tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65117834160212311872024-03-13T14:42:55.387-04:00Ahhhhhhhh!!! I HAVE Crohn's Disease!!Welcome! I am a Crohn's colitis survivor, fighter and persistant proactive patient that will not stop the search.. 4 THE CURE! Meanwhile, I will utilize this blog to educate, support and provide up to date, valuable information about Crohn's Disease, IBD, IBS and many other chronic conditions. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14915634441723395075noreply@blogger.comBlogger223125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6511783416021231187.post-68105959399823154362015-02-01T13:50:00.000-05:002015-02-01T13:50:44.501-05:00Blood Test to Determine Vitamin/Mineral/Nutrient Levels - #BodyBio<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc;">My naturopathic doctor is great! I'm passing on what she has recommended to me to whomever it can help. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc;">If you have a vitamin/mineral deficiency, you could go years not feeling well and struggling. Your regular PCP/MD just don't do a thorough enough test to determine all your needs. Doctors are on the vitamin D train now... hopefully, but what else might your body be lacking? </span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc;">BodyBio is a blood test that will determine vitamin levels/needs. Check it out if you think you are deficient OR if you have a disease like Crohn's colitis. Inflammation in the digestive system will hinder the absorption of the nutrients from your foods and supplements. Most people with a digestive disease probably have malabsorption issues and nutrient deficiencies. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc;">Just from the top of my head, B vitamins, iron, D, mag, calcium, zinc, C, iodine, K </span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc;">Here's the link to the main page for the test - <a href="http://www.bodybio.com/BodyBioReport.aspx?Test=Yes">BioCell|Home</a>: </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">This is a screenshot of one of the example diagnostic pages . </span> </div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14915634441723395075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6511783416021231187.post-62417873539516899492015-01-31T12:07:00.002-05:002015-01-31T12:07:56.003-05:00HSP70 Could Fix Gene Mutations of NOD2 in People w/ Crohn's Disease<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I have all these drafts that I never published at the time that I am going to post now. My focus and concentration is not on the management of symptoms to quiet Crohn's anymore. There's too much scientific data that suggests that Crohn's is caused by a bacteria in people that are immune deficient (can't fight off the pathogen and kill it the way normal immune systems do - that's why some people get Crohn's and others remain healthy). <br />
My goal is to be well and have health again. I do understand that everyones approach to handling their disease is unique to the individual, so if I can provide anything that can help them, I will do that.<br />
Happy Saturday.. Yay, it's sunny!<br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #ffe599; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.emaxhealth.com/1020/protein-found-fixes-crohns-gene-mutation">Protein found that fixes Crohn's disease gene - EmaxHealth</a>: </span></div>
<img alt="Researchers have uncovered a protein that stabilizes Crohn's disease gene" src="http://www.emaxhealth.com/files/styles/img300/public/images/genome_0.jpg?itok=k6BbY4X6" height="135" title="Potential new target for treating Crohn's disease uncovered" width="300" /><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #d0e0e3; font-size: x-small;">Researchers say they have identified a protein that stabilizes another protein involved in Crohn's disease. University of Delaware researchers discovered how certain proteins can prevent gut bacteria can trigger an abnormal immune response to lead to inflammation associated with Crohn's and other inflammatory bowel disorders.</span></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #d0e0e3; font-size: x-small;">New target for treating Crohn's disease</span></strong></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #d0e0e3; font-size: x-small;">Past research has focused on the role of gut bacteria as a contributor to Crohn's disease. The new research conducted by Catherine Leimkuhler Grimes, assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry at <a href="http://www.udel.edu/udaily/2015/jul/crohns-research-071614.html" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: bold; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">UD</a>, and Vishnu Mohanan, doctoral student in biological sciences focused on mutation of a gene called NOD2 — nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain containing protein 2 - that is strongly associated with Crohn's disease.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #d0e0e3; font-size: x-small;">Mohanan discovered HSP70 that stands for "heat shock protein 70" plays a role in helping the body attack "bad" gut bacteria, which essentially "fixes" mutations of NOD2.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #d0e0e3; font-size: x-small;">HSP70 is referenced as a chaperone molecule that helps proteins maintain their three dimensional shape.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #d0e0e3; font-size: x-small;">According to a press release, "..we stumbled on this chaperone molecule," says Mohanan, who was the lead author of article.published in the July 4, 2014 Journal of Biological Chemistry.''</span><br />
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #d0e0e3; font-size: x-small;">Bad versus good gut bacteria</span></strong></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #d0e0e3; font-size: x-small;">The study authors explain how the body sorts out which bacteria in the gut are "good" and which are "bad" through receptors that can distinguish between the two based on bacterial composition including fragments of the bacteria's cell wall.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #d0e0e3; font-size: x-small;">If one of the receptors mutates or breaks down an autoimmune response can occur that destroys beneficial bacteria, which is what is believed to lead to diseases like Crohn's.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #d0e0e3; font-size: x-small;">The researchers said they were skeptical about pursuing HSP70 because it is a well known protein. The researchers inadvertently discovered the chaperone molecule when they were looking at where NOD2's signaling mechanism breaks down.</span></div>
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<strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #d0e0e3; font-size: x-small;">Protein helps 'fix' Crohn's gene mutation</span></strong></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #d0e0e3; font-size: x-small;">The researchers went on to test cell lines with HSP70 including kidney cells, colon cells and white blood cells. They discovered NOD2 degraded more slowly with HSP70 treatment.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #d0e0e3; font-size: x-small;">"Vishnu found that if we increased the expression level of HSP70, the NOD2 Crohn's mutants were able to respond to bacterial cell wall fragments. A hallmark of the NOD2 mutations is inability to respond to these fragments. Essentially, Vishnu found a fix for NOD2, and we wanted to determine how we were fixing it: Grimes said. HSP70 basically keep NOD2 from "going to the cellular trash can," Grimes adds.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #d0e0e3; font-size: x-small;">Crohn's disease is emerging globally and now may affect as many as 700,000 people in the United States alone. The disease primarily affects young people and can cause significant pain, frequent hospitalizations, anxiety and inability to socialize during flare-ups that are different for everyone.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: #d0e0e3; font-size: x-small; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">The disease can affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract and can also produce skin lesions and other extraneous symptoms.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #d0e0e3; font-size: x-small; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">The new finding shows there could be new targets for treating Crohn's disease. "We want to figure out why the mutation in NOD2 results in an increase in inflammation," says Mohanan. "Right now, we have limited knowledge. Once the signaling mechanism is figured out, we will have the keystone."</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14915634441723395075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6511783416021231187.post-6089224071284624692014-12-07T14:43:00.001-05:002014-12-07T14:43:38.930-05:00Infographic Snapshot of the Lifecycle of #MAP in People w/ #Crohns<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Great infographic image of the life cycle of MAP. </div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-k5NT3SxTwxQ/VISeHcYe_vI/AAAAAAAAF34/P-e7J7JWz3c/s1600/crohnsmapvaccine.%2BMAP%2Binfographic%2Bportrait.pdf.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-k5NT3SxTwxQ/VISeHcYe_vI/AAAAAAAAF34/P-e7J7JWz3c/s1600/crohnsmapvaccine.%2BMAP%2Binfographic%2Bportrait.pdf.png" height="640" width="441" /></a></div>
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The part of this picture that should jump out at you is the statistic on the bottom left. citation # 3<br />
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92% !!!....... this is madness! This isn't new news people. So why doesn't anyone know about MAP and it's relation to Crohn's? I'm not talking about lay persons, but people in the profession of helping people get better who are living with this disease. They don't acknowledge it. The medical community flat out ignores the science and the 30 years or more of research that exists. People need to take charge of their life and health and start fighting to know something. Ask questions and demand an answer is where I'd start. </div>
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<a href="http://crohnsmapvaccine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/MAP-infographic-portrait.pdf">http://crohnsmapvaccine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/MAP-infographic-portrait.pdf</a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14915634441723395075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6511783416021231187.post-46939738293507845482014-09-20T13:55:00.000-04:002014-09-20T13:55:59.694-04:00Crohn's - MAP Bacteria Connection *Video*<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: #ffe599; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black;">Informative 3 min. YouTube video to raise awareness about the Crohn's-MAP bacteria connection. How humans are exposed and vulnerable to MAP - There are now ways to test for MAP. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #ffe599; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black;">I also posted the links that were provided on the YouTube page under the video for further reading/info.</span></span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/mIjhCGhn8CY?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIjhCGhn8CY">A Cure for Crohn's? Crohn's MAP Vaccine, Prof. John Hermon-Taylor - YouTube</a>: </span></div>
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<br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: start;" /><span style="background-color: black; color: #ffe599; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a class="yt-uix-redirect-link" dir="ltr" href="http://crohnsmapvaccine.com/" rel="nofollow" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="http://crohnsmapvaccine.com">http://crohnsmapvaccine.com</a><br style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: start;" /><br style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: start;" /><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: start;">Crohn's MAP Vaccine:</span><br style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: start;" /><a class="yt-uix-redirect-link" dir="ltr" href="https://www.facebook.com/crohnsmapvaccine" rel="nofollow" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="https://www.facebook.com/crohnsmapvaccine">https://www.facebook.com/crohnsmapvac...</a><br style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: start;" /><br style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: start;" /><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: start;">Crohn's MAP Vaccine Heroes:</span><br style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: start;" /><a class="yt-uix-redirect-link" dir="ltr" href="https://www.facebook.com/CrohnsMAPVaccineHeroes" rel="nofollow" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="https://www.facebook.com/CrohnsMAPVaccineHeroes">https://www.facebook.com/CrohnsMAPVac...</a><br style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: start;" /><br style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: start;" /><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: start;">Crohn's MAP Vaccine Heroes:</span><br style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: start;" /><a class="yt-uix-redirect-link" dir="ltr" href="https://www.justgiving.com/teams/crohnsmapvaccineheroes" rel="nofollow" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="https://www.justgiving.com/teams/crohnsmapvaccineheroes">https://www.justgiving.com/teams/croh...</a></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #ffe599; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: start;">- The Crohn’s MAP Vaccine</span><br style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: start;" /><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: start;">A modern therapeutic Vaccine against MAP has been created. Preliminary studies in animals have shown it to be safe and effective. Next, a trial in humans is needed to take the vaccine from lab to clinic.</span><br style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: start;" /><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: start;">Professor John Hermon-Taylor, King's College London</span><br style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: start;" /><a class="yt-uix-redirect-link" dir="ltr" href="http://crohnsmapvaccine.com/" rel="nofollow" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="http://crohnsmapvaccine.com">http://crohnsmapvaccine.com</a><br style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: start;" /><br style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: start;" /><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: start;">Crohn's Disease Info Center:</span><br style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: start;" /><a class="yt-uix-redirect-link" dir="ltr" href="http://www.shafran.net/crohn/TrialResults.htm" rel="nofollow" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="http://www.shafran.net/crohn/TrialResults.htm">http://www.shafran.net/crohn/TrialRes...</a><br style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: start;" /><br style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: start;" /><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: start;">Providing the highest quality medical care, Shafran Gastroenterology Center, IBD Center-of-Excellence in Florida:</span><br style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: start;" /><a class="yt-uix-redirect-link" dir="ltr" href="http://www.shafran.net/center/" rel="nofollow" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="http://www.shafran.net/center/">http://www.shafran.net/center/</a><br style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: start;" /><br style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: start;" /><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: start;">CDD The Centre for Digestive Diseases, Crohn's Disease:</span><br style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: start;" /><a class="yt-uix-redirect-link" dir="ltr" href="http://www.cdd.com.au/pages/disease_info/crohns_disease.html" rel="nofollow" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="http://www.cdd.com.au/pages/disease_info/crohns_disease.html">http://www.cdd.com.au/pages/disease_i...</a><br style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: start;" /><br style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: start;" /><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: start;">Efficacy and Safety of Anti-MAP Therapy in Adult Crohn's Disease (MAPUS), RHB-104:</span><br style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: start;" /><a class="yt-uix-redirect-link" dir="ltr" href="http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT01951326" rel="nofollow" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT01951326">http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/show/NC...</a><br style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: start;" /><br style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: start;" /><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: start;">RHB-104 is a proprietary antibiotics drug combination for treatment of Crohn’s disease:</span><br style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; text-align: start;" /><a class="yt-uix-redirect-link" dir="ltr" href="http://www.redhillbio.com/product-pipeline/rhb-104/" rel="nofollow" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; cursor: pointer; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="http://www.redhillbio.com/product-pipeline/rhb-104/">http://www.redhillbio.com/product-pip...</a></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14915634441723395075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6511783416021231187.post-47742408514168356972014-08-17T19:15:00.000-04:002014-08-17T19:15:40.428-04:00Individual Inflammatory Bowel Disease Therapies from Biopsied Epithelial Cells <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #9fc5e8;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That would be cool. Getting treated based on needs that addresses the missing component. I'll be positive and not bitch about the fact that they aren't looking to zoom up on what the cause is that is changing the cells in the first place. Something is causing them to respond to certain factors a certain way. That's a post for another day. This study was positive though. Maybe this can lead to treatments that can improve the quality of life in people that suffer from IBD/gastrointestinal disturbances. We can only hope that treatments will be better and safer. So, </span></span><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Washington University researchers used biopsy cells, taken from patients during a routine endoscopy to study if epithelial cells could be grown in the lab if therapeutic conditions were provided. According to the article, cells were obtained and placed in "a <span style="line-height: 18.2000007629395px;">high concentration of conditioned media containing the factors critical for growth (Wnt3a, R-spondin and Noggin)". Within 2 weeks, the result from these</span></span><span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;"> conditions were positive. They showed that epithelial cells formed "functional, polarised monolayers covered by a secreted mucus layer when grown on Transwell membranes". They also exposed the cells to bacteria (e. coli) to see how they would respond when exposed to harmful bacteria changes. The results were favorable. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="background-color: black;"><a href="http://ibdnewstoday.com/2014/08/13/growing-intestinal-epithelial-cells-may-lead-to-personalized-ibd-therapies/">Growing Intestinal Epithelial Cells May Lead to Personalized IBD Therapies</a>: </b></span></div>
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<img alt="Intestinal Epithelial Cells" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-942" src="http://ibdnewstoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/shutterstock_96824779-300x184.jpg" height="184" width="300" /><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Technology for the growth of<strong style="border: 0px none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"> human intestinal epithelial cells</strong> could help scientists develop individualized therapies for <strong style="border: 0px none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">inflammatory bowel disease</strong> and other gastrointestinal conditions. This is the conclusion of a group of researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, who recently published a study, entitled, “<a href="http://gut.bmj.com/content/early/2014/07/09/gutjnl-2013-306651.abstract?sid=79c1ef19-7ade-4f0b-99cf-aadfe542fd76" style="border: 0px none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Development of an enhanced human gastrointestinal epithelial culture system to facilitate patient-based assays</a>,” in the J<a href="http://gut.bmj.com/" style="border: 0px none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">ournal <em style="border: 0px none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">Gut</em></a>.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For this to be possible, the team explained in the abstract of their study that epithelial cells must be enhanced so that biopsies from patients can be used to generate cell lines (which are populations of cells in culture with the same genetic makeup) in a short time frame, so that the analysis can be made accurately.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u style="background-color: black;">In two weeks, researchers were able to create 65 human gastrointestinal epithelial cell lines from biopsies of 47 patients, taken during routine endoscopic screening procedures. They used a high concentration of conditioned media containing the factors critical for growth, which resulted in a rapid expansion of the proliferative stem and progenitor cells. In addition, the team used a combination of lower conditioned media concentration and Notch inhibition to differentiate these cells for further research.</u></span></div>
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<span style="color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u style="background-color: black;">Results showed that under differentiation conditions, intestinal epithelial spheroids developed mature epithelial lineages in specific regions. These cells formed functional, polarized monolayers covered by a secreted mucus layer when grown on Transwell membranes.</u></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After this process, researchers conducted experiments to determine how the cells interacted with bacterial pathogens like Escherichia coli. They found the cells also demonstrated novel adherence phenotypes with various strains of pathogenic Escherichia coli.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #9fc5e8; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ultimately, these findings can help testing of new drug targets, as well as developing vaccines. Furthermore, they will play a crucial role in understanding how human cells interact with beneficial and harmful microbes, researchers believe.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px;">Link to the abstract journal article in Gut - </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 19.5px;">http://gut.bmj.com/content/early/2014/07/09/gutjnl-2013-306651.abstract?sid=79c1ef19-7ade-4f0b-99cf-aadfe542fd76</span></span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; text-decoration: underline;"> </span></b><span id="article-slug-jnl-abbr" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: italic; line-height: 18.2000007629395px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><abbr class="slug-jnl-abbrev" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Gut"><nlm:abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="publisher" xmlns:nlm="http://schema.highwire.org/NLM/Journal">Gut</nlm:abbrev-journal-title></abbr> </span><span style="line-height: 18.2000007629395px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;"></span></span><span class="slug-doi" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2000007629395px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="10.1136/gutjnl-2013-306651">doi:10.1136/gutjnl-2013-306651</span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14915634441723395075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6511783416021231187.post-88037770307573464462014-08-14T16:44:00.001-04:002014-08-14T16:45:36.292-04:00Cologuard - New Colorectal Cancer Screening Test Available -Noninvasive-<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #fce5cd;">For those of you that are not fond of hoses and tubes getting inserted up your butt, there's another option, a less invasive method, for colorectal health screening. I have needed scopes since I was 16 or 17, so the traditional scope doesn't bother me. Some people that I know won't even consider getting screened because of embarrassment or because they think they are fine. People that neglect this kind of screening are really neglecting their health and chancing it. Colon cancer doesn't have to be fatal. Screenings are the only way to catch something abnormal. Because there are no symptoms until it's too late, the screening is the only way to know if something is brewing and needs to be treated or addressed. Yay!!! for more patient options! Now pick one and be healthy.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #fce5cd;"><a href="http://www.gastroendonews.com/ViewArticle.aspx?d=Breaking+News&d_id=409&i=August+2014&i_id=1094&a_id=27942">Gastroenterology & Endoscopy News - FDA Approves New Test for Colorectal Cancer</a>: </span><br />
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<span id="ctl00_ContentPlaceHolder1_lblTitle" style="background-color: black; color: #fce5cd;">FDA Approves New Test for Colorectal Cancer</span></div>
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<span id="ctl00_ContentPlaceHolder1_lblAuthor" style="background-color: black; color: #fce5cd;">by GEN Staff</span></div>
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<span id="ctl00_ContentPlaceHolder1_lblBody" style="background-color: black; color: #fce5cd;">The FDA has approved a new screening test that detects the presence of blood and genetic material linked to colorectal cancer (CRC).<br /><br />The test, called Cologuard, is the first to combine fecal blood and DNA testing in a single screening. Cologuard been shown to find 92% of cancers, and 69% of polyps with high-grade dysplasia, in patients at average risk for CRC, according to Exact Sciences, which makes the test. Results from the pivotal trial were published earlier this year in <a href="http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1311194" style="outline: none;"><em>The New England Journal of Medicine</em></a><em></em>. The study found that although the new test detected many more cancers than fecal immunochemical testing, it had more false-positive results.<br /><br />“The robustly conducted research as part of this FDA approval process has proven that this noninvasive test is highly sensitive in detecting both early-stage colorectal cancer and the most advanced precancerous polyps most likely to develop into cancer,” said David Ahlquist, MD, a gastroenterologist at Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, Minn., who helped invent the test, in a statement. “The test is designed for high accuracy, ease of patient use and wide accessibility. We hope that it will make a difference and save many lives.”<br /><br />DNA testing for CRC has not been endorsed by bodies such as the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, whose recommendations influence clinical practice. However, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has proposed covering Cologuard testing every three years for Medicare beneficiaries.<br /><br />The test will be available at a cost of $599. </span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14915634441723395075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6511783416021231187.post-61582376099461166122014-07-22T16:01:00.002-04:002014-07-22T16:01:37.000-04:00Supplements for Crohn's/Colitis/IBS - The Brand I Swear By - Garden of Life<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #76a5af; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you have Crohn's UC IBS or any digestive issues, you probably don't absorb all the nutrients from the food you eat. You have to supplement with a good product that will make up for what you lose in your food. Also, if you have to adhere to a strict diet, limited diet, you may not even consume some of the foods that nourish and provide you with the needed vitamins and minerals that you need to keep your body functioning to the best of it's ability. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #76a5af; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Garden of Life is by far, one of the best supplement/vitamin/herb companies out there. They are one of the few brands that provide ORGANIC supplements. Have you noticed that it's very rare to find good vitamins that are organic? I never used to look for organic until I refuse to put anything that isn't organic into my body. </span><span style="background-color: black; color: #76a5af; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm posting what I take from them that works great and am able to tolerate. My body is sensitive to supplements, so finding a brand that my body can handle is a process of trial and error. Hope you find this helpful :)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #76a5af;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">( Everything I have posted here can be found at www.gardenoflife.com ) </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #76a5af;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Vitamin Code - Healthy Blood: I need iron, but have never been able to tolerate oral iron at all. This doesn't irritate my digestive system or give me any problems. Works great.</span> </span> <img alt="Vitamin Code<sup>®</sup> Healthy Blood™" height="261" src="http://www.gardenoflife.com/Portals/11/PropertyAgent/6384/Files/148/TVC-HEALTHY-BLOOD.png" width="320" /><img alt="AlgaeCalRAW Clinical Strength - The first RAW, Vegan, Whole Food, Plant-Sourced Calcium" height="122" src="http://www.growbone.com/Portals/25/Skins/GrowBone/images/Rotator/Grow-Bone-Banner02.png" width="400" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #76a5af; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Vitamin Code - Grow Bone System: Amazing stuff that has been clinically tested and shown to help strengthen bones, stimulate bone growth and builds bone mass. If you take prednisone, you should definitely incorporate this into your regime. </span><br />
