made -- The popular arthritis drug Bextra will be pulled from the U.S. market under a decision issued by the FDA Thursday.

FDA officials say they asked Pfizer -- the drug's maker -- to remove it from U.S. pharmacies because its risks of heart, stomach, and skin problems clearly outweighed its benefits. Read More

The FDA provided a detailed list of drugs included in the Anti-Inflammatory Drug Alert. Read More.

Inflammation/ Free Radicals and Parkinson's Disease

From Annalsonline.org (New York Academy of Sciences)
M. FLINT BEAL
The pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD) remains obscure, but there is increasing evidence that impairment of mitochondrial function, oxidative damage (free radicals) , and inflammation are contributing factors. The present paper reviews the experimental and clinical evidence implicating these processes in Parkinson's Disease. Read More.

Inflammation and Depression

From ScienceDaily.com and Emory University Health Sciences Center

Individuals with major depression have an exaggerated inflammatory response to psychological stress compared to those who do not suffer from depression, according to a study by researchers at Emory University School of Medicine. Because an overactive inflammatory response may contribute to a number of medical disorders as well as to depression, the findings suggest that increased inflammatory responses to stress in depressed patients may be a link between depression and other diseases, including heart disease, as well as contributing to depression itself. Read More.

Inflammation Connection in Asthma Broader than Originally Thought

From Respitory-Research.com

Abstract
		Asthma was originally described as an inflammatory disease that predominantly involves the central airways. Pathological and physiological evidence reported during the past few years suggests that the inflammatory process extends beyond the central airways to the peripheral airways and the lung parenchyma. The small airways are capable of producing T-helper-2 cytokines, as well as chemokines, and they have recently been recognized as a predominant site of airflow obstruction in asthmatic persons. The inflammation at this distal site has been described as more severe than large airway inflammation. These findings are of great clinical significance, and highlight the need to consider the peripheral airways as a target in any therapeutic strategy for treatment of asthma. Read More

Inflammation Factor in Attention Deficit/ ADDHD

From ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of The National Institutes of Health
Is inflammation a key factor in Attention Deficit?
Purpose Attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a prevalent childhood neuropsychiatric disorder, characterized by age-inappropriate and impairing levels of inattention, hyperactivity and impulsiveness. Approximately 5-10% of school-age children are affected by ADHD, and in many cases, symptoms persist into adolescence and adulthood.

Cytokines are key mediators of immune function and can be either pro-inflammatory or anti-inflammatory. Recently few studies have suggested involvement of cytokine pathways in subjects with ADHD.

Polymorphism of IL-1 receptors antagonists' alleles have been suggested in families and subjects suffering from ADHD. Moreover, a new variant of inflammatory bowel disease, another immunological based disease, was recently suggested in children with ADHD and other developmental disorders. There are no other published reports on cytokine production in children who suffer from ADHD.

The aim of this study is to investigate the inflammatory response in children with this disorder. Read More.

What is Inflammation?

From The Cleveland Clinic Health Information Center

Inflammation is a process by which the body’s white blood cells and chemicals protect us from infection and foreign substances such as bacteria and viruses.

In some diseases, however, the body’s defense system (immune system) inappropriately triggers an inflammatory response when there are no foreign substances to fight off. In these diseases, called autoimmune diseases, the body’s normally protective immune system causes damage to its own tissues. The body responds as if normal tissues are infected or somehow abnormal. Read More

Inflammation: The Root of all Evil in Diabetes and the Dysmetabolic Syndrome

From Medscape.com
Aaron I. Vinik, MD, PhD, FCP, FACP

At this year's EASD Meeting, the Camillo Golgi lecture was given by Professor Antonio Ceriello, Chair of Internal Medicine, University of Udine, Italy. Professor Ceriello has systematically studied the role of oxidative stress as a contributor to insulin resistance, as well as a possible factor affecting pancreatic islet dysfunction.^[1] He proposed that free radicals were generated in excess, causing inflammation damaging to the endothelium of muscle, fat, and pancreatic islets. This concept thus implicates inflammation in both sides of the equation leading to the dysmetabolic syndrome and culminating in type 2 diabetes -- notably insulin resistance and impaired beta-cell function. Read more (free site, but requires registration)

The Science of Mangosteen

From LoveMangosteen.net
by Less Berenson, M.D., F.A.C.P. Rev 10-19-2006
The Mangosteen fruit and its rind (or "pericarp") represent an extremely powerful, natural antinflammatory. Inflammation is a key link to Cancer, Alzheimer's, Heart Disease, Diabetes, Allergies, Arthritis, and Autoimmune Disease. Dr Berensen provides in laymans language how Mangosteen can be successfully used both in addition to, and as a substitute to traditional medicine. Read more. http://www.lovemangosteen.net/files/scienceofmangosteen.pdf