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<em><span style="background-color: black; color: #76a5af; font-size: x-small;"><strong>AlgaeCal RAW</strong> is an ocean-derived raw, organic, whole food, plant form of Calcium, naturally rich in 73 bone-building minerals and trace elements. The AlgaeCal RAW Clinical Strength found in Vitamin Code<span style="position: relative; top: -0.4em; vertical-align: baseline;">®</span> RAW Calcium™ is the same ingredient that was used in human clinical studies.</span></em></div>
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<strong><span style="background-color: black; color: #76a5af; font-size: x-small;">Clinical Studies = Confidence</span></strong></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #76a5af; font-size: x-small;">In a six-month randomized, open label human clinical study, 176 women and men ages 18 to 85 consumed the ingredients in the Grow Bone System and followed a healthy eating plan and walking program. In just six months, participants experienced on average a statistically significant INCREASE in bone mineral density as evidenced by before and after full-body DEXA scans.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #76a5af;">Primal Defense - HSO Probiotic Formula</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #76a5af;"><img alt="Primal Defense<sup>®</sup>" height="280" src="http://www.gardenoflife.com/Portals/11/PropertyAgent/6384/Files/40/Primal-Defense.png" width="320" />Contains the following </span><br />
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<tr style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><td style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="50%"><em style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #76a5af; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">Lactobacillus plantarum</span></em></td><td style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" valign="top" width="50%"><em style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #76a5af; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">Bacillus subtilis</span></em></td></tr>
<tr style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><td style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><em style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #76a5af; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">Lactobacillus brevis</span></em></td><td style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" valign="top" width="50%"><em style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #76a5af; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">Bifidobacterium breve</span></em></td></tr>
<tr style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><td style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><em style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #76a5af; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">Bifidobacterium bifidum</span></em></td><td style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" valign="top" width="50%"><em style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #76a5af; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">Lactobacillus paracasei</span></em></td></tr>
<tr style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><td style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><em style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #76a5af; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">Lactobacillus salivarius</span></em></td><td style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" valign="top" width="50%"><em style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #76a5af; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">Lactobacillus casei</span></em></td></tr>
<tr style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><td style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><em style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #76a5af; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">Bifidobacterium lactis</span></em></td><td style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" valign="top" width="50%"><em style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #76a5af; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">Bifidobacterium longum</span></em></td></tr>
<tr style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><td style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><em style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #76a5af; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">Lactobacillus acidophilus</span></em></td><td style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;" valign="top" width="50%"><span style="background-color: black; color: #76a5af;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"> </span><em style="margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">Lactobacillus rhamnosus</span></em></span></td></tr>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14915634441723395075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6511783416021231187.post-70578723702604915462014-06-19T11:00:00.000-04:002014-06-19T11:00:00.851-04:00** ANNOUNCEMENT** Changing Blog Platforms... Any Recommendations?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: black; color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Hello to everyone who reads what I post on here. I hope you've found something helpful in the information and topics that I choose to highlight in my posts. I took a bit of a break from researching my ass off for the past few months, but I'm back at it again. I'll never stop learning about this disease, as I am empowered by the things I know about it. It tends to make me feel more in control as well. </i></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>My new posts are not going to be posted here, however. Maybe I will import the new entry onto this Blogger/blogspot blog for a few months or something, but I need to switch & want to switch. The rss code has an error somewhere. I have tried to fix it, with no success and I'm done. People that 'subscribe' to a post or new posts, will not get the notification because the code is f'd up. All the places that each blog entry is supposed to go to when I publish the entry, doesn't go anywhere. It's annoying. </i></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>I haven't figured out where exactly I will move my blog to, but I'll let you guys know where when I get it going. </i></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="background-color: black; color: #6fa8dc; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Have any suggestions for good blog platforms?? Or are there any blogging sites that you tend to prefer more than others? let me know.... </i></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14915634441723395075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6511783416021231187.post-20491094347864579032014-06-18T01:54:00.000-04:002014-06-18T01:54:22.457-04:00Fecal Microbiota Transplantation (FMT's) - 90% Recovery Rate for Patients w/ C. difficile<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #d9d2e9;">Yes, FMT's work for people with c-diff. There are numerous articles that will tell you so. 90% of the patients get better after FMT treatments, versus something like 30% recovery rate with the old school antibiotic treatment, which is just plain bad for treating something like this. If the body has any healthy bacteria left, the antibiotics will be sure to kill it all - Not good. You actually want to do the opposite of kill it and instead, replenish the body with healthy bacteria. That's exactly what FMT's do and people get well. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #d9d2e9;">This procedure should be the first method of treatment rather than the antibiotic method. I'm not sure if the US FDA has changed their views on FMT's but with this to consider : "500,000 cases of CDI in the United States annually, with health care costs ranging from <u>$1.3 billion to $3.4 billion.</u>" Maybe the costs could be significantly reduced by going with the more effective treatment 1st. Wouldn't that be the more logical and humane thing to do anyway?</span></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: black; color: #d9d2e9; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-06-fecal-transplants-healthy-bacteria-gut.html">Fecal transplants restore healthy bacteria and gut functions</a>:</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #d9d2e9;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: black; color: #d9d2e9;">Fecal microbiota transplantation—the process of delivering stool bacteria from a healthy donor to a patient suffering from intestinal infection with the bacterium Clostridium difficile—works by restoring healthy bacteria and functioning to the recipient's gut, according to a study published this week inmBio, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #d9d2e9;"><img src="http://medicalxpress.com/openx/www/delivery/lg.php?bannerid=373&campaignid=196&zoneid=79&loc=1&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fmedicalxpress.com%2Fnews%2F2014-06-fecal-transplants-healthy-bacteria-gut.html&cb=b24dab13db" /></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #d9d2e9;">The study provides insight into the structural and potential metabolic changes that occur following fecal transplant, says senior author Vincent B. Young, MD, PhD, an associate professor in the Department of Internal Medicine/Infectious Diseases and the Department of Microbiology & Immunology at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. The transplants, which have been successful at curing more than 90 percent of recipients, have been used successfully since the 1950s, he says, though it hasn't been clear how they work to recover gut function.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #d9d2e9;">"The bottom line is fecal transplants work, and not by just supplying a missing bug but a missing function being carried out by multiple organisms in the transplanted feces," Young says. "By restoring this function, C. difficile isn't allowed to grow unchecked, and the whole ecosystem is able to recover."</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #d9d2e9;">Young and colleagues used DNA sequencing to study the composition and structure of fecal microbiota (bacteria) in stool samples from 14 patients before and two to four weeks after <a href="http://medicalxpress.com/tags/fecal+transplant/">fecal transplant</a>. In 10 of the patients, researchers also compared <a href="http://medicalxpress.com/tags/stool+samples/">stool samples</a> before and after transplant to samples from their donors. All <a href="http://medicalxpress.com/tags/transplant+patients/">transplant patients</a>, treated at the Essentia Health Duluth Clinic in Minnesota, had a history of at least two recurrent C. difficile infections following an initial infection and failed antibiotic therapy.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #d9d2e9;">Studying families of bacteria in the samples, investigators found marked differences among donor, pre-transplant and post-transplant samples. However, those from the donors and post-transplant patients were most similar to each other, indicating that the transplants at least partially returned a diverse community of healthy <a href="http://medicalxpress.com/tags/gut+bacteria/">gut bacteria</a> to the recipients. While not as robust as their donors, the bacterial communities in patients after transplant showed a reduced amount of Proteobacteria, which include a variety of infectious agents, and an increased amount of Firmicutes and Bacteroidetesbacteria typically found in healthy individuals, compared to their pre-transplant status.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #d9d2e9;">Then, using a predictive software tool, researchers analyzed the relationship between the community structure of the micoorganisms and their function, presumably involved in maintaining resistance against CDI.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #d9d2e9;">They identified 75 metabolic/functional pathways prevalent in the samples. The samples taken from patients before transplant had decreased levels of several modules related to basic metabolism and production of chemicals like amino acids and carbohydrates, but were enriched in pathways associated with stress response, compared to donor samples or post-transplant samples.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #d9d2e9;">CDI has significantly increased during the past decade, Young says, with previous studies estimating there are more than 500,000 cases of CDI in the United States annually, with health care costs ranging from $1.3 billion to $3.4 billion. Up to 40 percent of patients suffer from recurrence of disease following standard antibiotic treatment. In a healthy person, gut microorganisms limit infections but antibiotics are believed to disrupt the normal structure of these microoganisms, rendering the gut less able to prevent infection with C. difficile.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #d9d2e9;">Further identification of the specific microorganisms and functions that promote resistance of bacterial colonization, or growth, may aid in the development of improved CDI treatments, Young says: "If we can understand the functions that are missing, we can identify supplemental bacteria or chemicals that could be given therapeutically to help restore proper gut function."</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #d9d2e9;"><b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Journal reference:</span></b><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> <a class="textTag" href="http://medicalxpress.com/journals/mbio/" rel="news" style="outline: 0px;">mBio</a> <a class="extra" href="http://medicalxpress.com/journals/mbio/" rel="news" style="outline: 0px;"><img alt="search and more info" class="toolsicon isrc" src="http://m.ph-cdn.com/tmpl/v4/img/img-dot.gif" height="16" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: url(http://m.ph-cdn.com/tmpl/v4/img/sprites/sprite-e1@2x.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px -532px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: 102px 767px; border: 0px; display: inline; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; visibility: hidden;" title="search and more info" width="16" /></a> <a class="extra" href="http://mbio.asm.org/" style="outline: 0px;" target="_blank"><img alt="website" class="toolsicon iwbs" src="http://m.ph-cdn.com/tmpl/v4/img/img-dot.gif" height="16" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: url(http://m.ph-cdn.com/tmpl/v4/img/sprites/sprite-e1@2x.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: -24px -532px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: 102px 767px; border: 0px; display: inline; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; visibility: hidden;" title="website" width="16" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #d9d2e9; font-size: xx-small;"><b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Provided by</b> <a class="textTag" href="http://medicalxpress.com/partners/american-society-for-microbiology/" rel="news" style="outline: 0px;">American Society for Microbiology</a> </span><a class="extra" href="http://medicalxpress.com/partners/american-society-for-microbiology/" rel="news" style="background-color: white; color: #313d57; font-size: 14.44444465637207px; outline: 0px;"><img alt="search and more info" class="toolsicon isrc" src="http://m.ph-cdn.com/tmpl/v4/img/img-dot.gif" height="16" style="background: url(http://m.ph-cdn.com/tmpl/v4/img/sprites/sprite-e1@2x.png) 0px -532px / 102px 767px no-repeat transparent; border: 0px; display: inline; float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; visibility: hidden;" title="search and more info" width="16" /></a><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.44444465637207px;"> </span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14915634441723395075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6511783416021231187.post-9335962236266258792014-02-06T18:58:00.000-05:002014-02-06T19:01:17.893-05:00Is It Possible to Cure Crohn's Disease? I Think So<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: black; color: #f3f3f3;">A writer for Psychology Today, contributes the following article (and 2 more that I will post after this article) pertaining to something that I have read up on and firmly believe is the culprit to Crohn's disease. Everyone should read this information and remember it. I think a lot of people have been made hopeless or skeptical in regards to Crohn's disease because people are told so many things that contradict that there will ever be a cure. Doctor's have been telling people for decades now that there will never be a cure. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: #f3f3f3;">It's a new day people, get out of the rut of thinking in the past and open your mind to new developements and discoveries. It's worth it and I am super duper hopeful. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #f3f3f3;"><a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/pura-vida/201311/is-there-cure-crohns-disease">Is There a Cure for Crohn's Disease? </a> Part 1</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #f3f3f3;"><a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/pura-vida/201311/is-there-cure-crohns-disease">|From Psychology Today</a>:</span></div>
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<span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="font-family: Arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Through luck, hard work, good fortune, perseverance, and wonderful doctors, I seem to be one of the few people in the world who can claim to be “cured” of Crohn’s Disease. I’ve told this story before, in several places, but I feel a need to get the information out to a more general audience, even though this is not a psychology story but a medical and scientific one. In September, 2005, I wrote a small article for the PCC Sound</span><a class="pt-basics-link" href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/consumer-behavior" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; text-decoration: none;" title="Psychology Today looks at Consumer Behavior">Consumer</a><span style="font-family: Arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">, a very small newspaper published by a local Seattle natural foods grocery store, about my experience with Crohn’s Disease.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"> </span><a class="ext" href="http://www.pccnaturalmarkets.com/sc/0509/sc0509-hw-crohns.html" style="font-family: Arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;" target="_blank" title="http://www.pccnaturalmarkets.com/sc/0509/sc0509-hw-crohns.html">http://www.pccnaturalmarkets.com/sc/0509/sc0509-hw-crohns.htm</a> <span style="font-family: Arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">For some reason, that little article went viral, and to this day I receive letters from people from all over the world asking for information about Crohn’s Disease and its probable connection with a specific microbe, mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP). I told the story again in a scientific journal, the Paratuberculosis Newsletter,</span><a class="ext" href="http://www.paratuberculosis.info/web/images/newsletters/2012q2.pdf" style="font-family: Arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;" target="_blank" title="http://www.paratuberculosis.info/web/images/newsletters/2012q2.pdf">http://www.paratuberculosis.info/web/images/newsletters/2012q2.pdf</a><span style="font-family: Arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">But that journal is not highly visible. Since 8 years has gone by, and I have much more information now, I am going to put this on Psychology Today, for the benefit of all of those who suffer from Crohn’s or who love people who suffer from Crohn’s. I will have to tell this story in several segments, since Psych Today restricts individual posts to about 800 words. Please bear with me. I will be providing a lot of information, references, and information that is crucial to individual and public health.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Single case reports are no longer the fashion in modern medicine. We all know that an n of 1 plus 1 plus 1 plus 1 ad infinitum equals nothing in terms of proving causality in “evidence based medicine”. Proving anything in the case of Crohn’s Disease is difficult. See this excellent review of this situation, Causality and gastrointestinal infections: Koch, Hill, and Crohn’s by Anne-Marie Lowe, Cedric P Yansouni, and Marcel A Behr, Lancet Infect Dis 2008:8: 720–26. You must understand that for scientists today, a single case report is virtually meaningless. However, my victory over Crohn’s Disease doesn’t prove anything by itself, but I think that it matters insofar as it suggests the desirability of pursuing a more detailed scientific inquiry. Furthermore, there are hundreds of thousands of people with Crohn’s, many of them children, who are being treated under a different paradigm, and with variable success. Moreover, I think many of those people got sick because they consumed contaminated food products without knowing it, sometimes years before the disease manifested itself. I think there is better way to treat Crohn’s, and better yet, to prevent it. In brief, I think I was “cured” of Crohn’s Disease with antibiotics directed at the eradication of Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Background: MAP is a small bacteria in the same family as leprosy and tuberculosis. In 1894, two veterinarians, Dr. H.A. Johne and Dr. L. Frothingham, identified this organism in a cow with weight loss and poor milk production in Germany. It is an acid-fast bacterium, like TB and leprosy, but has other properties as well. The best place to read about MAP is on the web site</span><span style="font-family: Arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"> </span><a class="ext" href="http://www.johnes.org/" style="font-family: Arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;" target="_blank" title="www.johnes.org">www.johnes.org</a></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="font-family: Arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">Farmers rapidly learned that their cows could develop either bovine TB or what came to be known as Johne’s Disease. Both were serious and expensive for the farmers. However, for various reasons, everyone agreed that tuberculosis could be transmitted from cows to people, and many public health measures were put into place to stop bovine TB. However, to this day, the USDA and the IOE, the World Organization for Animal Health</span><span style="font-family: Arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"> </span><a class="ext" href="http://www.oie.int/" style="font-family: Arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;" target="_blank" title="http://www.oie.int/">http://www.oie.int/</a><span class="ext" style="background-image: url(http://rsrc2.psychologytoday.com/sites/all/modules/contrib/extlink/extlink.png); background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; font-family: Arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; padding-right: 12px;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">deny that MAP is a “zoonotic disease”, a disease that can be transmitted from animals to people. The ostensible reasons for this are that MAP cannot be visualized in human tissues with ordinary microscopes (while it is easy to see MAP in animal specimens); PCR studies and other DNA fingerprinting technologies yield ambiguous results; and nobody dares to try the experiment to prove Koch’s postulates, which would be to grow human MAP in culture, and then feed those germs to human infants. That would be immoral and ridiculous. For various reasons, scientists dispute the claim that MAP causes Crohn’s Disease because Koch’s postulates have not been fulfilled, even though nobody has ever grown M. Leprae (the germ that causes leprosy) in culture. It has to be grown in the foot pads of armadillos…. Koch’s postulates are not applied to viruses, prions, or other pathogens. Even though MAP comes very close to meeting Koch’s postulates, its pathogenicity is disputed. (There was even an experiment in the 1980s in which MAP was grown from human biopsy specimens, and then fed to baby goats. The goats got Johne’s Disease. But it was a small n…)</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: Arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">As a result, animals that test positive for MAP are not culled and eliminated from human food products. They can be sold for meat, into the food supply. Moreover, viable MAP can be cultured from milk, including pastuerized milk, around the world. MAP is a very stubborn bacteria, resistant to heat and chlorine. It thrives on biofilms, and has a persistent spore that can last for years. The incidence of Crohn’s Disease in the world has grown in proportion to the use of dairy products. For example, Japan had little Crohn’s 100 years ago, and now it is becoming a significant problem. When you go to the grocery store and consider buying raw milk products, remember that MAP is endemic to cows, sheep, and goats, and roughly 1% of pasteurized milk in the US contains viable MAP.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14915634441723395075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6511783416021231187.post-28058604578918455542013-12-20T13:30:00.000-05:002013-12-20T13:30:00.049-05:00#Vedolizumab - Favorable Among FDA for Ulcerative #Colitis & #Crohns <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: black; color: #eeeeee; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Good News!! The FDA supports the approval of Vedolizumab for the treatment of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. The treatment looks extremely promising with a safety profile to be recognized. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: #eeeeee; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Hey, If I would consider the treatment, it has to have minimal/low risks in regard to serious side effects that a lot of biologics have. Vedolizumab is looking good in the safety department.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: #eeeeee; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">The FDA will make the decision to either approve or deny treatment for use among </span><a href="http://www.healio.com/gastroenterology/search?q=ulcerative%20colitis&requiredfields=specialty:Gastroenterology" style="border: 0px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">ulcerative colitis</a><span style="line-height: 20px;"> (UC) patients by Feb. 18. The decision for </span><a href="http://www.healio.com/gastroenterology/search?q=crohn%27s+disease&spell=1&client=my_Healio&proxystylesheet=my_Healio&site=healio-production&output=xml_no_dtd&lr=lang_en&ie=UTF-8&access=p" style="border: 0px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Crohn’s disease</a><span style="line-height: 20px;"> (CD) patients will be several months later around June.</span> </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><a href="http://www.medpagetoday.com/Gastroenterology/IrritableBowelSyndrome/43345">Vedolizumab for Crohn's Wins Support</a>: </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">SILVER SPRING, Md. -- Most members of an FDA advisory committee support approval of the investigational biologic agent vedolizumab for Crohn's disease, as well as supporting an additional indication for ulcerative colitis.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the closest vote of the Gastrointestinal Drugs and Drug Safety and Risk Management joint advisory committee meeting, the members voted 12-9 in favor of recommending approval of the drug for its Crohn's indication as an induction therapy, while the panel voted 20-0, with one abstention, to greenlight the drug as a maintenance therapy for the condition.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"While the data for Crohn's disease don't appear quite as strong, there does appear to be some efficacy and particularly the 10-week data were compelling," noted panelist <a href="http://profiles.utsouthwestern.edu/profile/57782/linda-feagins.html" style="outline-style: none; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Linda Feagins, MD</a>, of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. She added that "the need for other treatment for Crohn's disease is great and we see that every day treating our patients, and I feel that doing further trials and holding this for patients will increase costs and delay drug availability."</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Because the meeting was delayed by 2 hours due to inclement weather, the panel announced early in its Monday session that it would skip a formal vote on the ulcerative colitis indication, citing overwhelming evidence in its favor.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Vedolizumab's manufacturer, <a href="http://www.takeda.com/news/2013/20130905_5978.html" style="outline-style: none; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Takeda Pharmaceuticals</a>, submitted the drug for approval for the Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis patient population who had moderate to severely active disease and who were inadequately treated with, did not respond to, or were intolerant of convention therapy or a tumor necrosis factor-alpha antagonist.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Phase III trial data showed the <a href="http://www.medpagetoday.com/Gastroenterology/InflammatoryBowelDisease/41117" style="outline-style: none; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">drug was effective in ulcerative colitis patients</a>, but only one of two trials showed drug efficacy at 6 weeks for Crohn's disease. However, data presented during the panel meeting out to 52 weeks of treatment showed significant improvements in remission rates among those who received drug treatment for 4 and 8 weeks.<!--0--><!--0--></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another issued raised prior to the panel discussion were concerns over risks for <a href="http://www.medpagetoday.com/Neurology/MultipleSclerosis/37806" style="outline-style: none; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy</a> (PML), a rare but potentially fatal demyelinating condition that can occur in patients receiving natalizumab (Tysabri) and other immunosuppressive medications and who are infected with JC virus.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, in the only unanimous vote of the session, all 21 panelists voted Yes that Takeda had sufficiently accounted for the risk of PML to support approval; Takeda said that although no cases had occurred during phase III studies, the company would still conduct post-market research and include a warning in its packaging. The panel routinely supported its vote with praise for the risk mitigation strategy and post-market research.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another vote concerned whether concomitantly administered immunosuppressants should be limited to a specific duration. The panel voted 19-1, with one abstention, against such a limit.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For each condition, the panel voted on whether benefits outweighed risks to support approval of the drug in patients who failed steroid, immunosuppressive, or TNF-alpha antagonists; immunosuppressants or TNF-alpha antagonists; or neither. The vote for ulcerative colitis favored treatment for all conditions, with 14 voting for the first option, seven voting for the second, and none voting for the third. Similarly for Crohn's disease, 14 favored the first option, six favored the second, and one panelist favored neither.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Regarding the vote for the ulcerative colitis indication, committee member <a href="http://www.ucdenver.edu/academics/colleges/PublicHealth/departments/HealthSystems/About/Faculty/Pages/MorratoE.aspx" style="outline-style: none; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Elaine Morrato, DrPH</a>, of the Colorado School of Public Health in Aurora, voted for the least restrictive option, but noted that "the products should be effective, but I worry that a specific requirement for failure of immunosuppressant or anti-TNF would be overly burdensome when you're translating this into clinical practice," adding that she "would rather have those discussions left with the patient and the provider."</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Those favoring the middle option preferred a bottom-up approach while waiting for additional data on which patient populations would be best served by the drug with the least risk.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The agency is not required to follow the advice of its advisory committees, though it often does.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14915634441723395075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6511783416021231187.post-68082289150634594292013-12-19T13:00:00.000-05:002013-12-19T13:00:04.610-05:00Borody-His Innovative Discoveries on Digestive Disease - #FMT & #RHB104<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: black; color: #fff2cc; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This is another great article. I knew that Dr. Borody, a doctor and professor out of Australia, developed FMT's (Fecal Matter Transplants) and was 1st to use the transplants to treat c-diff. Interesting enough he is also considering FMT's for other digestive problems and even neurological conditions. It will be interesting to see what illnesses are helped with this procedure. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #fff2cc; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Here in the US doesn't even have a billing code for FMT's AND the FDA have only permitted transplants for difficult cases of c-diff, patients who do not respond to the antibiotic, that only around 30% of the patients respond to. FMT's have a 90% recovery rate. The question again is why not go with the treatment that has a higher success rate rather than lower. Very sad that the US is so slow to adopt new and smarter treatments that will get people well. I won't even go there today. It is an issue that probably raises my blood pressure if I think about it too long. Not even joking. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Anyway, after reading this article, I found out that Dr Borody also was the innovator for RHB-104 that is currently in the trial stages at this time. If you have Crohn's and don't know what RHB-104, read up on the treatment. I have some blog posts that will give a good amount of information about the therapy. It will make you smile and give you a boost of hope for something that may actually be able to eradicate Crohn's all together. That is exciting! </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: #fff2cc; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Professor Thomas Borody gets it! He seems to understand the nature of digestive diseases very well. He is certainly the man who is making some progress with developing real solutions to treat the actual condition and not just remedy the symptoms of a disease. His name is one to remember and follow as he implements treatments that seem to be successful so far. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: #fff2cc; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Part of this article gives a little in depth look at his life and how he chose to dedicate his direction to gastrointestinal diseases. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i style="background-color: black;">Note: I have underlined parts of the article that I felt were things to take note of.</i></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #fff2cc; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.jpost.com/Health-and-Science/He-has-the-stomach-for-it-332777">He has the stomach for it | JPost | Israel News</a>: </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #fff2cc;"><a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pengoopmcjnbflcjbmoeodbmoflcgjlk" style="font-size: 13px;">''</a><img alt="Prof. Thomas Borody" border="0" id="ctl00_ContentPlaceHolder1_article_control_image" src="http://www.jpost.com/HttpHandlers/ShowImage.ashx?id=230848&h=236&w=370" title="Prof. Thomas Borody" /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: #fff2cc; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Prof. Thomas Borody Photo: Courtesy<br />It’s amazing when in medicine, ideas that had seemed ridiculous – such as a chronic infection instead of an annoying boss causing ulcers – eventually become accepted truisms. Even though stools are considered dirty and something to get rid of, gastroenterologists have discovered that they can transplant feces from healthy donors into patients and very often relieve their chronic bacterial infections, irritable bowel disease (IBD), colitis, constipation and even some neurological conditions.<br /><br />Prof. Thomas Borody, the founder and current medical director of the Center for Digestive Diseases (CDD) in Sydney, Australia, is a major innovator in these surprising treatments.<br /><br /><u>The CDD is considered a unique medical institution offering novel approaches in researching, diagnosing and treating gastrointestinal conditions. CDD offers a range of services in the day-procedure unit and houses a research and innovation department for conducting clinical trials in collaboration with universities, pharmaceutical companies and medical societies – all focusing on gastroenterology.</u></span><br />
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<a name='more'></a><span style="background-color: black; color: #fff2cc; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><u><br /></u><br />HE RECENTLY visited Israel and gave an interview to The Jerusalem Post about new treatments in the field. “This is my first visit to Israel,” said the world-renowned gastroenterologist.<br /><br />“I’ve given a gastroenterology lecture to professionals at the Dan Hotel in Tel Aviv. I’ve also done some touring in Jerusalem, the Dead Sea and elsewhere – and I’ve already decided to come back.”<br /><br />Borody was born in Krakow in 1950. My father was a Seventh-Day Adventist minister of religion,” said Borody. When he was 10, his parents decided to move to Australia, and his mother even wrote a book about their immigration experiences.<br /><br />Inculcated to learn something that would “help mankind,” he and his siblings studied medicine. “I had thought of becoming a nuclear physicist, but it wasn’t to be,” he recalled. His sister is a general practitioner, his brother is an obstetrician/gynecologist and Thomas decided after getting his MD to specialize in the stomach, intestines and other internal organs.<br /><br />He was inspired to pick his specialty largely because he worked under Dr. David burns, who was “a nice guy and did gastroscopes, which just came into being, in color.<br /><br />Gastroenterologists spend much of their time performing colonoscopies (using endoscopes with tiny cameras in them to examine the large intestine for polyps or tumors and other irregularities) and gastroscopies (an endoscope is inserted into the mouth and through the esophagus to the stomach to get a view of the upper part of the gastro system). Since they have to fast and clean out their tubes, the gastro practice usually begins early in the morning.<br /><br />AS FOR ulcers, it was two Australians who discovered in 1979 that they were not the result of stomach acid, spicy food and stress but a bacterium – Helicobacter pylori (H.<br /><br />pylori) – that caused a chronic stomach infection. Dr. Barry James Marshall and pathologist Dr. John Robin Warren received the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2005 for their breakthrough in discovering what causes ulcers.<br /><br /><u>It had been thought by the medical establishment for many years that no bacteria could survive in stomach acid, so that the painful condition must be caused by something else. But the two Australians found it is a very “clever” pathogen that can hide in the mucous lining protected from the acid, so they could remain alive even for decades.</u><br /><br />Borody reasoned that if it was due to an infection, something could be done to cure it. So he and his colleagues developed in 1984 a triple “cocktail” of drugs – bismuth, tetracycline and flagyl – to treat and eliminate stomach ulcers. “We went through about 36 different combinations of drugs, and the best were these three.” When ulcer patients come to thank him that their ulcers have disappeared, he said, he feels “great satisfaction.” But despite proof that this healed the stomach lining, it took many years until the doctors were persuaded and accepted the triple therapy. The bacteria return only very rarely, and if it’s caught early, a recurrence can also be treated.<br /><br />Today, one of the companies that manufactures the cocktail is RedHill Biopharma, an Israeli company. During his visit here, he met with officials of the company, which is based in Tel Aviv. Borody is an unpaid member of the RedHill’s advisory board.<br /><br />There are other gastroenterological conditions, he continued, that is through to result from lifestyle that in fact result from chronic inflammation – among them ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, which cause much suffering to many people around the world.<br /><br />“After practicing for a while, I fell into research and spent year in the Solomon Islands [in Oceania lying to the east of Papua New Guinea] doing tropical med. I was more involved in leprosy and tuberculosis, which also involve bacteria that need a cocktail of drugs to treat it. This led to my getting interested in Crohn’s disease and irritable bowel disease.”<br /><br />Borody spent three years researching at the Mayo Clinic.<br /><br />NAMED AFTER Dr. Burrill Crohn, who first described the disease 80 years ago, Crohn’s disease is a chronic inflammatory condition of the gastrointestinal tract. It belongs to a group of conditions known as inflammatory bowel diseases (but is not the same as ulcerative colitis, which is another type of IBD. The symptoms of these two conditions are quite similar, but they affect different areas of the gastrointestinal tract. Crohn’s most often affects the end of the small bowel and the beginning of the colon, but it may affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract, from the mouth to the anus. Ulcerative colitis is restricted to the colon, also called the large intestine.<br /><br />Among the symptoms of Crohn’s, which can be very debilitating and limiting, are persistent diarrhea; rectal bleeding; the urgent need to move bowels; abdominal cramps and pain; constipation; and the sensation of incomplete. It can be accompanied by loss of appetite; weigh loss; fatigue; night sweats; and the loss of a normal menstrual cycle in women. <u>It is not a genetic condition, although some used to think so because of cross-infection in the family. It was also thought to be an autoimmune disease in which the autoimmune system, which is supposed to protect the body against infections, becomes aggressive and uncontrollable and attacks the body itself.</u><br /><u>“Crohn’s is a more difficult disease to treat,” noted Borody. Because the bacterial infection develops very slowly. The bacteria involved are the most slowly dividing bacteria known to man. “This process can take 15 months, so medications have to be taken for a long time. It’s a difficult bug to destroy until the inflammatory condition calms down.”</u><br /><br /><u>Twenty years ago, Borody was reading The Lancet medical journal. “There as a published reader’s letter I came across that mentioned that a person was treated for tuberculosis, and his Crohn’s also improved. In Crohn’s, you see granulomas in the chest that are surrounded by epithelial cells. It looks like TB, but it’s Crohn’s. So I thought it could be treated with a new type of anti-tuberculosis agents. We started 12 Crohn’s on these drugs and it takes many weeks to get better. The longest time a patient has been on these drugs is 19 years.”</u><br /><br /><u>Now, a new, experimental drug for Crohn’s developed and patented by Red- Hill Biopharma now undergoing Phase III studies is called RHB-104. “Just as tuberculosis and HIV requires taken a drug cocktail to fight them, Crohn’s does too. If you give too-few medications, resistance to them can develop.</u><br /><u><br />RHB-104 is a proprietary and potentially grandbreaking combination antibiotic therapy in oral pill form, with potent intracellular, antimycobacterial and anti-inflammatory properties, RedHill explains.</u><br /><br /><u>“The drug is based on increasing evidence supporting the hypothesis that Crohn’s disease is caused by an infection of the Mycobacterium avium subspecies named paratuberculosis in susceptible patients rather than being an autoimmune disease.</u><br /><br />Borody notes that the triple drug combination that he invented for Crohn’s have been on the market for years, but the combination he suggested is new. “There are now clinical trials in 40 countries around the world. There are an estimated two or three million Crohn’s patients globally.<br /><br />The phenomenon is grow- ing in places like China, Hongkong and Japan.”<br /><br /><u>When the US Food and Drug Administration approves the drug cocktail, “it will explode on the market. There is much need for such a treatment. It is legal to combine separate prescription drugs, but this will be a single capsule.”<br /><br />The food supply around the world is tainted because of cattle and sheep getting it, both their meat and their milk. So if such animals are infected, some of it can get to people if not properly prepared, said Borody</u>. The milk has to be pasteurized at very high temperatures but that changes the quality.<br /><br />It is difficult to detect the bacteria in meat. About 60% of America herds catch it, and they have gotten to poultry as well.<br /><br />AS FOR stool transplants – known scientifically as fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT), Borody is very enthusiastic. “I read a scientific paper from way back in 1958 about a patient being given feces for mild colitis caused by the Clostridium difficile bacteria. But it didn’t go further.” The bacteria produce anything from diarrhea to Pseudomembranous colitis. More virulent strains have been developing in the last 15 years because the overuse of antibiotics caused resistance to them. In the U.S alone, there are some three million new cases of such infections each year; some of them can even be fatal.<br /><br />In FMT, a donor with healthy and beneficial bacteria (probiotica) in his gastrointestinal system gives some 150 cc. of feces that are purified and introduced by enema into the recipient. A healthy growth of bacteria in the gastroenterological system is restored. <u>A randomized study on FMT published in the New England Journal of Medicine last January showed a 94% cure rate of pseudomembranous colitis caused by Clostridium difficile, compared to just 31% with the antibiotic vancomycin</u>. The study was stopped prematurely as it was considered unethical not to offer the FMT to all participants of the study due to the outstanding results. </span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14915634441723395075noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6511783416021231187.post-25508599092102519282013-12-18T14:56:00.001-05:002013-12-18T14:57:43.035-05:00Identifying & Destroying the Cause of Crohn's Disease #ibd #MAP<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">Encouraging and hopeful article! </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://yottafire.com/2013/12/attacking-cause-crohns-disease/">Attacking the Cause of Crohn's Disease | YottaFire</a>: </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #f3f3f3;"><a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pengoopmcjnbflcjbmoeodbmoflcgjlk" style="font-size: 13px;">'</a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;">UCF College of Medicine professor Dr. Saleh Naser soon will participate in a clinical trial to test whether a new antibiotic therapy acquired by RedHill Biopharma can be used to treat Crohn’s disease patients.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #f3f3f3;">The FDA-approved phase III trial is expected to commence within weeks by RedHill Biopharma, which licensed Naser’s DNA technology for detecting <i style="box-sizing: border-box; word-wrap: break-word;">Mycobacterium avium</i> subspecies paratuberculosis, known as MAP. It is believed to be associated with Crohn’s disease. RedHill Biopharma developed the anti-MAP antibiotic regimen known as RHB 104. Crohn’s disease is a chronic inflammatory disease of the gastrointestinal tract characterized by cramping and diarrhea.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #f3f3f3;">Naser developed and patented a way to detect MAP from milk, blood and tissue clinical samples. The bacterium is known to cause inflammation in the intestines of cows. It is also linked to Crohn’s disease, although its role has been debated for more than a century. Naser believes MAP is an underlying cause of the disease.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #f3f3f3;">“Crohn’s disease affects more than 750,000 Americans, yet traditional treatments only address the symptoms of inflammation and not the cause,” Naser said. “I have seen case studies where patients’ lives have been restored following treatment, which removes MAP. I have high hopes that this clinical trial may lead to finding a cure.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #f3f3f3;">RedHill will be enrolling 240 subjects from the United States, Canada and Israel in this double blind clinical trial in which blood and intestinal biopsy specimens from Crohn’s patients will be tested for MAP before, during and following the one-year treatment with the antibiotic RHB 104.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #f3f3f3;">“Since we acquired the license to Dr. Saleh Naser’s MAP detection technique in 2011, we have had an excellent collaboration with UCF,” said RedHill’s CEO Dror Ben-Asher. “The UCF team of researchers… is at the forefront of global academic research on MAP and its detection.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #f3f3f3;">Naser is looking forward to the trial and hopes this will end the academic debate regarding MAP and Crohn’s disease.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #f3f3f3;">“I am ecstatic to be part of a team, which will help determine whether or not MAP is associated with Crohn’s disease; certainly a final answer to a one hundred-year old controversy,” Naser said.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #f3f3f3;">Naser joined UCF in 1995 and has been a faculty member in the medical college since its foundation. He teaches clinical chemistry and infectious processes in the Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences within the medical school. He also serves as the graduate coordinator for three masters programs in the College of Medicine.</span></div>
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<a href="http://today.ucf.edu/ucf-tech-in-phase-iii-clinical-trial-for-crohns-disease-treatment/" style="border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: black; color: #f3f3f3;">http://today.ucf.edu</span></a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14915634441723395075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6511783416021231187.post-22707245060440600212013-12-08T14:00:00.000-05:002013-12-08T14:00:02.209-05:00*Audio* WSJ's- What to Know About #Obamacare & Your #Chronic Illness #ibd #ra #ms #aids <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Audio about what you should know regarding health care reform Obamacare and your chronic illness. *Listen* Be prepared.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/wsjs-whats-news-chronic-illness-obamacare-2013-12-05-5116408">WSJ's What's News -- Chronic Illness & Obamacare - The Wall Street Journal Whats News - MarketWatch</a>: </span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14915634441723395075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6511783416021231187.post-54284155550132418302013-12-07T21:31:00.001-05:002013-12-07T21:31:39.064-05:00Anorectal Sinuses, Fistulae/ #Fistula #Fissure, Rectal Bleeding<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: black; color: #eeeeee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I was searching for some information and happened to run across this "different" online manual that almost explains how you would treat and perform certain surgeries for various gastrointestinal problems. They write it up in laymans terms maybe in order to understand the material. They give minimal instruction on how to actually do each procedure/surgery (as this is probably a good thing, some of the broad details are difficult to read) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I was done reading the Proctology section, I went to the Home page which is states the following about this manual </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><u>The manual contains the collective views of an international group of experts. The methods and techniques described correspond to the state of the art with regard to their feasibility in rural hospitals, where sophisticated technical equipment may not be available. These manuals cannot, however, replace personal instruction by a qualified expert. Neither the editors, nor the publisher may be held responsible for any damage resulting from the application of the described methods. Any liability in this respect is excluded.</u></i><u>:</u></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> http://www.meb.uni-bonn.de/dtc/primsurg/index.html</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #eeeeee; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small; font-weight: normal;"><i style="background-color: black;">Volume One: Non-trauma</i></span></h2>
<span style="color: #eeeeee; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><i style="background-color: black;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blog-this.do?zx=7l8ai95yqhua" name="AEN7">Nelson Awori</a>, <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blog-this.do?zx=7l8ai95yqhua" name="AEN12">Anne Bayley</a>, <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blog-this.do?zx=7l8ai95yqhua" name="AEN17">Alan Beasley</a>, <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blog-this.do?zx=7l8ai95yqhua" name="AEN22">James Boland</a>, <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blog-this.do?zx=7l8ai95yqhua" name="AEN27">Michael Crawford</a>, <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blog-this.do?zx=7l8ai95yqhua" name="AEN32">Frits Driessen</a>, <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blog-this.do?zx=7l8ai95yqhua" name="AEN37">Allen Foster</a>, <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blog-this.do?zx=7l8ai95yqhua" name="AEN42">Wendy Graham</a>, <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blog-this.do?zx=7l8ai95yqhua" name="AEN47">Brian Hancock</a>, <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blog-this.do?zx=7l8ai95yqhua" name="AEN52">Branwen Hancock</a>, <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blog-this.do?zx=7l8ai95yqhua" name="AEN57">Gerald Hankins</a>, <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blog-this.do?zx=7l8ai95yqhua" name="AEN62">Neville Harrison</a>, <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blog-this.do?zx=7l8ai95yqhua" name="AEN67">Ian Kennedy</a>, <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blog-this.do?zx=7l8ai95yqhua" name="AEN72">Julius Kyambi</a>, <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blog-this.do?zx=7l8ai95yqhua" name="AEN77">Samiran Nundy</a>, <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blog-this.do?zx=7l8ai95yqhua" name="AEN82">Joe Sheperd</a>, <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blog-this.do?zx=7l8ai95yqhua" name="AEN87">John Stewart</a>, <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blog-this.do?zx=7l8ai95yqhua" name="AEN92">Grace Warren</a>, <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blog-this.do?zx=7l8ai95yqhua" name="AEN97">Michael Wood</a> </i></span><br />
<span style="color: #eeeeee; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><i style="background-color: black;">Edited by Maurice King, Peter C. Bewes, James Cairns, Jim Thornton</i></span><br />
<span style="color: #eeeeee; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><i style="background-color: black;">Online Edition on special wish of the editors Maurice King and Peter C. Bewes expressed on the 8th. DTC Symposium in Jena 1999;<br />realisation by : Bernd Michael Schneider, Gustav Quade, Jürgen Quade, H. Woltering, P. Sommer, and B.D. Domres</i></span><br />
<span style="color: #eeeeee; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><i style="background-color: black;"><b>The production of this manual on Surgery was sponsored by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Co-operation within the scope of the Technical Co-operation Agreement with the Republic of Kenya, under project number 78.2048.3-01.100</b>. It was compiled by Maurice King Peter Bewes, James Cairns, and Jim Thornton in close collaboration with Kenyan and other experts. </i></span><br />
<span style="color: #eeeeee; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><i style="background-color: black;">The manual contains the collective views of an international group of experts. The methods and techniques described correspond to the state of the art with regard to their feasibility in rural hospitals, where sophisticated technical equipment may not be available. These manuals cannot, however, replace personal instruction by a qualified expert. Neither the editors, nor the publisher may be held responsible for any damage resulting from the application of the described methods. Any liability in this respect is excluded.<br /><br /><b>Das Copyright <sup>©</sup> und alle Rechte für 'Primary Surgery' liegen bei der <a href="http://www.gtz.de/themen/english/">Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH</a> und bleiben unberührt.</b></i></span><br />
<span style="color: #eeeeee; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><i style="background-color: black;">"GTZ does not accept any liability or give any guarantee for the validity, accuracy and completeness of the information provided in this title. GTZ assumes no legal liabilities for damages, material or immaterial in kind, caused by the use ore non-use of provided information or the use of erronenous or incomplete information."</i></span><br />
<span style="color: #eeeeee; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;"><i style="background-color: black;">we thank GTZ for giving us the revocable rigth for distributing this information for non-profit purpose according to the above mentioned wishes of the editors M. King and P.Bewes as expressed on the general assembly of the <a href="http://www.med.uni-jena.de/eobach">8th DTC Symposium in Jena on 13th 11.1999</a> and thank the team of AGKM Uni Tuebingen; for the support during the implementation and G. Quade for the technical support provided during the realisation of this online - project.</i></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blog-this.do?zx=7l8ai95yqhua" name="AEN7468"><span style="font-weight: bold; text-align: -webkit-center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Primary Surgery: Volume One: Non-trauma - </span></span></a><a href="http://www.meb.uni-bonn.de/dtc/primsurg/docbook/html/x7468.html" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anorectal sinuses and fistulae</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">:</span></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blog-this.do?zx=7l8ai95yqhua" name="AEN7468"><span style="color: #eeeeee; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><u style="background-color: black;">Anorectal sinuses and fistulae</u></b></span></a></div>
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The anorectal abscesses in Section 5.13, and the sinuses and fistulae described here, are part of the same disease process. An abscess is the acute phase, and a sinus or fistula the chronic one. Both sinuses and fistulae are tracks lined by granulation tissue, which open on to the skin near the anus. The difference between them is that a sinus has no internal opening, whereas a fistula opens into the patient's anal canal, or occasionally into his rectum. Usually, there is only one internal opening, but he may have several external ones. These can either be insignificant little holes, or prominent little nodules of granulation tissue, which heal over temporarily. The treatment of sinuses and fistulae is similar.</span></div>
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Typically, a patient with a fistula starts by having an abscess, which either bursts and fails to heal, or is not drained properly (see Section 5.13), after which he complains of a chronic painless discharge which soils his clothes. His fistula is only painful when it becomes temporarily blocked, so that pus builds up inside it.</span></div>
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Fistulae can take any of the paths shown in Fig. 22-5; they can be subcutaneous (common), low anal, high anal, or intermuscular (rare).</span></div>
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A fistula seldom heals spontaneously, and almost always needs surgery. Cut down on it, deroof it, expose it, and let the wound you have made heal from the bottom by granulation during several weeks. A fistula nearly always goes through the anal sphincters, so that in cutting down on it, you have to cut them. Fortunately, a patient usually has some sphincter capacity to spare, and as his fistula usually goes through his sphincters quite superficially, you can cut the superficial part of them without making him incontinent. But if his fistula goes deep, and you cut too much of his sphincters, he will become incontinent. If, on the other hand, you make the opposite mistake of not cutting deeply enough, you may leave part of the track behind, with the result that his fistula recurs.</span></div>
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You have a 50% chance of finding the internal opening quite easily, by passing a probe from the external opening towards his anal canal. One of the worst mistakes is to create an internal opening, where there was none before, in the process of looking for it, by forcing a probe through into his anal canal. This makes a sinus into an iatrogenic fistula, opens up healthy tissue to infection, and makes cure more difficult.</span></div>
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The key landmarks are his pectinate line, and his anorectal ring. If necessary, you can cut both his sphincters below his pectinate line. In doing so, you preserve his anorectal ring (formed by his puborectalis muscle), and he remains continent, although he may have some incontinence of watery stools. Cutting his anorectal ring makes him completely incontinent. Fortunately, fistulae which go deep to the anorectal line are rare. If you find he has one, and cannot refer him, all you can do is to lay open the superficial tracks, curette the deep ones and hope for the best. This is difficult surgery, so examine him carefully and only operate if he has an easier fistula[md]incontinence is worse than the intermittent discharge from a fistula!</span></div>
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Fistulae which have external openings in front of a transverse line across the anus enter directly into it by the shortest path. Fistulae behind this line usually curve round, so that they enter the anus posteriorly at 6 o'clock (Goodsall's rule, Aa, 22-6). In doing so they follow a horseshoe path, and are often bilateral, one side communicating with the other. There are exceptions, and very superficial fistulae behind the line may occasionally track directly into the anus.</span></div>
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You will find that the track of a horseshoe fistula hugs the puborectalis part of the levator ani muscle, as it forms a sling round the sides and back of the anorectal junction, external to the external sphincter. Fortunately, the internal opening of such a horseshoe fistula is usually at the pectinate line, although the fistula itself may go much deeper.</span></div>
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Provided you trim the wound edges well, the common straight superficial fistulae heal with only minimal postoperative care, but this is critical for deep ones. The wound must be laid open widely, and it must granulate from the bottom up. If it heals leaving pockets, it will recur. So try to prevent the opposing granulating walls of the wound, or its skin edges, from touching one another, uniting, and leaving an unhealed pocket underneath them. Your main difficulty in treating these patients is likely to be to persuade them to stay long enough in hospital. If you are short of beds, a relative or the staff of a health centre will have to manage the wound.</span></div>
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PERIANAL ABSCESSES, SINUSES, AND FISTULAE ARE NOT HELPED BY ANTIBIOTICS! Fig. 22-5. PATTERNS OF FISTULAE. A, two subcutaneous fistulae, one opening at the pectinate line, and one just below it. B, two low anal fistulae. C, several high ones. D, some more high fistulae. Fistula (1) is the commonest high fistula; it goes high towards the levator ani, but does not penetrate it. The high extension is often missed, but it must be explored and laid open. Fistulae (2) and (3) penetrate the levator ani. E, high intermuscular fistulae (rare) may exist alone (4), or be an extension of a low anal fistula (5). After Goligher JC, ''Surgery of the Anus, Rectum and Colon', (4th edn 1980) Figs. 121 to 126. Bailli[gr]ere Tindall, with kind permission.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #eeeeee; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">ANORECTAL FISTULAE X-RAY. X-ray the patient's chest: his fistula may be tuberculous (uncommon). If it is tuberculous, surgery is usually unnecessary. He may or may not have an obvious chest lesion.</span></div>
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EXAMINATION IN THE THEATRE. Prepare him for anaesthesia, if necessary. Before you start, warn him that you are going to examine him under anaesthesia to try to find where his fistula runs. Explain that if he has one of the easier fistulae, you are going to operate. Otherwise, you may have to leave it (unusual). Further indications are given below.</span></div>
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If the opening is less than 5 cm from his anus, his fistula is perianal, if it is more than 5 cm away, it is probably high. Multiple openings suggest a horseshoe fistula. Record the position of all external openings carefully on a copy of diagram A, in Fig. 22-4.</span></div>
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Feel for the thickened track which runs from the external opening(s) towards his anus. If a fistula is superficial, you can usually feel its firm, fibrous track quite easily. As you press it pus may exude from the external opening.</span></div>
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Put a finger into his anus and try to feel the internal opening: you may be able to feel an induration at its internal end. Feel the entire circumference of his rectum, as far as your finger can reach. Determine particularly where the fistula might be in relation to his anorectal ring and his pectinate line. Try to feel the track between your two fingers. Does it appear to come to an end low down, or high up in his anus? If you feel induration at the level of his puborectalis or above (rare), he has a complex high fistula.</span></div>
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PROCTOSCOPY. Examine his anal canal with a proctoscope. You may be able to see the internal opening of his fistula, usually at 6 o'clock on his pectineal line. Insert the proctoscope as far as it will go, withdraw the obturator, and then gradually withdraw the instrument itself. As soon as its end becomes obstructed and closed by his anorectal ring, stop. If you can still see the opening of the fistula, it is safely below the critical level of his anorectal ring.</span></div>
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You may be able to feel the track of a horseshoe fistula as a thick horizontal indurated rod, hugging his puborectalis sling.</span></div>
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In 50% of cases you will find the opening easily, in the other 50%, it will be present but tiny. A probe may show it, but if it does not, inject methylene blue (or boiled milk) into the external opening, and look for this flowing into his anus[md]finding the internal opening is the key to all fistula operations!</span></div>
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PROBING. Don't do this until you have finished your initial inspection. You may need to wait until he is anaesthetized. Decide where a track is probably going to go before you start probing. Pass the probe as far as possible towards his anal canal, and feel for its end in his anus. It may pass through into the lumen, or it may stop before getting there. If his fistula is superficial it will pass horizontally, if it is deep, the probe will pass almost vertically, parallel to his anus.</span></div>
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CAUTION ! (1) If the probe passes vertically, and not towards his mid anal canal (even though there is an opening there), he probably has a high complex fistula or a deep sinus. (2) Only pass a probe into the rectum through a fistulous track[md]don't force it through normal tissues.</span></div>
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DEROOFING [s7]AN ANAL FISTULA INDICATIONS. You should now know where the fistula runs. Only operate on the easier and more superficial fistulae. The main risk is incontinence. Refer him if: (1) His fistula has multiple openings, unless you have had some experience with the operation. (2) He has had previous unsuccessful operations. (3) The probe passes vertically upwards. (4) His fistula is palpable in his upper anal canal, or above his anorectal ring (rare).</span></div>
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Other factors which increase the risk of subsequent incontinence are: (1) The liability to attacks of diarrhoea, or a history of soiling, which might indicate reduction of his sphincter capability. (2) A female patient, particularly if she is old.</span></div>
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EQUIPMENT. This includes a medium-sized malleable silver probe, or a probe-pointed director.</span></div>
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ANAESTHESIA. (1) Ketamine. (2) Light general anaesthesia. Avoid relaxants and subarachnoid anaesthesia. You want to be able to feel the anorectal ring, so as not to cut it. Muscular relaxation makes feeling it more difficult, but does provide better exposure.</span></div>
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Fig. 22-6 A LOW ANAL FISTULA can have several tracks, as in A, and B, or only one, as in the remainder of these figures. Aa, Goodsall's rule. Fistulae above a horizontal line across the anus usually pass directly into it; fistulae behind the line usually curve round it to enter at 6 o'clock. C, passing a probe-pointed director along the track from the external to the internal opening, and out through the patient's anus. D, cutting down on the director. E, scraping away the granulation tissue with a sharp spoon. F, trimming the edges of the wound. G, the final pear-shaped guttered wound. If there is much fibrous tissue round the track, excise it. H, packing the wound with gauze soaked in hypochlorite. After Goligher JC, ''Surgery of the Anus, Rectum and Colon', (4th edn 1980). Figs. 139 and 140, Bailli[gr]ere Tindall, with kind permission.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #eeeeee; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">A SUBCUTANEOUS OR LOW ANAL FISTULA. Carefully confirm the findings you obtained before you anaesthetized him. If you thought that his fistula was blind at the inner end (a sinus), confirm this. Pass a probe or director through the track, from the external opening towards his anal canal, either completely through to its lumen, or as far as it will go. It may enter his anal canal, or it may stop before doing so.</span></div>
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If the probe enters his anus superficial to his pectinate line, cut down on all structures superficial to it, and lay the track open. If you are using a director, cut down to the groove in it. Look at the velvety track of the opened fistula. If there is no such track, you have probably opened up a false passage. Look carefully for any side openings, and feel among the fatty tissue for nodules of induration, that might be offshoots of the fistula. As a general rule, all fistulous tracks communicate with one another. Using a sharp spoon, curette the tracks, so as to leave only healthy tissue, and trim away any overhanging skin.</span></div>
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Alternatively, make a narrow pear-shaped incision to include both the internal and external openings. Excise both of them, and the track of tissue that still clings to the probe.</span></div>
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If the probe enters his anus deep to his pectinate line, leave the fistula untreated, or refer him. Even experts find these fistulae difficult.</span></div>
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CAUTION ! (1) Don't cut deep to his pectinate line, or you will cut too much sphincter. (2) When you cut down on to a probe or director, do so by the most direct route.</span></div>
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If the probe does not enter his anal canal, he has a sinus. Lay it open in the same way, but without opening into his anus.</span></div>
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With all sinuses and fistulae, look, feel, and probe for other track openings and areas of induration. If you find any, open them and curette them. Curette the granulation tissue.</span></div>
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Control bleeding with diathermy, or tie off bleeding vessels with 2/0 plain catgut. Excise the skin edges and bevel them, so as to leave a conical or pear-shaped concave raw area. Be sure that there will be no pockets or overhanging edges, when muscle tone returns. If a fistula is complex, you will have to make a deep, wide wound.</span></div>
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Always send tissue for histology to exclude tuberculosis. Apply flat squares of gauze soaked in hypochlorite, or salt solution, pad it with plenty of gauze, and hold it in place with a T-bandage. Avoid vaseline gauze because it may cause a foreign body granuloma (''paraffinoma').</span></div>
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Fig. 22-7 A HIGH POSTERIOR HORSESHOE FISTULA[md]ONE. A, the fistula shown on a standard diagram of the anus. B, a coronal section. C, a sagittal section. This is the fistula that is being operated on in the next diagram. After Goligher JC, ''Surgery of the Anus, Rectum and Colon', (4th edn 1980). Fig. 128, Bailli[gr]ere Tindall, with kind permission.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #eeeeee; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">ISCHIORECTAL (horseshoe) FISTULAE usually have two or more external openings. Pass a director into an opening, and lay open one side at a time.</span></div>
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Point the director forwards, make it project against his skin at the side of his anus, and cut down on it. The track will be deeply overhung by fat; trim this. Turn the director posteriorly, and see if you can follow the track across to the other side, and then forwards on that side.</span></div>
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Now see if you can find the opening into his anus posteriorly. If you have seen a definite opening below his anorectal ring, encourage the director to follow it there, and lay the fistula open.</span></div>
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CAUTION ! (1) Most of these fistulae have a posterior opening close to the pectinate line, and if you miss it and don't lay it open, the fistula will recur. If you don't find such an opening, make one. (2) Lay open all side tracks.</span></div>
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If oozing is a problem, apply pressure from adrenalin soaked gauze. Gutter, trim and dress the wound as above. If his fistula is complex and deep, feel it with your gloved finger each day, to keep the edge of the granulating wound smooth, and to make sure that no deep pockets are left, which would lead to recurrent infection. Lay a flat gauze square on it. If you are worried about the way it is healing, take him back to the theatre and further lay the wound open.</span></div>
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POSTOPERATIVE CARE is the same as for any granulating anal wound, with daily, or twice daily, salt baths (sitting in a bowl of saline), regular dressing changes, and measures to ensure soft stools. Warn him that a perianal fistula may take 2 weeks to heal, and an ischiorectal one 4 weeks. An extensive horseshoe fistula may take 12 weeks. If necessary, trim away any excess granulation tissue.</span></div>
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Fig. 22-8 A HIGH POSTERIOR HORSESHOE FISTULA[md]TWO. This is the fistula in Fig. 22-7. A, passing the director forwards. B, cutting down on the track on the left side. C, passing the director along the posterior part of the track towards the right. D, exposing the track on the right side. E, passing the director forwards through the posterior communication into the patient's anus. G, the final horseshoe-shaped wound, with part of his sphincter divided. After Goligher JC, ''Surgery of the Anus, Rectum and Colon', (4th end 1980). Fig. 147, Bailli[gr]ere Tindall, with kind permission.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #eeeeee; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">DIFFICULTIES [s7]WITH ANAL FISTULAE If a FISTULA PASSES FORWARDS from his (or her) anus, it may be an URETHRAL FISTULA (23.8), or originate in Bartholin's glands (23.4).</span></div>
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If a FISTULA IS POSTERIOR, don't confuse it with a PILONIDAL SINUS (22.8). If it is low and immediately behind his anus, it may have arisen in an anal fissure.</span></div>
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If the EXTERNAL OPENING IS SOME DISTANCE FROM HIS ANUS, look out for a long curved fistula, or a high one. Its thickened track will usually show you its course and destination. Probe it, but don't expect it to enter his anus.</span></div>
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If his FISTULA EXTENDS UP THROUGH A HOLE IN HIS LEVATOR ANI, and you cannot refer him, pass a haemostat through the hole and stretch it. Enlarge the opening to provide free drainage. If necessary, cut backwards, laterally or forwards, but not medially. Enlarge the external wound by wide trimming, especially posteriorly, to provide a wide gutter, extending backwards towards the side of his coccyx. Provided there is no internal opening above his levator ani, or chronic pelvic disease, such as regional ileitis, his prognosis is good.</span></div>
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CAUTION ! Don't look for an opening in his rectum, there almost never is one, unless the cause of the fistula was a penetrating injury.</span></div>
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If you find a HIGH INTERMUSCULAR FISTULA (submucous fistula, unusual), leave it. If it really is submucous, it can be opened into his rectum, but if it happens to be outside his rectal wall, and you cut into it, this will be a disaster.</span></div>
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If he also has PILES, excise them, or they may thrombose and bleed postoperatively. Or, if they are first- degree, do Lord's procedure (22.5), and leave his anus packed.</span></div>
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If he has RECURRENT DISCHARGE FROM THE TRACK, his wound has healed over externally, without healing from below. Operate again. It will not heal with antibiotics. Also consider the possibility of tuberculosis.</span></div>
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If he has ULCERATIVE COLITIS, or CROHN'S DISEASE (both uncommon in the developing world), he is a special case, so refer him.</span></div>
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If there is GREAT NODULAR THICKENING of his subcutaneous tissue, purplish discoloration (in a white skin), numerous sinuses which seldom discharge much pus, and no real cavity or track, suspect SUPPURATIVE HIDRADENITIS (rare).</span></div>
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If he, or more likely she, has MULTIPLE FISTULAE with much scarring and skin bridges between them, suspect LYMPHOGRANULOMA VENEREUM (22.10) or colloid carcinoma of the anus.</span></div>
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<h1 class="SECT1" style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blog-this.do?zx=7l8ai95yqhua" name="AEN7524"><span style="color: #eeeeee; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><u style="background-color: black;">Rectal bleeding</u></span></a></h1>
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A patient who bleeds severely from his stomach or duodenum, usually vomits the blood, if he bleeds fast. If he bleeds more slowly, it appears as black tarry melaena stools. The higher the source of the blood, the longer it takes to reach his rectum, and the more likely is it to be converted into melaena stools. Although a melaena stool is usually the result of bleeding from his stomach or his duodenum, it can follow bleeding from his small gut. Dark red ''burgundy-coloured' blood mixed with stool can come from the stomach, the duodenum, the small or the large gut, but fresh bright-red blood usually comes from the rectum or anus. Not all dark stools are the result of bleeding, so remember the possibility of iron medication (negative occult blood test), or nose bleeds (often positive for occult blood).</span></div>
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Bleeding from the upper gut is often severe, is usually more serious than it looks, and frequently threatens his life (11.3). Bleeding from the lower gut is often mild, and even a small quantity of bright blood can be alarming. He is usually not as ill as he seems, and you have more time to investigate him.</span></div>
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Rectal bleeding is common everywhere, but its causes differ geographically. In the developing world, where carcinoma is still comparatively unusual, you can treat most patients with rectal bleeding quite easily.</span></div>
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If he continues to bleed from his rectum, and you are not sure why, you will have to decide: (1) if you are going to operate, (2) when, and (3) what you are going to do when you get inside. In most areas, the commonest cause of massive rectal bleeding is a peptic or duodenal ulcer; but in some tropical areas it is bleeding from the terminal ileum, or ascending colon, due to typhoid or amoebiasis.</span></div>
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The major mistakes are: (1) To misjudge the severity of his bleeding. (2) To fail to use your finger, a proctoscope and a sigmoidoscope, to label him as having ''piles' without examining him properly, to fail to investigate him, and so to miss a carcinoma. (3) To miss the more treatable diseases, such as tuberculosis and amoebiasis, as the following case shows.</span></div>
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POUL (53) had passed several bloody stools since the morning, but had no other gastrointestinal symptoms. He was neither anaemic nor hypotensive, but during the next few days he continued to bleed, and his haematocrit fell to 23%. Sigmoidoscopy showed friable, oedematous, reddish-yellow areas in his rectum, but no obvious ulcers. A smear from his rectal mucosa showed amoebae. Metronidazole cured him dramatically. LESSONS (1) Amoebiasis is readily treatable[md]if you diagnose it. (2) A severe bleed in the absence of previous symptoms of amoebiasis is unusual.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #eeeeee; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">THE GENERAL METHOD [s7]FOR RECTAL BLEEDING See also Section 11.3.</span></div>
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COMMON CAUSES (other than piles 22.4). Peptic ulcer (11.3). Typhoid ulcers of the ileum (bleeding may be severe, 31.8). Amoebiasis (31.10). Schistosomiasis mansoni. Bacillary dysentery (diarrhoea with blood and mucus, 31.10). Anal fissures (which may bleed at defaecation, 22.7). Lymphogranuloma (22.10). Polyps, especially juvenile polyps (usually producing a little fresh blood, see below). Intussusception (''red currant jelly stools', 10.8). Also causes of high gastrointestinal bleeding (11.3).</span></div>
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UNCOMMON CAUSES. Carcinomas of the colon, rectum, or anal canal (32.27), tuberculous ulcers of the gut (29.5), non-specific ulcers of the gut (see below), pigbel disease (31.9), Meckel's diverticulum (episodic massive bleeding in the young, 28.5), rectal prolapse (22.9).</span></div>
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RARE CAUSES. Ulcerative colitis, ischaemic colitis, diverticulitis, haemangiomas of the small gut, blood dyscrasias, villous adenomas of the rectum (bright blood with much watery mucus). A foreign body in the rectum.</span></div>
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EXAMINATION. (1) Assess the degree of the patient's hypovolaemia (53.2), and the severity of his anaemia. Does sitting him up in bed make him feel faint, or exercise make him breathless? Examine him for epigastric tenderness, distension, the signs of subacute gut obstruction (10.3), and abdominal masses.</span></div>
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Examine his rectum with your finger and a proctoscope, and don't forget to look at his stool.</span></div>
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CAUTION ! Never forget to do a sigmoidoscopy if an adult presents with rectal bleeding.</span></div>
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DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSIS. Bleeding related to defaecation? (an anal or rectal lesion). Blood mixed with stool? (some lesion higher than the rectum). Painful bleeding? (a lesion below the pectinate line; piles arise above this line and are painless, unless they prolapse or strangulate). A feeling of something prolapsing from the rectum? (piles, prolapse, or polyps). Dyspepsia, heartburn, etc.? (peptic ulceration, 11.1). High fever for a week or two? (typhoid fever, 31.8). Loss of weight, anorexia, night sweats, and fatigue? (abdominal tuberculosis; rectal bleeding is unusual 29.5). Vague lower abdominal pain followed by the passage of much dark blood? (non-specific ulceration of the gut, 22.10). Abdominal pain, diarrhoea, fever, prostration? (non-occlusive infarction of the gut, pigbel disease, 31.9).</span></div>
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THE INDICATIONS FOR LAPAROTOMY. (1) Loss of [mt]1500 ml of blood. If he is in extremis, surgery may be life saving. (2) The presence of a mass. The treatment of most causes of rectal bleeding is discussed elsewhere. Most colonic bleeding stops on its own, so don't operate too early.</span></div>
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RESUSCITATION. Replace the blood he has lost, with due regard to the dangers of HIV (28a.2).</span></div>
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ANAESTHESIA. General anaesthesia.</span></div>
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LAPAROTOMY. Enter his abdomen through a long midline incision. Exclude more common causes of bleeding, such as peptic ulceration, then examine his entire gut from his duodeno[nd]jejunal junction down to his rectum. Note the colour of the contents of his gut. What is the highest site in his gut to show bleeding? Look for abnormal vessels going to the bleeding area, and feel for induration or an ulcer. If necessary, do a gastrotomy and enterotomies (open his gut, 9.3) to find the level of the bleeding.</span></div>
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If he is bleeding severely from his right colon, you don't find a lesion, and there is no bleeding more proximally, consider doing a ''blind' right hemicolectomy (66-20). This will not be easy, so don't do it lightly. Afterwards, open the specimen to see where the blood is coming from.</span></div>
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DIFFICULTIES [s7]WITH RECTAL BLEEDING If a CHILD HAS INTERMITTENT CONTINUING RECTAL BLEEDING, he may have a JUVENILE POLYP. This is a friable, proliferative mass, which lies on his mucosa to begin with, and then develops a stalk. On rectal examination you can usually feel a soft, mobile, pedunculated mass, and see a strawberry-like lesion through a proctoscope or sigmoidoscope. If examination is difficult, you may have to anaesthetize him to examine it.</span></div>
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If a polyp is small, remove it through his anus, tie the stalk, and cut it off. If you cut the stalk without tying it first, it may bleed massively. Or, if tying it is impracticable, leave it to undergo spontaneous strangulation, necrosis, and sloughing.</span></div>
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If the cause of a patient's RECTAL BLEEDING IS NOT IMMEDIATELY OBVIOUS, consider the possibility of NON-SPECIFIC ULCERATION OF THE GUT (uncommon). In the tropics patients sometimes bleed from small punched-out ulcers of unknown cause in the mucosa of their distal ileum and proximal colon. They are usually middle-aged adults of either sex, who present with lower abdominal pain and fever, followed by the passage of a quantity of dark blood rectally. He may be tender in his right iliac fossa; sigmoidoscopy is normal, except for blood coming from above. If bleeding does not stop and you are sufficiently skilled, a right hemicolectomy may save him, because the source of the bleeding is nearly always in his distal ileum, or proximal colon. In good hands he has a 10% chance of death.</span></div>
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His distal ileum and colon are likely to be discoloured by contained blood, and feel slightly oedematous and thickened. The ulcers in his mucosa are rarely palpable.</span></div>
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If you have established the source of the bleeding, and think you could remove it, do an extended right hemicolectomy, and take the last 20 cm of his ileum, his ascending colon, and his entire transverse colon up to his splenic flexure. Do an end to end ileo-transverse anastomosis in two layers.</span></div>
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Open the specimen, and you will find numerous punched-out ulcers in his terminal ileum and right colon, one of which may contain a bleeding artery. Histology shows non-specific changes only, with very little inflammation round the ulcers.</span></div>
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If he has RECTAL BLEEDING ACCOMPANIED BY SEVERE DIARRHOEA, PROSTRATION, vomiting, and fever, consider the possibility of pigbel disease, and see Section 31.9.</span></div>
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Fig. 22-9 LORD'S ANAL STRETCH[md]ONE will cure many cases of piles and anal fissures. First, do a digital examination with your right index finger, then introduce two fingers, side by side. Stretch hard, and then put four fingers in. [f10]Dilate the patient's anus gradually over 3 or 4 minutes, [f11]so that the sphincters of his anus are stretched, and not torn. Finally, put six or eight of your fingers in.</span> </span></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blog-this.do?zx=7l8ai95yqhua" name="AEN7647"><span style="color: #eeeeee; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><u style="background-color: black;">Anal fissure</u></span></a></h1>
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An anal fissure causes suffering out of all proportion to its size. It starts as a crack in the lower part of a patient's anal canal, which makes defaecation, and the half-hour following it, acutely painful. Even the thought of a bowel movement may fill him with such fear that he ignores the urge, so that the hard constipated stools that he eventually passes make his fissure worse, and may occasionally make it bleed.</span></div>
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You will almost always find his fissure posteriorly in the 6 o'clock position, between his anal verge and his pectinate line, directly over the distal end of his internal sphincter. A small oedematous skin tag commonly forms on his anal verge, just posterior to the fissure. This is the ''sentinel skin tag'. Later, his fissure may become indurated and infected, and may lead to a low perianal abscess (5.13), which may discharge through the fissure, and externally, to produce a low anal fistula. His internal sphincter lies directly under his fissure, and after several months of exposure this becomes fibrosed and spastic.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #eeeeee; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">ANAL FISSURE DIAGNOSIS. A fissure is acutely painful, so don't do a rectal examination, or pass a proctoscope, until the patient is under general anaesthesia. Alternatively, and less satisfactorily, smear his anus with 10% amethocaine ointment for 10 minutes. Can you see a sentinel skin tag? Look for a triangular or pear-shaped slit posteriorly, just inside his anus.</span></div>
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DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSIS Other obvious skin changes and cracks? (pruritus ani). Diarrhoea with multiple fistulae away from the midline? (the skin changes following some forms of colitis). More induration than in a fissure, a larger ulcer, and perhaps enlarged inguinal nodes? (carcinoma). Indurated margins, a symmetrical lesion on the opposite margin of his anal canal, and no pain? (primary chancre). The whole region is moist and pruritic, with flat, slightly-raised lesions, which are usually symmetrical on both sides? (secondary syphilis).</span></div>
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TREATMENT depends on how long he has had his fissure. Early presentation is unusual in the developing world.</span></div>
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If it is acute (less than 10 days old), only his epithelium is involved. It may heal, if you keep his stools soft for a week or two with liquid paraffin. When it has healed, warn him that it may return, if he allows himself to become constipated. He may have to continue this treatment indefinitely. Warn him that he must not keep his stools too loose, or they will never dilate his anus, so that it stenoses.</span></div>
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If you give him a local anaesthetic ointment (5% lignocaine), ask him to smear it over the sphincter inside his anus, not outside it.</span></div>
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If, his fissure fails to heal after you have kept his stools soft for 3 weeks, stretch his anus (22.5). Unfortunately the relapse rate with non-operative treatment is high, even if a fissure does heal at first.</span></div>
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If his fissure is chronic (more than 10 days), fibrosed, has a sentinel skin tag, and especially if you can see the exposed fibres of his internal sphincter under it, it will probably not respond to non-operative treatment. First try stretching his anus (22.5). After a day or two, there is a 95% chance that he will be completely free of pain. There is a 15% chance that his fissure will recur later. If it does, don't repeat the stretching, refer him for sphincterotomy.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14915634441723395075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6511783416021231187.post-36806397712950342792013-11-13T11:18:00.003-05:002013-11-13T11:18:33.150-05:00FMT & How This Treatment Will Evolve <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 25.59375px;">Another report on poop that's not that shitty. The only stuff that smells in this article is the way the AMA and FDA have responded (or lack thereof) to FMT's. This post is about good ol' FMT's or otherwise known as - Fecal Matter Transplant's, if you're not familiar with the abbreviation. I prefer FMT when talking about this. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 25.59375px;">So yeah, this is an article that I found on a local CA online publication. It provided a lot of information, so I decided to do a blog on this. I read a lot of articles about FMT's, with some that have produced study data and some that do not. There's not much data out there to be found, that's probably why. All of the articles that I have read however, have been on the positive side in regards to the results with FMT's. This is the first article that I have read to date that reports an extensive {if you want to even go that far as to call it "extensive"} follow-up with patients who had received a FMT. This information is super important in order to show the effectiveness of the procedure and to give people the confidence to consider such a treatment. People get grossed, they just do. It's the way our culture handles stuff like this. The point I want to make here is that b</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 25.59375px;">ecause of the lack of testing and trials for FMT's, being able to know if this procedure is effective and safe, is to follow-up with patients that have been treated with FMTs. Those patients, in a sense, will provide helpful and needed information that cannot be found in clinical trial data because the data doesn't exist. This procedure is so new {well,to us Westerners that like to deny and refuse anything "natural"} and not tradition, the patients receiving this treatment are essentially the trial subjects. Seriously, there should be a consent that patients must sign before they receive this treatment that allows the doctors to use their information </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small;">anonamously<span style="line-height: 25.59375px;">, </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 25.59375px;">especially follow up data, so it can be published for learning purposes. To have that information available is crucial. We are talking about working with US FDA here! As we have seen and continue to see, the FDA doesn't always make the most logical/reasonable decisions in the best interest of the people. To be able to show data that makes a difference, will make this life saving treatment available to people that would otherwise die. There is no reason why there should be hundred of thousands of people suffering from c-diff, thousands who end up dying and BILLIONS of dollars spent on ineffective treatments! That's insanity when there's a treatment that has shown to be 90% effective. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 25.59375px;">A patient that suffered from c-diff states the following - "It's a beast that keeps storming back," he said. "It affects the mind and emotions, too — 90 percent of serotonin is in the gut. You worry quite a lot." The doctors in this article state that the infection disrupts a person's life. Doctor Stollman states that FMT's are </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 25.59375px;">"the most patient-driven treatment he's encountered in his twenty-plus years of practicing medicine". It's not surprising that when you have a condition that won't go away, no matter how many rounds of treatment you take, that people end up seeking out the strange and unusual if it means being healthy again. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 25.59375px;">The AMA needs to make a billing code ! Doctors need to get paid for treating people AND doctors need to consider offering FMT's as an option that they know they will get paid for. After all, the FDA has allowed people with a difficult case of c-diff to get treated with this procedure. Which means = if you're most likely going to die from c-diff, THEN you can receive the treatment. *smh* Yup, only if you have suffered long, spent a lot and have no more fight in you, will you be able to get an effective treatment. Does this make any sense whatsoever? </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small; line-height: 25.59375px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">One last point. The 4 patients out of the 77 that were followed up with after the FMT who had developed one of the health issues listed (I highlighted the paragraph in purple), in my opinion probably has no relationship to the FMT. People could have other health issues brewing that just happen to appear after this procedure. The 4 health conditions are all very different from each other which also leads me to believe that these illnesses weren't brought on by the FMT. I just feel that as long as the sample donor is screened and cleared for all the diseases that could make a donor not qualified, then the chances of something negative happening is probably very low. It's like receiving blood. The benefit of getting it is high (because if you're getting a blood transfusion, there's a need for it) and the risk is low. Whether it's in a form of transplant or pill, if it makes people better, this should start to be considered THE most effective treatment rather than the alternative when all else fails. That's my take on it. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/the-future-of-feces/Content?oid=3762163">The Future of Feces | Feature | Oakland, Berkeley & Bay Area News & Arts Coverage</a>: </span><br />
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The Future of Feces </span></span></h1>
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Fecal transplants are being heralded as a simple cure for a dangerous and growing intestinal infection. But their future is uncertain.</span></span></h2>
<cite class="byline" style="display: block; font-style: normal; margin-top: 5px;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #cccccc;">By <a href="http://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/ArticleArchives?author=3353172" rel="author" style="text-decoration: none;">Whitney Phaneuf</a></span></span></cite></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-size: x-small;">Jennifer spent the better part of 2009 in a hospital due to a stomach condition called gastroparesis. According to the Sacramento resident, that's where she contracted<i>Clostridium difficile</i> (<i>C. diff</i> for short), a nasty and potentially life-threatening bacterial infection that's often spread in health-care settings. She said it began with bloody diarrhea, and multiple courses of expensive antibiotics didn't help. After suffering with the affliction for years, Jennifer (whom the <i>Express</i> agreed to identify by her first name because of privacy concerns) was desperate to find a cure. "I was living on Imodium during the day because I didn't want to have problems at work," she said, adding that she lost several jobs as a result of her sickness.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-size: x-small;">The answer to her woes, it turns out, was feces.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-size: x-small;">A year and a half ago, Jennifer's mother began researching alternative solutions online. That's when she discovered Oakland gastroenterologist Dr. Neil Stollman.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-size: x-small;">For the past five years, Stollman, whose office is tucked inside the historic Rotunda building in Frank Ogawa Plaza, has been treating sufferers of <i>C. diff </i>with a procedure known as fecal microbiota transplantation. It involves taking a stool sample from a healthy donor (usually a spouse or relative, or someone the patient trusts) and mixing it with saline to create a "milkshake-like" consistency, which is then delivered via enema into the <i>C. diff</i> patient's gastrointestinal tract. (It can also be administered via colonoscopy or nose tube.) The bacteria in the donor's stool restore the patient's balance of healthy bacteria. According to studies, the procedure's effectiveness in treating severe or recurring <i>C. diff</i> is higher than 90 percent.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-size: x-small;">After a consultation with Stollman, Jennifer was deemed suitable for the procedure, and her mother was identified as a healthy donor. In the week leading up to it, Jennifer's mother ate prunes every night to regulate her bowel movements for stool donation. <u><b><span style="line-height: 1.6em; text-align: center;">The results of the fecal transplant were almost immediate. Within a week, Jennifer felt better. "Stools were normal. My lower abdomen cramps were gone. It was amazing," she said. After suffering from</span><span style="line-height: 1.6em; text-align: center;"> </span><i style="line-height: 1.6em; text-align: center;">C. diff</i><span style="line-height: 1.6em; text-align: center;"> </span><span style="line-height: 1.6em; text-align: center;">for four painful years, Jennifer said she has gained ten pounds and been able to return to work full-time. "I was sick for so long," said the veterinarian. "It was the best thing, really."</span></b></u></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-size: x-small;"><b><u>According to Stollman, of the approximately 75 patients he has treated, all have been cured — quickly and at a fraction of the cost of antibiotic treatment.</u></b> The concept of fecal transplants dates back to the 4th century when people with food poisoning ingested feces as a treatment in China. They have also been popular among veterinarians, who have used them to treat diarrhea in large animals such as horses. But only recently has Western medicine embraced them as more studies (including ones by Stollman) have been published in scientific journals. In January, <i>The New England Journal of Medicine</i> published the first study showing the effectiveness of fecal transplants compared to standard antibiotic therapy in patients with severe or recurring <i>C. diff</i>. **<u><b>It showed transplants cured fifteen of sixteen people, whereas antibiotics effectively treated three of thirteen people. **</b></u>Media outlets like <i>The New York Times</i>, <i>WIRED</i>, Gawker, and the radio program <i>Radiolab</i>picked up the story, touting the healing powers of poop.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-size: x-small;">It's possible that fecal transplants could help tens of thousands of patients, according to Stollman. In recent years, incidences of <i>C. diff</i> have become more frequent, severe, and difficult to treat. The infection is usually treated with antibiotics — Vancomycin being the most commonly prescribed — and while that method's initial success rate is higher than 90 percent, <i>C. diff</i> recurrence rates range from 15 to 35 percent. In a recently released report, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stated that the threat level of <i>C. diff</i> infections is now considered "urgent." <i>C. diff</i> debilitates more than 250,000 Americans and kills an estimated 14,000 every year, costing at least $1 billion in medical expenses. Symptoms can include diarrhea, fever, loss of appetite, abdominal pain, and nausea. According to the CDC, people can become infected if they touch surfaces that are contaminated with feces that contain the bacteria and then touch their mouth or mucous membranes. The elderly and people who have illnesses that require prolonged use of antibiotics have a greater risk of acquiring <i>C. diff</i>, because antibiotics kill the gut bacteria required to fight the infection. It's often spread from health-care workers to patients and is classified as a "healthcare-associated infection."</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-size: x-small;">Recently, more doctors have begun offering fecal transplants. Locally, Kaiser Permanente's Walnut Creek and Antioch Medical Centers have been treating<i>C. diff</i> patients with fecal transplants for the past year. Stanford Hospital and UCSF will also soon offer the treatment.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #cccccc; font-size: x-small;"><u><b style="background-color: black;">But demand has far outpaced availability. Until recently, Stollman was the only doctor in California to offer fecal transplants. Although no official data or registry exists, Stollman estimates that only about one hundred doctors in the United States offer the procedure, citing the fact that it is labor-intensive, potentially high-risk, and is poorly compensated (there is currently no billing code for fecal transplants, so how doctors bill for it varies, as does what health insurance companies agree to pay for, if anything).</b></u></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-size: x-small;">Meanwhile, fecal transplants are increasingly being viewed as a "miracle cure." <u><b>Stollman said his office fields hundreds of calls every month from people who want fecal transplants for everything from autism to acne. (Stollman said he only uses the treatment as a "last resort" for <i>C. diff</i> patients who have already tried multiple courses of antibiotics.) </b></u>Meanwhile, clinics promising quick cures have begun sprouting up, aiming to capitalize on the newfound demand for poop. In a story published last year by the Portland alt-weekly <i>Willamette Week</i>, a fecal clinic promised to treat autoimmune diseases, eczema, asthma, multiple sclerosis, and depression — starting at $4,000 for a five-day "colon health retreat." The clinic's doctor said he was "self-taught."</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-size: x-small;">The potential for scams seems particularly risky because, thus far, there have been no established guidelines on how to perform fecal transplants, or how to screen donors.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #cccccc; font-size: x-small;"><u><b style="background-color: black;">**Earlier this year, the Federal Drug Administration issued a letter noting that fecal microbiota falls within the definition of a biological product and drug, and therefore any doctor performing a fecal transplant would need to fill out a lengthy Investigational New Drug (IND) application and wait thirty days for approval. The announcement forced doctors to stop performing the procedure, and the ensuing backlash prompted the FDA to revise its stance. In July, it issued a statement that doctors could continue to perform fecal transplants in cases of severe <i>C. diff</i>, as long as the patient provided informed consent and was made aware of potential risks. A spokesperson from the FDA said trials are currently underway to test the safety and effectiveness of fecal transplants for <i>C. diff</i>.**</b></u></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-size: x-small;">For now, the question remains of just how fecal transplants will be regulated, and whether the patients who need them most will be able to have access to them.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-size: x-small;">Between 2001 and 2010, the incidence of <i>C. diff</i> infections nearly doubled, according to data from National Hospital Discharge Surveys. It was during this time, around 2008, that Stollman and three fellow gastroenterologists — Seattle-based Christina Surawicz, New York City-based Lawrence Brandt, and Oklahoma City-based Mark Mellow — started talking about what could be done. Surawicz was the first to suggest fecal transplants as a potential treatment, though she had never performed the procedure herself.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-size: x-small;">"It seemed weird, strange, and bizarre," Stollman recalled. Surawicz had an especially desperate <i>C. diff</i> patient in the Bay Area and encouraged Stollman to test the treatment on her. "I think I said 'no' at first," he said. "This is not traditional Western medicine, but I'm a traditional doctor." But, realizing the patient had run out of other options, Stollman decided to try it and found success; by 2009, all four doctors were offering the procedure.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-size: x-small;">"We completely made it up," Stollman said, regarding how they determined the amount of feces required, how to test donors, and how to administer the transplant. "There are no guidelines and there were no studies."</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #8e7cc3; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">That soon changed.</span><u style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><b> In 2010, Stollman, Surawicz, and Dr. Faith Rohlke introduced the concept in one of the first papers about the procedure, "Fecal Flora Reconstitution for Recurrent <i>Clostridium difficile</i> Infection: Results and Methodology." In 2012, Stollman, Surawicz, Rohlke, Brandt, and Mellow, plus four other doctors, contributed to the more extensive paper "Long-Term Follow-Up of Colonoscopic Fecal Microbiota Transplant for Recurrent<i>Clostridium difficile</i> Infection," which tested 77 patients anywhere from 3 to 68 months after a fecal transplant. It showed that the primary cure rate for <i>C. diff</i> was 91 percent, with none of those patients reporting any new infectious diseases following the treatment.</b></u> <b style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Although four patients developed new disorders, including peripheral neuropathy, Sjögren's syndrome, idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, and rheumatoid arthritis, Stollman said there is no way to determine whether the fecal transplants and the immune disorders are connected. </b><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-size: x-small;">Because the treatment is so new, the American Medical Association still hasn't regulated what doctors can charge for fecal transplants. Stollman only bills his patients for the cost associated with testing a donor's stool sample, which starts at $100, and the colonoscopy that's required of the patient before the procedure, which is about $700. Stollman screens donors for HIV, hepatitis, syphilis, parasites including giardia, and <i>C. diff</i>, which can be dormant in healthy patients.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-size: x-small;">Kaiser gastroenterologist Theodore Levin said he was skeptical of the treatment at first, but he was also concerned about the many patients he was seeing with recurring <i>C. diff</i>. "It's really hard to get rid of," Levin explained. "These patients are destroyed. People's lives are completely disrupted. They become dependent on the Vancomycin, but as soon as they stop, the symptoms come back with a vengeance."</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-size: x-small;">But without an assigned AMA billing code, Kaiser was hesitant to offer fecal transplants. So Levin, who is friends with Stollman and has closely monitored his success rate, began sending severe <i>C. diff</i> cases his way. "I kept hearing back from patients and I became more convinced it was valuable," Levin said.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-size: x-small;">As demand for fecal transplants increased, Levin questioned how best to work through hospital policies. Finally, one of Kaiser's infectious disease specialists came to him and said, "Please do this." "That made me go, 'Oh, other people think this is a good idea,'" Levin said.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-size: x-small;">In June 2012, Kaiser started offering fecal transplants to <i>C. diff</i> patients. Levin said its medical centers in Antioch and Walnut Creek have treated ten patients so far with positive results. "It's striking the impact you can make on their lives, and that becomes a reinforcing factor," Levin said. "One day people are sick and a few days later they are apparently cured."</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-size: x-small;">Bob Frost, 58, had been thinking about having a fecal transplant since May. The local freelance writer (who, full disclosure, has contributed to the<i>Express</i>) contracted <i>C. diff</i> in December 2012 after a minor surgical procedure required him to take antibiotics. The symptoms started with diarrhea that lasted ten days.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-size: x-small;">"I couldn't keep any food in," Frost said, adding that in the nine months he was sick with <i>C. diff,</i> he lost fifteen pounds<i>.</i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-size: x-small;">Frost tried multiple courses of antibiotics, but the infection kept returning. "It's a beast that keeps storming back," he said. "It affects the mind and emotions, too — 90 percent of serotonin is in the gut. You worry quite a lot."</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-size: x-small;">When Frost first read about fecal transplants in an online <i>C. diff</i> forum, he recalled thinking, "That's the grossest thing ever." But after six months of suffering, he decided he wanted to try it. That happened to be right when the FDA cracked down on the procedure, so both Stollman and Kaiser ended up denying him.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-size: x-small;">Frost said a fecal transplant would have been far cheaper compared to antibiotics — without insurance, Vancomycin runs about $1,800 for a fourteen-day treatment. That fact made him suspicious of the FDA's interference: "The FDA is in bed with conventional medicine. The drug companies won't support it because it doesn't benefit them."</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-size: x-small;">Frost said he even considered doing a fecal transplant himself — there are many do-it-yourself instructions on the web — but ultimately decided against it. "There's too much potential of something going wrong," he said.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-size: x-small;">In July, when the FDA backed down on regulating fecal transplants, Frost was approved to have the treatment, but he's glad he waited; in August, his <i>C. diff</i>finally cleared up on its own. "It took me nine months to heal," Frost said. "With a fecal transplant, it might have taken nine days or nine hours."</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-size: x-small;">Stollman said when the FDA initially announced restrictions on fecal transplants, he and his colleagues were worried that patients would attempt DIY transplants or seek treatment from the black market. But even though the FDA has eased its stance, there are still concerns about a fecal transplant black market catering to people who don't have <i>C. diff</i>.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-size: x-small;">"There are charlatans out there," said UC Davis Department of Microbiology and Immunology professor Jonathan Eisen, who has been researching microbial populations for twenty years and follows developments regarding fecal transplants on his blog The Tree of Life. "It appeals to scam artists. Google search for 'fecal bacteria clinic.' It's amazing how many people offer it [fecal transplants], and I don't trust many of them."</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-size: x-small;">Stollman said that although there are a handful of doctors in the Bay Area who now perform the treatment, there are still not enough. "I'm still way backed up and can't keep up with demand," he wrote in an email.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-size: x-small;">The biggest barrier to patients getting treatment is doctors themselves, Stollman continued. Long before fecal transplants became the subject of media attention, almost all of his patients found him through online forums, where <i>C. diff</i> sufferers would commiserate and search for solutions. He called the procedure the most patient-driven treatment he's encountered in his twenty-plus years of practicing medicine. These days, Stollman said about three-quarters of his patients come to him due to their own initiative, and it often involves convincing their doctors.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-size: x-small;">In addition, the risks, amount of labor, and lack of compensation associated with fecal transplants deter doctors who might be open to performing the procedure. "There's still a whole debate about whose insurance company should be paying for the screening of the donor," Levin said. "If the donor is a Kaiser member, it's covered. Otherwise, we just handle case-by-case."</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-size: x-small;">Eisen stressed that fecal transplants should not be used for conditions that are not yet proven to benefit from the treatment. Kaiser's Levin said he has performed the procedure for two patients with ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory bowel syndrome, but didn't find the results compelling enough to try again. "It didn't seem to work," Levin said. "With <i>C. diff</i>, it's strikingly beneficial."</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-size: x-small;">Still, there are many aspects of fecal transplants that are unknown. "Infections are diverse and people themselves are incredibly diverse," Eisen said. "How do you regulate a treatment like this where everyone is so different from everyone else? We don't know how to estimate the risks. That's what we should be most concerned about."</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-size: x-small;">Eisen said one person's stools can contain hundreds to thousands of different types of bacteria — most of which are unknown before a transplant takes place — meaning there could be a risk of getting an infection. So far, there have been no documented cases of such a thing happening, but long-term studies about the effects of taking on another person's bacteria don't yet exist.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-size: x-small;">As doctors wait to see how the FDA will regulate fecal transplants, they are left to speculate about the future of the procedure. Stollman and Levin believe the FDA will eventually require them to submit an IND application, which is why they've both starting filling them out. "It's been fairly laborious process," Levin said, adding that Kaiser is close to submitting its paperwork. Stollman, however, said he's not sure when his small staff will be able to complete the complicated application: "It's basically like a pharma company applying for a new drug," he said.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-size: x-small;">What <i>is</i> likely to change in the coming years is the donation process. Levin said he hopes regulation on how to screen donors will be enforced to ensure patients are getting healthy feces. "I think there are still some places that don't have clear policies on how donors are getting screened," he said.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-size: x-small;">While regulation would make stool donation safer, Stollman said increased testing requirements will also make the procedure more expensive, and may limit patient access if it requires the use of a more advanced lab.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-size: x-small;">Donor banks may eventually replace feces from friends and family. Stollman said both Stanford Hospital and UCSF are considering building donor banks, which would make pre-screened stools available for emergencies, and Levin said Kaiser has also considered it.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-size: x-small;">Eventually, synthetic stools could replace human donation. Eisen said researchers at the Human Microbiome Project at the National Institutes of Health are currently working on technology that would allow scientists to map our microorganisms, similar to how DNA is analyzed, which would then allow doctors to create transplant bacteria based on a patient's specific needs.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-size: x-small;">The transplant aspect may also take on a new form. During last month's IDWeek, an infectious diseases conference in San Francisco, Canadian researchers unveiled a new "poop pill" to treat <i>C. diff</i>. The pill does not contain actual poop, but rather the healthy bacteria from a donor's feces. Like standard fecal transplants, the stool would be donated by a family or friend and tested before its bacteria are extracted in a lab. The bacteria is then condensed into 24 to 34 triple-coated gel capsules, which a patient is required to take in one sitting. So far, 27 patients have reported being cured of <i>C. diff</i>after taking the pills.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc; font-size: x-small;">As fecal transplants evolve, Stollman said his practice might not be able to keep up with the technology required to offer them. "Fecal transplants — as we know it — will not be a forever solution," he said. But until then, he's dedicated to continue offering them: "This is a very inelegant solution with elegant results," Stollman said. "It treats a population who has no other solution."</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14915634441723395075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6511783416021231187.post-46883677435391408512013-10-23T22:50:00.000-04:002013-10-23T22:50:11.409-04:00Qing Dai, A Chinese #Herb & #Acupuncture Clear Ulcerative #Colitis - Good Read<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is good news for people looking for an alternative therapy option for hard to treat cases of ulcerative colitis (UC). Read the case about the man with UC under the <b>Clinical Highlight </b>section of this article. It's hopeful in my opinion. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #cfe2f3; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i style="background-color: black;">My $0.02 - It's nice to see herbal forms of medicine being tested clinically and seeing the results published in known journals. I'd like to see a larger study though. The 1st thing a skeptic would point out about this research is the size of the study. It's way too small, but not small enough to say that the results don't show significance. There just needs to be larger clinical studies being conducted to make an impact. The more participants that have a beneficial result, the more noteworthy the findings will be. Size matters in this case, especially since TCM and naturopathic medicine are not recognized as effective in the medical community........ still. You would think that by now alternative approaches of treating diseases would be accepted more than they are. Unfortunately the pharmaceutical presence is all we can see and hear because the industry's ability to market their drugs. </i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cfe2f3; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i style="background-color: black;">When we are faced with a choice in respects to treatment (alternative approach vs. conventional), we have to take into consideration the two types of areas of medicine and the facts surrounding them. This part is simple. Large markets get more exposure. More exposure leads to something being talked about more, used more, and becoming the popular choice that is opted for the masses. Who has never heard of Cymbalta, Humira, Lunesta? If you have a tv, you've heard of at least one of these drugs. Are the drugs that we hear about on a constant basis a better choice than the little guy that doesn't have the multimillion dollar advertising budget? You make that decision. Research and figure it out.</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #cfe2f3; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b style="background-color: black;"><a href="http://www.healthcmi.com/Acupuncture-Continuing-Education-News/814-ulcerativecolitis67">Chinese Herb & Acupuncture Clear Ulcerative Colitis - New Research [814] | Acupuncture Continuing Education News | Acupuncture News</a>: </b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">New research finds a very powerful Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) herb effective in resolving ulcerative colitis. The patients examined in the study published in the <em>World Journal of Gastroenterology</em> suffered from intractable ulcerative colitis and were unresponsive to conventional drug therapy. After use of the herbal medicine, 6 of the 7 patients in the study were able to completely discontinue the use of anti-inflammatory medications. This included the use of aminosalicylates, corticosteroids and azathioprine. Endoscopy and symptomatic responses showed everything from significant clinical improvements to a complete resolution of the condition.</span></div>
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<strong><span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">Herbal Powder</span></strong><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">The patients orally self-administered 1 gram of Qing Dai (Indigo Naturalis) powder, 2 times per day for 4 months. The results of the herbal program demonstrated significant clinical and objective improvements such that 6 of the 7 patients completely discontinued the use of prednisolone, a corticosteroid used to control ulcerative colitis. The researchers examined Qing Dai to learn more about its effective mechanisms of action. Using electron spin resonance, they discovered that Qing Dai has potent hydroxl radical scavenging activity. This discovery prompted the researchers to recommend further investigation into the mechanisms of Qing Dai’s anti-inflammatory effects.</span></div>
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<a name='more'></a><span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">This research coincides with other recent research demonstrating that acupuncture and herbal medicine are effective in the clearing of chronic ulcerative colitis. <em>Published in the Clinical Journal of Chinese Medicine</em>, the study showed that a combination of herbal enemas consisting of Ku Shen and Bai Tou Weng combined with an acupuncture treatment regime was significantly more effective than taking antibiotics for resolving ulcerative colitis.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">The Qing Dai study examined the oral administration of Qing Dai in its powdered form. Qing Dai has received a great deal of attention in modern research. One recent research study found that I3M, synthesized from the indirubin found in Qing Dai, downregulates cancerous tissues when applied topically to oral cancer. This shows great potential for the treatment of oral cancer. Historically, TCM documents Qing Dai as an important herb in the treatment of ulcers in the mouth and tongue. TCM also documents the use of Qing Dai as a topical paste for the treatment of acne and topical ointment for the treatment psoriasis. HealthCMi recently published instructions on how to prepare the <a href="http://www.healthcmi.com/Acupuncture-Blog/815-qingdaiceu" style="text-decoration: none;">anti-acne topical paste</a> in its blog section. Visit the Healthcare Medicine Institute's blog to learn more.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">The I3M study cited the TCM formula Dang Gui Long Hui Wan as an historically important herbal compound for the treatment of chronic myelocytic leukemia. Many sources include Qing Dai as one of the ingredients in this formula that contains Dang Gui, Long Dan Cao, Zhi Zi, Huang Lian, Huang Bai, Huang Qin, Lu Hui, Da Huang, Qing Dai, Mu Xiang, She Xiang and Sheng Jiang. The researchers suggest that the indigo dye found in Qing Dai is partially responsible for the herbal formula’s efficaciousness given the modern research demonstrating that indirubin powerfully inhibits several types of human cancer cells. The Qing Dai researchers noted that modern studies demonstrate that indirubin has anti-inflammatory effects by suppressing interferon-alpha, interleukin-6 and nuclear factor. They added that Qing Dai has been shown to exert anti-inflammatory “effects on human neutrophils based on its ability to suppress superoxide generation.”</span></div>
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<strong><span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">Clinical Highlight</span></strong><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">The Qing Dai study highlighted specific clinical results of its participants. One patient vignette was of a man suffering from ulcerative colitis with hematochezia, the passage of fresh blood through the anus. This patient had taken antibiotics and prednisolone to control the hematochezia. However, he was unable to reduce the dosage of prednisolone without the return of hematochezia. Over time, the patient needed to increase the drug dosages to maintain clinical results and he showed no clinical improvements in his baseline condition. After 3 years, he began the Qing Dai treatments and after one month the hematochezia resolved completely. Objective testing also showed a marked decrease in serum C-reactive protein levels. The patient was able to discontinue the use of all drugs. Endoscopy revealed that his ulcers completely disappeared. A follow-up confirmed that the therapeutic effect of Qing Dai therapy lasted for more than 2 years.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">The researchers note that other related research finds important clinical results from the use of Qing Dai. Yuan, et al, discovered that Qing Dai enemas are clinically effective for the treatment of chronic hemorrhagic radiation proctitis. Given the recent research combining acupuncture with herbal medicine demonstrating that enemas of Ku Shen combined with Bai Tou Weng are effective for the treatment of ulcerative colitis, it may be consistent that adding Qing Dai to the enema will enhance its therapeutic effects.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">Distinct from Qing Dai used as a one herb formula for the treatment of chronic ulcerative colitis is its use within herbal formulas within the scope of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Differential diagnostics within the TCM system recognise Qing Dai’s appropriate application for this biomedically defined disorder in cases of Heat in the Blood, Damp Heat and Heat and Toxins. However, some clinical presentations of chronic ulcerative colitis may be due to cases of cold and deficiency. In these instances, herbal medicines with very different biological functions may exert more effective clinical actions for the treatment of chronic ulcerative colitis.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">How serious is this research? Below is an image of three colon wall sections that are inflamed due to chronic ulcerative colitis. The image speaks to the importance of integrating TCM herbal medicine into the healthcare system.</span></div>
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<span class="wf_caption" style="display: inline-block; vertical-align: middle;"><img alt="A close-up of a colon wall. " height="441" src="http://www.healthcmi.com/images/acurackpics1/ulcerativecolitis67a.jpg" style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: auto; margin-top: auto; vertical-align: middle;" width="500" /><span style="background-color: #f8efe3; clear: both; display: block; width: 500px;">Colon wall inflamed from ulcerative colitis</span></span></div>
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<strong><em><span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">References:</span></em></strong><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">Suzuki, Hideo, Tsuyoshi Kaneko, Yuji Mizokami, Toshiaki Narasaka, Shinji Endo, Hirofumi Matsui, Akinori Yanaka, Aki Hirayama, and Ichinosuke Hyodo. "Therapeutic efficacy of the Qing Dai in patients with intractable ulcerative colitis." World journal of gastroenterology: WJG 19, no. 17 (2013): 2718.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">Clinical observation on treating chronic ulcerative colitis with retention enema by Baitouweng Kushen decoction and acupuncture, Clinical Journal of Chinese Medicine, 1674-7860, 2013.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">Lo W-Y, Chang N-W (2013) An Indirubin Derivative, Indirubin-3′-Monoxime Suppresses Oral Cancer Tumorigenesis through the Downregulation of Survivin. PLoS ONE 8(8): e70198. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0070198.Editor: A. R. M. Ruhul Amin, Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University, United States of America.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">Yuan G, Ke Q, Su X, Yang J, Xu X. Qing Dai, A traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of chronic hemorrhagic radiation proctitis. Zhong De Linchuang Zhongliuxue Zazhi. 2009;8:114–116.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">Lin YK, Leu YL, Huang TH, Wu YH, Chung PJ, Su Pang JH, Hwang TL. Anti-inflammatory effects of the extract of indigo naturalis in human neutrophils. J Ethnopharmacol. 2009;125:51–58.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14915634441723395075noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6511783416021231187.post-2897135649888132132013-10-06T22:01:00.000-04:002013-10-06T22:05:14.482-04:00REDHILL BIOPHARM - News -> RHB-104 - Possible Breakthrough Treatment for Crohn's Disease<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #f4cccc;">I get so excited when I read about this possible treatment, RHB-104, for Crohn's! I've been watching this drug for over a year now. This is a treatment that if approved by the FDA, I will be jumping on it as soon as it becomes available. No doubt! This is the kind of treatment we need. Everything else just treats symptoms.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: #f4cccc;">So, why is this so exciting? If you read current research about what causes Crohn's disease, you will see that researchers are leaning away from considering Crohn's disease an autoimmune condition. They have found that there is an underlying cause for the immune response to activate. Crohn's is said to be caused by a combo of 3 factors - Immune system abnormalities, environmental influences and bacteria. I just wiki'd Crohn's disease and this is what is said about what is believed to be the cause - "Crohn's disease is caused by interactions between environmental, immunological and bacterial factors in genetically susceptible individuals.<span class="s1">[4][5][6]</span> This results in a chronic inflammatory disorder, in which the body's <a href="x-dictionary:r:'Immune_system?lang=en'"><span class="s2">immune system</span></a> attacks the gastrointestinal tract possibly directed at microbial <a href="x-dictionary:r:'Antigens?lang=en'"><span class="s2">antigens</span></a>.<span class="s1">[5][7]</span> While Crohn's is an immune related disease, it does not appear to be an <a href="x-dictionary:r:'Autoimmune_disease?lang=en'"><span class="s2">autoimmune disease</span></a> (in that the immune system is not being triggered by the body itself)."</span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: #f4cccc;">What this means is that people that have Crohn's disease do not have the immune system capabilities to destroy a form of bacteria that have been introduced into the body at some point in time. As research has indicated, a large number of people with Crohn's disease happen to have the MAP bacteria in their body somewhere. The exact location of the bacteria is not known at this time. Who cares where it is, as long as a treatment is available that will destroy it is my opinion.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: #f4cccc;">See why this makes me super hopeful? If Crohn's is caused by this MAP bacteria & if this new combination antibiotic eradicates the MAP bacteria from people with Crohn's disease, this could be the answer to the Crohn's disease epidemic! Can someone say <i>CURE </i>:)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: #f4cccc;">Wouldn't that be glorious? </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #f4cccc;"><a href="http://health-beauty-2468.blogspot.com/2013/09/clinical-trial-for-new-antibiotic.html" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 22px;">Clinical trial for a new antibiotic therapy for Crohn’s treatment started</a><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 22px;">:</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #f4cccc; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Crohn’s disease is an inflammatory bowel disease which may affect gastrointestinal tract from mouth to anus, and has a wide variety of symptoms. Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) is believed to be associated with Cronh’s disease. Professor Dr. Saleh Naser, UFC College of Medicine, believes that MAP is the cause of the disease. He said, "Crohn's disease affects more than 750,000 Americans, yet traditional treatments only address the symptoms of inflammation and not the cause." He further added, "I have seen case studies where patients' lives have been restored following treatment, which removes MAP. I have high hopes that this clinical trial may lead to finding a cure." Dr. Saleh Naser will soon conduct clinical trials on a new antibiotic therapy acquired by RedHill Biopharma for curing the disease. 240 participants will be recruited for this double blind clinical trial.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #f4cccc;"><a href="http://health-beauty-2468.blogspot.com/2013/09/clinical-trial-for-new-antibiotic.html">http://health-beauty-2468.blogspot.com/2013/09/clinical-trial-for-new-antibiotic.html</a></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #f4cccc; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 20px; line-height: 26px;"><a class="taggedlink" href="http://www.news-medical.net/news/20130918/RedHill-Biopharma-to-initiate-phase-III-trial-of-RHB-104-in-Crohns-disease-patients.aspx" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 20px; line-height: 26px;">RedHill Biopharma to initiate phase III trial of RHB 104 in Crohn's disease patients</a></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #f4cccc;">UCF College of Medicine professor Dr. Saleh Naser soon will participate in a clinical trial to test whether a new antibiotic therapy acquired by RedHill Biopharma can be used to treat Crohn's disease patients.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #f4cccc;">The FDA-approved phase III trial is expected to commence within weeks by RedHill Biopharma, which licensed Naser's <a href="http://www.news-medical.net/health/What-is-DNA.aspx" style="text-decoration: none;">DNA</a> technology for detecting <i>Mycobacterium avium</i>subspecies paratuberculosis, known as MAP. It is believed to be associated with Crohn's disease. RedHill Biopharma developed the anti-MAP antibiotic regimen known as RHB 104. Crohn's disease is a chronic inflammatory disease of the gastrointestinal tract characterized by cramping and diarrhea.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #f4cccc;">Naser developed and patented a way to detect MAP from milk, blood and tissue clinical samples. The bacterium is known to cause inflammation in the intestines of cows. It is also linked to Crohn's disease, although its role has been debated for more than a century. Naser believes MAP is an underlying cause of the disease.</span></div>
<span style="background-color: black; color: #f4cccc;"><span style="font-size: 13px;">"Crohn's disease affects more than 750,000 Americans, yet traditional treatments only address the symptoms of inflammation and not the cause," Naser said. "I have seen case studies where patients' lives have been restored following treatment, which removes MAP. I have high hopes that this clinical trial may lead to finding a </span><b><i><u><span style="font-size: large;">cure</span></u></i></b><span style="font-size: 13px;">."</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #f4cccc;">RedHill will be enrolling 240 subjects from the United States, Canada and Israel in this double blind clinical trial in which blood and intestinal <a href="http://www.news-medical.net/health/Biopsy-What-is-Biopsy.aspx" style="text-decoration: none;">biopsy</a> specimens from Crohn's patients will be tested for MAP before, during and following the one-year treatment with the antibiotic RHB 104.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #f4cccc;">"Since we acquired the license to Dr. Saleh Naser's MAP detection technique in 2011, we have had an excellent collaboration with UCF," said RedHill's CEO Dror Ben-Asher. "The UCF team of researchers- is at the forefront of global academic research on MAP and its detection."</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #f4cccc;">Naser is looking forward to the trial and hopes this will end the academic debate regarding MAP and Crohn's disease.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #f4cccc;">"I am ecstatic to be part of a team, which will help determine whether or not MAP is associated with Crohn's disease; certainly a final answer to a one hundred-year old controversy," Naser said.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #f4cccc;">Source: <a href="http://www.ucf.edu/" style="background-image: url(http://cdn.news-medical.net/pics/remote.gif); background-position: 100% 0%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding-right: 10px; text-decoration: none;">University of Central Florida</a></span></div>
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<span itemprop="name" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #f4cccc; font-size: large;"><u style="background-color: black;">RedHill Readying Phase III Trials In Crohn's</u></span></span></h1>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #f4cccc;">With a PDUFA target date of Feb. 3, 2014 for its migraine drug, RHB-103, and NDA filing planned for the first quarter of 2014 for the anti-emetic drug, RHB-102, RedHill Biopharma (<a href="http://seekingalpha.com/symbol/rdhl" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="">RDHL</a>) is now focusing its efforts on its flagship programs: RHB-104 for Crohn's disease and RHB-105 for <i>Helicobacter pylori</i> (<i>H. pylori</i>).</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #f4cccc;">RedHill is preparing to begin a potential groundbreaking <span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span>Phase III study in the current quarter in North America and Israel (the MAP U.S. Study) of Crohn's disease, using a novel patent-protected formulation that combines three antibiotic ingredients in a single capsule, and is planning and preparing a parallel <span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Phase III study in Europe (the MAP Europe Study).</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #f4cccc;">"Following the discovery of the link between <i>H. pylori</i> bacterium and peptic ulcers, there is a growing body of evidence supporting the proposition that Crohn's disease and other so-called autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, are linked to infections," chief business officer Guy Goldberg says in an interview with BioTuesdays.com, referring to emerging scientific evidence that the microbiome, or the trillions of intestinal microbes, plays a major role in health and disease.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #f4cccc;">"There's a paradigm shift of viewing the body not as a single organism but as a collection of organisms, with the microbiome as the habitat within the body," he adds.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #f4cccc;">In 2005, researchers in Australia won the Nobel Prize for identifying <i>H. pylori</i> bacterium and the role it plays in causing peptic ulcers. Stress and lifestyle were long believed to be the primary cause of intestinal ulcers. Fellow Australian, Prof. Thomas Borody, who is now a member of RedHill's advisory board, developed the first antibiotic treatment for ulcers.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #f4cccc;">RedHill's two lead drug candidates - RHB-104, for Crohn's disease and multiple sclerosis (MS), and RHB-105, for<i>H. pylori</i> - were built on the success of Prof. Borody's approaches to gastrointestinal tract diseases and infections.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #f4cccc;">"RHB-104 is the biggest program in our pipeline," Mr. Goldberg says. "To the best of our knowledge, we are the only company with a <span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Phase III combination antibiotic approach for treating Crohn's disease, even though there is a lot of academic research connecting Crohn's to a bacterial infection."</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #f4cccc;">RedHill is currently advancing six clinical programs; two of which are expected to be reviewed by the FDA during 2014, and three that are entering pivotal clinical studies.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #f4cccc;">In a <strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.bioassociate.com/redhill-biopharma-ltd-q2-2013-update-report/" rel="nofollow" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">research report</a></strong> last month, Bioassociate Innovative Consulting reiterated its "buy" rating and price target of $14.91 per RedHill American Depositary Share, "given the multiple milestones approaching and the company being on-track with the clinical programs' timelines."</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #f4cccc;">Crohn's is a severe inflammatory disease in the GI tract. Existing drugs, such as Remicade, treat the inflammatory symptoms of the disease by suppressing the immune system. However, they are widely considered to have a poor safety profile and limited long-term efficacy. "There clearly is a strong unmet medical need for a better alternative for Crohn's patients," Mr. Goldberg contends. <b>The global market to treat Crohn's exceeded $3.5-billion in 2012.</b></span></div>
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<a href="http://biotuesdays.com/2013/08/13/redhill-readying-phase-3-trials-in-crohns/redhill-crohs-pics/" rel="nofollow" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #f4cccc;"><img alt="Phase II Study Pictures in Crohn" src="http://static.cdn-seekingalpha.com/uploads/2013/8/19/saupload_Redhill-Crohs-Pics_thumb1.png" style="border: 0px; display: inline; max-width: 480px; outline: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px;" /></span></a><br />
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<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #f4cccc;">Phase II Study Pictures in Crohn's Patients (Borody et al (2002), Digest Liver Dis 34:29-38)</span></em></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #f4cccc;">He explains that RHB-104 is a novel and proprietary combination of three approved antibiotic ingredients - clarithromycin, clofazimine and rifabutin - targeting <i>Mycobacterium Avium Paratuberculosis (MAP)</i>. Crohn's patients are believed to have seven times greater likelihood of being MAP-positive than non-Crohn's patients.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #f4cccc;">The MAP U.S. Study will enroll 240 moderately-to-severely active Crohn's patients at 50 sites in North America and Israel. The primary endpoint is the state of remission at week 26. The study will also examine safety, the maintenance of remission through week 52, efficacy outcome measures in relation to the presence of MAP infection and other secondary endpoints.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #f4cccc;">If the study is successful, RedHill may submit a new drug application to the FDA in 2015. RHB-104 previously received orphan drug status from the FDA for pediatric use. Mr. Goldberg says discussions are underway with European regulators to begin a second <span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Phase III study with RBH-104 in Europe - the MAP Europe Study.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #f4cccc;">RedHill also is developing RHB-104 to treat patients with relapsing remitting MS. In June, the company commenced a <span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span>Phase IIa proof-of-concept trial in Israel. "This is the first time that this type of antibiotic therapy will be tested on MS patients in a <span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Phase II clinical trial," Mr. Goldberg contends.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #f4cccc;">RedHill's second lead program is RHB-105 in development to treat <i>H. pylori</i> bacteria, which plays an important role in gastritis, peptic ulcers and gastric cancer. Mr. Goldberg points out that <i>H. pylori</i> is increasingly developing resistance to treatment with clarithromycin and metronidazole, and that standard therapy fails in up to 30% to 40% of patients who continue to remain <i>H. pylori</i>-positive.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #f4cccc;">A <span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Phase IIa study in 2005 by Prof. Borody in Australia demonstrated over 90% eradication of the bacteria in 130 patients who had previously failed standard therapy with clarithromycin. Approximately three million<i>H. pylori</i>-infected patients are treated annually in the U.S. market, resulting in a potential market estimated at $1-billion to $1.5-billion.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #f4cccc;">Mr. Goldberg explains that RHB-105 is a novel all-in-one combination of two antibiotics - rifabutin and amoxicillin - and a proton pump inhibitor, omeprazole. RedHill plans to begin a <span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Phase II/3 clinical trial with RHB-105 during the quarter, he says, adding that a successful study could lead to an NDA filing in 2014.</span></span></div>
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<a href="http://seekingalpha.com/article/1645962-redhill-readying-phase-iii-trials-in-crohns?source=yahoo" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #f4cccc;">http://seekingalpha.com/article/1645962-redhill-readying-phase-iii-trials-in-crohns?source=yahoo</span></a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14915634441723395075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6511783416021231187.post-71306693766672186062013-10-02T10:50:00.000-04:002013-12-07T22:08:17.087-05:00Post-Diverticulitis Irritable Bowel Syndrome - New form of IBS Found by UCLA Researchers<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #cfe2f3;">This is interesting... UCLA researchers have found that a form of IBS may be developed after a period where a person is diagnosed with diverticulitis. The new condition is called post-diverticulitis irritable bowel syndrome (PDV-IBS). The research also found that an increase in mood disorders was highly likely for people that suffer from IBS. Read the article for the details.</span></span></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3; font-size: large;"><a href="http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/ucla-researchers-describe-new-248195.aspx">UCLA researchers describe new form of irritable bowel syndrome / UCLA Newsroom</a>: </span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px;">UCLA researchers have described a new form of irritable bowel syndrome that occurs after an acute bout of diverticulitis, a finding that may help lead to better management of symptoms and relief for patients.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">The discovery of this new condition, called post-diverticulitis irritable bowel syndrome (PDV–IBS), validates the irritable bowel symptoms that many patients report long after suffering a bout of diverticulitis but that many physicians have waved off as being part of the original condition, said Dr. Brennan Spiegel, an associate professor of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and senior author of the research.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">"We've known for a long time that after some people develop diverticulitis, they're a different person. They experience recurrent abdominal pains, cramping and diarrhea that they didn't have before," Spiegel said. "The prevailing wisdom has been that once diverticulitis is treated, it's gone. But we've shown that IBS symptoms occur after the diverticulitis, and they may result from an inflammatory process, like a bomb going off in the body and leaving residual damage."</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">The <a href="http://www.cghjournal.org/article/S1542-3565(13)00386-8/abstract" style="font-weight: bold; outline: none; text-decoration: none;" target="_self">research</a> was published Sept. 5 in the peer-reviewed journal Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">As they age, most people develop diverticulosis, or pouches in the lining of the colon. More than 50 percent of people over 60 have the condition, but the pouches usually don't cause any problems. Occasionally, the pouches become inflamed, leading to diverticulitis, which causes pain and infection in the abdomen. Doctors usually treat it with antibiotics, or in more severe cases with surgery.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">"A major surprise in our study was that diverticulitis patients not only developed IBS at a higher rate than the controls, but they also developed mood disorders like depression and anxiety at a higher rate," Spiegel said. "Because IBS and mood disorders often go hand in hand, this suggests that acute diverticulitis might even set off a process leading to long-standing changes in the brain–gut axis."</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">The discovery of PDV–IBS could mean better attention to patients complaining of symptoms after diverticulitis, symptoms that up until now may have been dismissed by physicians. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">"Patients often report ongoing IBS symptoms after the diverticulitis has long passed, and this study supports their beliefs and introduces a new diagnosis," Spiegel said. "If doctors recognize this, they may take the symptoms more seriously and manage them actively, just as they can manage IBS actively with various new drugs on the market and currently in development."</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">More than 1,000 patient records from the West Los Angeles Veteran's Affairs Medical Center were examined for the two-year study, including those of patients who had suffered acute diverticulitis and those of another group of patients who had not. The groups were matched for age and sex and had similar co-morbidities — other existing health problems. The groups were followed for many years as UCLA researchers tracked the differences in IBS diagnoses and mood disorders.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">"This study expands our understanding a little bit about what might cause IBS," Spiegel said. "It's such a common condition, and there may be different flavors. We've now added a new flavor to the menu — a new risk factor for developing IBS. By learning more, we might be able to expand the therapies we can use on these patients."</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">The study was funded by Shire Pharmaceuticals.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">"Our findings support the evolving paradigm of diverticular disease as a chronic illness — not merely an acute condition marked by abrupt complications. Far from a self-limited episode, acute diverticulitis may become a chronic disorder in some patients," the study states. "Diverticulitis is correlated with not only chronic IBS symptoms, but also long-term emotional distress beyond the event itself. Awareness of this possible risk is important because persistent, untreated gastrointestinal symptoms and comorbid depression may worsen outcome and increase the economic burden of an already prevalent disease."</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14915634441723395075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6511783416021231187.post-3057895928366318962013-10-01T05:55:00.000-04:002013-10-01T05:57:03.755-04:00Vedolizumab, A New Treatment for Ulcerative Colitis & Crohn's Disease Looks Promising - Info & Clinical Trial Included<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #fce5cd;">Vedolizumab, a potentially new treatment for UC and Crohn's disease is being fast tracked for review by the FDA. The BLA (biologics license application) will give priority review to the ulcerative colitis application and standard review to the Crohn's disease application. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: #fce5cd;">The part of the clinical trial that is most important to me is the said adverse effects that were found in the patients who participated in the study. Based on the concluding trial results, the adverse effects of the drug is said to be the same as the placebo. That's great news. I'm going to continue to watch this drug for new updates and news pertaining to safety. So far, this new treatment by Takeda Pharmaceuticals looks promising. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: #fce5cd;">I have also included the clinical trial abstract below. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #fce5cd; font-size: large;"><b><a href="http://www.gastroendonews.com/ViewArticle.aspx?d=Breaking+News&d_id=409&i=September+2013&i_id=993&a_id=24001">Gastroenterology & Endoscopy News - New IBD Drug, Vedolizumab, Receives Priority Review Status for Ulcerative Colitis</a>:</b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18.890625px;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.890625px;">On Sept. 4,</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.890625px;"> </span><a href="http://www.takeda.com/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.890625px; outline: none;" target="_blank">Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Ltd.</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.890625px;">, announced that it received priority review status from the FDA for its drug vedolizumab, an investigational antibody for the treatment of adults with moderately to severely active Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). Takeda submitted a biologics license application (BLA) to the FDA in June for the treatment of CD and UC; the UC application will receive priority review, and the application for CD will be reviewed under the standard timeline.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #fce5cd;">The FDA grants priority review status for drugs that are designed to treat a serious condition, and that if approved, would provide a significant improvement in safety or effectiveness. Priority review designation allows for an eight-month review period compared with the standard 12-month review.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #fce5cd;">“The need to seek new treatment options is well recognized,” said William J. Sandborn, MD, chief, Division of Gastroenterology, and professor of medicine, University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, in a press statement. “Vedolizumab has demonstrated the potential to be another possible treatment option for people with moderately to severely active CD and UC.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #fce5cd;">Vedolizumab is a humanized monoclonal antibody that specifically antagonizes α4β7 integrin and inhibits it from binding to its target receptor, mucosal addressin cell adhesion molecule-1 (MAdCAM-1). MAdCAM-1 is preferentially expressed on blood vessels and lymph nodes of the gastrointestinal tract. It interacts with α4β7 integrin, which is expressed on a subset of circulating white blood cells, to mediate the inflammatory process in patients with CD and UC.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #fce5cd;">Takeda’s BLA submission is supported by four Phase III clinical studies—GEMINI I, II and III, and GEMINI LTS (Long-Term Safety)—which comprise the GEMINI Studies<sup>TM</sup>, a clinical program designed to investigate the efficacy and safety of vedolizumab in clinical response and remission in patients with moderate to severe CD and UC. Patients enrolled in the studies failed at least one conventional therapy for inflammatory bowel disease, including corticosteroids, immunomodulators and/or a tumor necrosis factor–alpha antagonist. The results of the Phase III studies of vedolizumab in patients with CD and UC were published recently in the New England Journal of Medicine (<a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=23964933" style="outline: none;" target="_blank">Sandborn WJ et al. <em>N Engl J Med</em>2013;369:711-721</a> and <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=23964932" style="outline: none;" target="_blank">Feagan BG et al. <em>N Engl J Med</em> 2013;369:699-710</a>, respectively).</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #fce5cd;">According to Takeda, vedolizumab has been studied in 2,700 patients in nearly 40 countries, making it the largest Phase III clinical trial program to date to simultaneously evaluate CD and UC. GEMINI LTS is an ongoing, open-label, long-term safety study of vedolizumab and is designed to collect data on the occurrence of important clinical safety events resulting from the administration of vedolizumab.</span></div>
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<em><span style="background-color: black; color: #fce5cd;">—Based on a press release from Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Ltd.</span></em></div>
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<em><b><u><span style="background-color: black; color: #fce5cd; font-size: large;">Clinical Trial - PUBMED.gov</span></u></b></em></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #fce5cd;"> <span role="menubar" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 0.8465em; line-height: 1.45em;"><a abstractlink="yes" alsec="jour" alterm="N Engl J Med." aria-expanded="false" aria-haspopup="true" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=23964932#" role="menuitem" style="border-bottom-width: 0px;" title="The New England journal of medicine.">N Engl J Med.</a></span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 0.8465em; line-height: 1.45em;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 0.8465em; line-height: 1.45em;">2013 Aug 22;369(8):699-710. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1215734.</span></span><br />
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Vedolizumab as induction and maintenance therapy for ulcerative colitis.</span></h1>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #fce5cd;"><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=Feagan%20BG%5BAuthor%5D&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=23964932" style="border-bottom-width: 0px;">Feagan BG</a>, <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=Rutgeerts%20P%5BAuthor%5D&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=23964932" style="border-bottom-width: 0px;">Rutgeerts P</a>, <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=Sands%20BE%5BAuthor%5D&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=23964932" style="border-bottom-width: 0px;">Sands BE</a>, <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=Hanauer%20S%5BAuthor%5D&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=23964932" style="border-bottom-width: 0px;">Hanauer S</a>, <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=Colombel%20JF%5BAuthor%5D&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=23964932" style="border-bottom-width: 0px;">Colombel JF</a>, <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=Sandborn%20WJ%5BAuthor%5D&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=23964932" style="border-bottom-width: 0px;">Sandborn WJ</a>, <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=Van%20Assche%20G%5BAuthor%5D&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=23964932" style="border-bottom-width: 0px;">Van Assche G</a>, <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=Axler%20J%5BAuthor%5D&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=23964932" style="border-bottom-width: 0px;">Axler J</a>, <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=Kim%20HJ%5BAuthor%5D&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=23964932" style="border-bottom-width: 0px;">Kim HJ</a>, <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=Danese%20S%5BAuthor%5D&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=23964932" style="border-bottom-width: 0px;">Danese S</a>, <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=Fox%20I%5BAuthor%5D&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=23964932" style="border-bottom-width: 0px;">Fox I</a>, <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=Milch%20C%5BAuthor%5D&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=23964932" style="border-bottom-width: 0px;">Milch C</a>, <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=Sankoh%20S%5BAuthor%5D&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=23964932" style="border-bottom-width: 0px;">Sankoh S</a>, <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=Wyant%20T%5BAuthor%5D&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=23964932" style="border-bottom-width: 0px;">Wyant T</a>, <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=Xu%20J%5BAuthor%5D&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=23964932" style="border-bottom-width: 0px;">Xu J</a>, <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=Parikh%20A%5BAuthor%5D&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=23964932" style="border-bottom-width: 0px;">Parikh A</a>; <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=GEMINI%201%20Study%20Group%5BCorporate%20Author%5D" style="border-bottom-width: 0px;">GEMINI 1 Study Group</a>.</span></div>
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<a aria-disabled="false" aria-expanded="false" class="jig-ncbitoggler ui-widget ui-ncbitoggler" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=23964932#" role="button" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; display: block; font-family: arial, sans-serif !important; font-size: 12px; padding-left: 0px; position: relative; text-decoration: none !important;" title="Open/close investigator list"><span class="ui-ncbitoggler-master-text" style="background-color: black; color: #fce5cd;">Collaborators (225)</span><span class="ui-icon ui-icon-triangle-1-e" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-image: url(http://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/3923503/img/3816834); background-position: -3px -3px; background-repeat: repeat repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); display: inline; height: 16px; left: auto; margin-top: -8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 5px; position: absolute; right: 0px; text-indent: -99999px; width: 16px;"></span></a></h3>
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Source</span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #fce5cd;">Robarts Clinical Trials, Robarts Research Institute, and Department of Medicine, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada. bfeagan@robarts.ca</span></div>
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Abstract</span></h3>
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BACKGROUND:</span></h4>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #fce5cd;">Gut-selective blockade of lymphocyte trafficking by vedolizumab may constitute effective treatment for ulcerative colitis.</span></div>
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METHODS:</span></h4>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #fce5cd;">We conducted two integrated randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials of vedolizumab in patients with active disease. In the trial of induction therapy, 374 patients (cohort 1) received vedolizumab (at a dose of 300 mg) or placebo intravenously at weeks 0 and 2, and 521 patients (cohort 2) received open-label vedolizumab at weeks 0 and 2, with disease evaluation at week 6. In the trial of maintenance therapy, patients in either cohort who had a response to vedolizumab at week 6 were randomly assigned to continue receiving vedolizumab every 8 or 4 weeks or to switch to placebo for up to 52 weeks. A response was defined as a reduction in the Mayo Clinic score (range, 0 to 12, with higher scores indicating more active disease) of at least 3 points and a decrease of at least 30% from baseline, with an accompanying decrease in the rectal bleeding subscore of at least 1 point or an absolute rectal bleeding subscore of 0 or 1.</span></div>
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RESULTS:</span></h4>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #fce5cd;">Response rates at week 6 were 47.1% and 25.5% among patients in the vedolizumab group and placebo group, respectively (difference with adjustment for stratification factors, 21.7 percentage points; 95% confidence interval [CI], 11.6 to 31.7; P<0 .001="" 41.8="" 44.8="" 4="" 52="" 8="" and="" at="" ayo="" clinic="" clinical="" continued="" every="" in="" no="" of="" patients="" receive="" remission="" score="" subscore="" to="" vedolizumab="" week="" weeks="" were="" who="">1), as compared with 15.9% of patients who switched to placebo (adjusted difference, 26.1 percentage points for vedolizumab every 8 weeks vs. placebo [95% CI, 14.9 to 37.2; P<0 .001="" 17.9="" 29.1="" 40.4="" 4="" adverse="" and="" ci="" events="" every="" for="" frequency="" groups.="" in="" of="" p="" percentage="" placebo="" points="" similar="" the="" to="" vedolizumab="" vs.="" was="" weeks=""></0></0></span><br />
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CONCLUSIONS:</span></h4>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #fce5cd;">Vedolizumab was more effective than placebo as induction and maintenance therapy for ulcerative colitis. (Funded by Millennium Pharmaceuticals; GEMINI 1 ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00783718.).</span></div>
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Comment in</span></h3>
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<li class="comments" style="display: block;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #fce5cd;"><a aria-expanded="false" aria-haspopup="true" class="jig-ncbipopper" data-jigconfig="destSelector: '#commentpop23964940_1', isTriggerElementCloseClick: false, destPosition: 'top center', triggerPosition: 'bottom center', hasArrow: true, arrowDirection: 'top', width: '30em'" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23964940" ref="ncbi_uid=23964932&link_uid=23964940&commcorr_type=commentin" role="button" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Inhibition of leukocyte trafficking in inflammatory bowel disease.</a><span class="source" style="padding-left: 0.3em;"> [N Engl J Med. 2013]</span></span></li>
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<dd style="display: inline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: nowrap;"><span class="highlight">23964932</span></dd> <dd style="display: inline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: nowrap;">[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]</dd></span></dl>
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<b><span style="background-color: black; color: #fce5cd;">http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=23964932</span></b></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14915634441723395075noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6511783416021231187.post-60561481548030773942013-09-23T17:26:00.001-04:002013-09-23T17:26:37.593-04:00NEW TREATMENT OPTION - SIMPONI® Receives Approval in UK for the Treatment of Ulcerative Colitis/ #UC<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">I just read that today Simponi was approved for the treatment of ulcerative colitis in the UK. This may be a successful treatment option for people that have not been able to obtain remission with mainstream treatments for the disease. Some people, like myself, have tried them all with no improvement. It's very frustrating to hit that wall and run out of effective treatments..... actually, <b>safe</b> effective treatments. If you just can't seem to get the inflammation and toll taking symptoms under control and you've taken into consideration the risks vs. the benefits, some people may find relief with this new drug. This particular article does include the potential health risks from TNF-blocking therapies, toward the end of the article. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">If you are considering Simponi (or any immunesuppressing drug), please know everything about it before agreeing to the treatment. Everyone should know what the risks are versus the benefits before beginning any kind of treatment like this. Your doctor will not tell you everything about these drugs and from personal experience, most doctors down play the risks and don't even look at family history/genetics when deciding if these treatments are appropriate. It's disturbing when you know that the information you completed for your file, (providing family history) and screams *HIGH RISK*, and the doctor recommends the treatment anyway. Sadly, it's probably because the doctor didn't even scan over this little piece of information that says a lot. Another reason is because TNF-blocking therapies have become the conventional prescribing treatments for IBD now, despite their high side-effect profile. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">Personally, I would never consider being treated with an immune suppressing drug of this potency because of the numerous possible health problems that could result. It's not worth it to me to put my entire body at risk of developing something life altering (conditions worse than what I'm treating) with the awareness that there are life changes that I can make that will encourage healing and repair of my digestive tract. It takes determination to make the changes that are necessary and it takes longer to heal, but in my opinion, it's my overall health that I care about. You will get there, I did.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">Most doctors will say that diet is not a big contributor to IBD however, it infact makes a huge difference in respects to your success with reaching remission. What foods you choose to eat WILL affect your health negatively or positively, it's a decision that you can control that will have a significance on your overall quality of life. If you struggle with diet and need some guidance, send me an email. Years ago I was clueless about what to eat and what not to eat. I was blessed to have connected with a few very knowledgeable people that helped me in the area of diet. I'm always willing to help people that need some support and suggestions, so feel free to contact me if you need some support. </span></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;"><a href="http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/simponi-receives-european-commission-approval-for-treatment-of-moderately-to-severely-active-ulcerative-colitis-224821222.html">PR Newswire UK: SIMPONI® Receives European Commission Approval for Treatment of Moderately to Severely... -- LEIDEN, The Netherlands, Sept. 23, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --</a>: </span></b></div>
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<i><span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">-- First and Only Subcutaneous Biologic Treatment Administered Every Four Weeks Approved for Ulcerative Colitis</span></i><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">LEIDEN, <span class="xn-location">The Netherlands</span>, <span class="xn-chron">Sept. 23, 2013</span> /PRNewswire/ -- Janssen Biologics B.V. ("Janssen") announced today that the European Commission has approved SIMPONI® (golimumab) for the treatment of moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis (UC) in adult patients who have had an inadequate response to conventional therapy including corticosteroids and 6-mercaptopurine (6-MP) or azathioprine (AZA), or who are intolerant to or have medical contraindications for such therapies. The European Commission approval follows a positive opinion by the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in <span class="xn-chron">July 2013</span> recommending the use of SIMPONI. UC, a chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) affecting 1.1 million individuals in <span class="xn-location">Europe</span><sup>[1] </sup>and 2.5 million people worldwide,<sup>[2] </sup>is marked by inflammation and ulceration of the colonic mucosa, which may lead to bloody stools, severe diarrhea and frequent abdominal pain.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">"The European Commission approval of SIMPONI for the treatment of moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis is an important milestone for patients and the gastroenterology community," said <span class="xn-person">Jerome A. Boscia</span>, M.D., Vice President, Head of Immunology Development, Janssen Research & Development, LLC. "SIMPONI demonstrated efficacy across multiple disease parameters in the study of this devastating inflammatory bowel disease according to the PURSUIT clinical development program, which represents the largest conducted for an anti–tumor necrosis factor-alpha therapy in the treatment of ulcerative colitis."</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">SIMPONI is the first and only subcutaneous anti–tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha treatment administered as an every-4-week maintenance therapy for UC. For patients with a body weight less than 80 kg, SIMPONI is given subcutaneously as an initial dose of 200 mg, followed by 100 mg at week 2 and then 50 mg every 4 weeks thereafter. For patients with a body weight greater than or equal to 80 kg, SIMPONI is given as an initial dose of 200 mg, followed by 100 mg at week 2 and then 100 mg every 4 weeks thereafter. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">Data from the clinical development Program of Ulcerative Colitis Research Studies Utilizing an Investigational Treatment (PURSUIT), which served as the basis for European Commission approval, showed that induction treatment with SIMPONI induced clinical response, clinical remission, mucosal healing and improved quality of life as measured by the inflammatory bowel disease questionnaire (IBDQ) in patients with moderately to severely active UC. Further, per the European Commission–approved Summary of Product Characteristics, maintenance therapy with SIMPONI maintained clinical response through week 54. In addition, in patients who had initially responded to induction therapy with SIMPONI, more SIMPONI-treated patients demonstrated sustained clinical remission and mucosal healing at weeks 30 and 54 compared with patients in the placebo group.<sup>[3]</sup></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;"><b><u>About PURSUIT</u></b>The Program of Ulcerative Colitis Research Studies Utilizing an Investigational Treatment (PURSUIT) included Phase 3 multicenter, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of subcutaneous induction and every-4-week maintenance regimens of SIMPONI in adults with moderately to severely active UC. All trial patients had failed to respond to or tolerate treatment with 6-MP, AZA, corticosteroids and/or 5-aminosalicylate (5-ASA), or were corticosteroid dependent. Study participants were naive to treatment with TNF inhibitors and had a baseline Mayo score between 6 and 12 and an endoscopic subscore of 2 or more. The Mayo score is a 12-point clinical assessment and colonoscopy-based measure of disease activity, which assesses improvement in symptoms based on rectal bleeding, endoscopic findings, stool frequency and a physician's global assessment.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">The induction trial (PURSUIT-SC) had an adaptive design with a Phase 2 dose-finding portion, followed by a Phase 3 dose-confirming component. The primary endpoint was clinical response at week 6. Secondary endpoints at week 6 included clinical remission and mucosal healing (Mayo endoscopy score of 0 or 1). Overall, 1,065 patients were treated in the study; 761 of these patients were randomised into the Phase 3 component of the study.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">Patients responding to induction treatment with SIMPONI were eligible to be randomised in the Phase 3 PURSUIT-Maintenance study. The primary endpoint in this study was maintenance of clinical response through week 54, and secondary endpoints included clinical remission and mucosal healing (Mayo endoscopy score of 0 or 1 at both weeks 30 and 54).</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">The safety results of SIMPONI observed in the PURSUIT studies were consistent with the known safety profile of SIMPONI in labeled rheumatologic indications. For more information regarding the safety profile for SIMPONI, please see "Important Safety Information" below.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;"><b><u>About Ulcerative Colitis </u></b>Ulcerative colitis (UC), a chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) affecting 1.1 million individuals in <span class="xn-location">Europe</span><sup>[1] </sup>and 2.5 million worldwide,<sup>[2]</sup> is marked by the inflammation and ulceration of the colonic mucosa, or innermost lining, which may lead to bloody stools, severe diarrhea and frequent abdominal pain.<sup>[4]</sup> Tiny open sores, or ulcers, form on the surface of the lining, where they bleed and produce pus and mucus.<sup>[4]</sup> Symptoms of the disease may lead to loss of appetite, subsequent weight loss and fatigue.<sup>[4]</sup> On average, people are diagnosed with UC in their mid-30s, but the disease can occur at any age.<sup>[4]</sup><sup><sup> </sup></sup>As many as 30 percent of people living with UC will require surgery at some point in their life.<sup>[5]</sup> UC is a chronic disease, and there is no cure. Although progress has been made in IBD research, researchers do not know what causes this disease.<sup>[4]</sup> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;"><b><u>About SIMPONI® (golimumab)</u></b>SIMPONI is a human monoclonal antibody that targets and neutralises excess tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, a protein that when overproduced in the body due to chronic inflammatory diseases can cause inflammation and damage to bones, cartilage and tissue. SIMPONI is approved in 70 countries for rheumatologic indications, including the European Union (EU), where SIMPONI received European Commission approval in <span class="xn-chron">October 2009</span> for the treatment of moderate-to-severe, active rheumatoid arthritis in combination with methotrexate, for the treatment of active and progressive psoriatic arthritis alone or in combination with methotrexate and for the treatment of severe, active ankylosing spondylitis. In <span class="xn-chron">September 2013</span>, SIMPONI received European Commission approval for the treatment of moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis. SIMPONI is available either through the SmartJect® autoinjector/prefilled pen or a prefilled syringe as a subcutaneously administered injection. For more information about SIMPONI in the EU, visit <a href="http://www.simponi.eu/" rel="nofollow" style="margin: 0px; outline: none; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">www.SIMPONI.eu</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">Janssen Biotech, Inc. discovered and developed SIMPONI and markets the product in the United States. The Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies market SIMPONI<sup> </sup>in <span class="xn-location">Canada</span>, Central and <span class="xn-location">South America</span>, the <span class="xn-location">Middle East</span>, <span class="xn-location">Africa</span> and Asia Pacific. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">In <span class="xn-location">Europe</span>, <span class="xn-location">Russia</span> and <span class="xn-location">Turkey</span>, Janssen Biotech, Inc. licenses distribution rights to SIMPONI to Schering-Plough (<span class="xn-location">Ireland</span>) Company, a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">In <span class="xn-location">Japan</span>, <span class="xn-location">Indonesia</span> and <span class="xn-location">Taiwan</span>, Janssen Biotech, Inc. licenses distribution rights to SIMPONI to Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation and has retained co-marketing rights in those countries. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">For further information about SIMPONI, please consult the relevant official product information applicable to that country location.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;"><b><u>Important Safety Information </u></b>In the European Union, SIMPONI is contraindicated in patients with active tuberculosis, severe infections such as sepsis, opportunistic infections, in patients with moderate or severe heart failure (NYHA Class III/IV), as well as in patients who are hypersensitive to SIMPONI or any of its excipients. Serious infections, including sepsis, pneumonia, tuberculosis (TB), invasive fungal and other opportunistic infections have been observed with the use of TNF antagonists including SIMPONI. Some of these infections have been fatal. SIMPONI should not be given to patients with a clinically important, active infection. Caution should be exercised when considering the use of SIMPONI in patients with a chronic infection or a history of recurrent infection. Patients must be monitored closely for infections including TB before, during and after treatment with SIMPONI. If a patient develops a new serious infection or sepsis, SIMPONI therapy should be discontinued and appropriate antimicrobial therapy should be initiated until the infection is controlled. Patients should be advised of, and avoid exposure to, potential risk factors for infection as appropriate. For patients who have resided in or traveled to regions where invasive fungal infections such as histoplasmosis, coccidioidomycosis, or blastomycosis are endemic, the benefits and risks of SIMPONI treatment should be carefully considered before initiation of SIMPONI therapy. All patients must be evaluated for the risk of TB, including latent TB, prior to initiation of SIMPONI. If active TB is diagnosed, SIMPONI must not be initiated. If latent TB is suspected or diagnosed then the benefit/risk balance of SIMPONI treatment should be considered. Treatment of latent tuberculosis infection should be initiated prior to therapy with SIMPONI. Antituberculosis therapy prior to initiating SIMPONI should also be considered in patients who have several or highly significant risk factors for tuberculosis infection and have a negative test for latent tuberculosis. Patients receiving SIMPONI should be monitored closely for signs and symptoms of active tuberculosis during and after treatment, including patients who tested negative for latent tuberculosis infections. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">The use of TNF blocking agents including SIMPONI has been associated with reactivation of hepatitis B virus (HBV) in patients who are chronic carriers of the virus. Some of these cases have been fatal. Patients should be tested for HBV infection before initiating treatment with Simponi. Carriers of HBV who require treatment with Simponi should be closely monitored during treatment with, and for several months following discontinuation of SIMPONI. In patients who develop HBV reactivation, SIMPONI should be discontinued.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">Lymphomas and leukemia have been observed in patients treated with TNF blocking agents, including SIMPONI. The incidence of non-lymphoma malignancies was similar to controls, and lymphoma is seen more often than in the general population. The potential role of TNF-blocking therapy in the development of malignancies is not known. Based on an exploratory clinical trial in patients with COPD using another anti-TNF agent, caution should be exercised when using any TNF-blocking therapy in COPD patients, as well as in patients with an increased risk for malignancy due to heavy smoking. Rare post-marketing cases of hepatosplenic T-cell lymphoma (HSTCL) have been reported in patients treated with other TNF-blocking agents. This rare type of T-cell lymphoma has a very aggressive disease course and is usually fatal. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">Malignancies, some fatal, have been reported among children, adolescents and young adults (up to 22 years of age) treated with TNF-blocking agents (initiation of therapy ≤ 18 years of age) in the post marketing setting. A risk for the development of malignancies in children and adolescents treated with TNF-blockers cannot be excluded.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">It is not known if SIMPONI treatment influences the risk for developing dysplasia or colon cancer. All patients with ulcerative colitis who are at increased risk for dysplasia or colon carcinoma, or who had a prior history of dysplasia or colon carcinoma should be screened for dysplasia at regular intervals before therapy and throughout their disease course.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">Melanoma has been reported in patients treated with TNF-blocking agents, including Simponi. Periodic skin examination is recommended, particularly for patients with risk factors for skin cancer.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">Worsening and new onset congestive heart failure (CHF) and increased mortality due to CHF have been reported with another TNF blocker. SIMPONI has not been studied in patients with CHF. SIMPONI should be used with caution in patients with mild heart failure and must be discontinued if new or worsening symptoms of heart failure appear. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">TNF-blocking agents, including SIMPONI, have been associated in rare cases with new onset or exacerbation of demyelinating disorders, including multiple sclerosis. The benefits and risks of anti-TNF treatment should be carefully considered before initiation of SIMPONI therapy in patients with pre-existing or recent onset of demyelinating disorders. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">There is limited safety experience of SIMPONI treatment in patients who have undergone surgical procedures, including arthroplasty. A patient who requires surgery while on SIMPONI should be closely monitored for infections, and appropriate actions should be taken. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">The possibility exists for TNF-blocking agents, including SIMPONI, to affect host defenses against infections and malignancies. Treatment with SIMPONI may result in the formation of auto-antibodies and, rarely, in the development of a lupus-like syndrome. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">There have been postmarketing reports of pancytopenia, leukopenia, neutropenia, aplastic anemia, and thrombocytopenia in patients receiving TNF blockers. Cytopenias including pancytopenia, have been infrequently reported with SIMPONI in clinical trials. Discontinuation of SIMPONI should be considered in patients with significant hematologic abnormalities. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">The concurrent administration of TNF-antagonists with anakinra or abatacept is not recommended. Concurrent administration has been associated with increased infections, including serious infections without increased clinical benefit. The concomitant use of Simponi with other biological therapeutics used to treat the same conditions as Simponi is not recommended because of the possibility of an increased risk of infection, and other potential pharmacological interactions. Patients should continue to be monitored when switching from one biologic to another.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">Patients treated with SIMPONI may receive concurrent vaccinations, except for live vaccines. In postmarketing experience, serious systemic hypersensitivity reactions have been reported following Simponi administration. Allergic reactions may occur after first or subsequent administration of SIMPONI. If an anaphylactic reaction or other serious allergic reactions occur, administration of SIMPONI should be discontinued immediately and appropriate therapy initiated. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">The needle cover on the syringe in the pre-filled pen is manufactured from dry natural rubber containing latex, and may cause allergic reactions in individuals sensitive to latex. SIMPONI also contains sorbitol; patients with rare hereditary problems of fructose intolerance should not take SIMPONI. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">Patients should be given detailed instructions on how to administer SIMPONI. After proper training, patients may self inject if their physician determines that this is appropriate. The full amount of SIMPONI should be administered at all times. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">Women of childbearing potential must use adequate contraception to prevent pregnancy and continue its use for at least 6 months after the last SIMPONI treatment. Women must not breast feed during and for at least 6 months after SIMPONI treatment.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">The most common adverse drug reaction reported in the controlled portion from clinical trials was upper respiratory tract infection (12.6 percent of SIMPONI-treated patients compared with 10.7 percent in control-treated patients). In the controlled periods of pivotal trials, 5.1 percent of SIMPONI-treated patients had injection site reactions compared with 2.0 percent in control-treated patients. The majority of the injection site reactions were mild and moderate, and the most frequent manifestation was injection site erythema.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">The SIMPONI Patient Alert Card provides safety information to the patient. It should be given and explained to all patients before treatment. Patients must show the Alert Card to any doctor involved in his/her treatment, during and up to 6 months after SIMPONI treatment.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">For complete EU prescribing information, please visit <a href="http://www.ema.europa.eu/" rel="nofollow" style="margin: 0px; outline: none; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">www.ema.europa.eu</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;"><b><u>About Janssen Biologics B.V. and Janssen Research & Development, LLC</u></b>At Janssen, we are dedicated to addressing and solving some of the most important unmet medical needs of our time in oncology, immunology, neuroscience, infectious diseases and vaccines, and cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. Driven by our commitment to patients, we develop innovative products, services and healthcare solutions to help people with serious diseases throughout the world. Beyond its innovative medicines, Janssen is at the forefront of developing education and public policy initiatives to ensure patients and their families, caregivers, advocates and healthcare professionals have access to the latest treatment information, support services and quality care.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">Janssen Biologics B.V. and Janssen Research & Development, LLC are two of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson. Please visit <a href="http://www.janssen.com/" rel="nofollow" style="margin: 0px; outline: none; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">www.janssen.com</a> for more information.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">References:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">[1] European Federation of Crohn's and Ulcerative Colitis Associations. What is IBD? <a href="http://www.efcca.org/index.php/about-efcca/what-are-ibd" rel="nofollow" style="margin: 0px; outline: none; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://www.efcca.org/index.php/about-efcca/what-are-ibd</a>. Accessed <span class="xn-chron">August 14, 2013</span>.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">[2] World IBD Day. About us. <a href="http://worldibdday.org/aboutus.html" rel="nofollow" style="margin: 0px; outline: none; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://worldibdday.org/aboutus.html</a>. Accessed <span class="xn-chron">August 6, 2013</span>.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">[3] SIMPONI [Summary of Product Characteristics]. Leiden, <span class="xn-location">The Netherlands</span>: Janssen Biologics B.V.; <span class="xn-chron">September 2013</span>.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">[4] Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America. What is ulcerative colitis? <a href="http://www.ccfa.org/what-are-crohns-and-colitis/what-is-ulcerative-colitis" rel="nofollow" style="margin: 0px; outline: none; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://www.ccfa.org/what-are-crohns-and-colitis/what-is-ulcerative-colitis</a>. Accessed <span class="xn-chron">August 6</span>, 2013. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">[5] Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America. Colitis treatment options. <a href="http://www.ccfa.org/what-are-crohns-and-colitis/what-is-ulcerative-colitis/colitis-treatment-options.html" rel="nofollow" style="margin: 0px; outline: none; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">http://www.ccfa.org/what-are-crohns-and-colitis/what-is-ulcerative-colitis/colitis-treatment-options.html</a>. Accessed <span class="xn-chron">August 6, 2013</span>.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3;">SOURCE Janssen Biologics B.V.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #cfe2f3; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.984375px;">http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/simponi-receives-european-commission-approval-for-treatment-of-moderately-to-severely-active-ulcerative-colitis-224821222.html</span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14915634441723395075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6511783416021231187.post-35614351827467322452013-08-11T14:03:00.002-04:002013-08-11T14:03:27.874-04:00Co-pay Assistance Programs List | UCERIS & Other Prescriptions<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b><span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc;">When I first heard of Uceris, it reminded me of the drug Entocort. Both treatments are very similar - same active ingredient and both are time-released. The only difference is that Uceris is released in the colon vs Entocort, which is released in the small intestine. That explains why Entocort wasn't effective when I tried it years ago. Most of my inflammation at that time was located in the large intestine and part of the small intestine (terminal ileum - the last area of the small intestine connecting to the large intestine). </span></b><br />
<b><span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc;">People with Ulcerative Colitis experience inflammation specific to the large intestine/colon. </span></b><br />
<b><span style="background-color: black; color: #cccccc;">Hopefully this medication will help with healing the lowest part of my colon - the most difficult area to heal from what I have read. Maybe this could be an option that some of you may want to try as a safer treatment option . </span></b><br />
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<li><i><b><span style="background-color: black; color: #d0e0e3; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">IMPORTANT NOTE TO MENTION - This form of steroid does not produce the horrible side-effects that come with oral prednisone (aka - satans tic-tacs). We all know what those side effects are if we have ever taken prednisone. Due to the time-release of the drug at it's target location, very little of the medication is released into the bloodstream. This is a very good thing!! </span></b></i></li>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #f3f3f3; font-size: large;">What it says about Uceris @ <a href="http://www.uceris.com/">www.uceris.com</a></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #f3f3f3;">About UCERIS</span></h1>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">UCERIS (u-SAIR-us) is a medicine used to treat active, mild to moderate <a href="http://www.uceris.com/patient/what-is-ulcerative-colitis.asp" style="border: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">ulcerative colitis (UC)</a>. It's for people experiencing UC symptoms or a flare-up who are trying to reach remission, a period of time without symptoms.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">UCERIS is a different kind of steroid designed specifically to treat UC. It decreases inflammation throughout the colon with a targeted delivery of medicine throughout the full length of the colon, where the disease is located.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;">Because of the way UCERIS is absorbed and processed in the body, most of it does not enter the bloodstream, and therefore it has a safety profile similar to placebo (sugar pill). UCERIS also helps heal the lining of the colon. UCERIS decreases the severity of inflammation in the colon, thereby helping to eliminate UC symptoms.</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.5em;">UCERIS is a single pill taken once a day by mouth for up to 8 weeks. Additional 8-week courses can be given for patients whose UC remains active.</span><b> </b></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #eeeeee;">What happens after taking UCERIS? Unlike typical steroids, which act on the whole body, UCERIS targets the area where the disease is located. The medicine travels through the digestive system and stays intact until it reaches the colon. Once it dissolves, UCERIS forms a type of gel and slowly releases medicine to the full length of the colon.</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3e3e3e;"><img alt="How UCERIS Works" border="0" height="69" src="http://www.uceris.com/patient/img/page/how-uceris-works.png" style="border: none; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: center;" width="635" /></span></div>
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<b style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #eeeeee;">Ok, so I just filled my prescription of Uceris and it's a pretty expensive drug for the time being (too new for a generic form to be available). People with GI conditions and autoimmune disorders spend a lot of money on maintaining their health, from doctor co-pays to specialty food to the various medications one must take. The monthly cost of this disease can be devastating. I wanted to share the different savings offers that are available for qualified individuals. </span></b></div>
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<li><b><u style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #eeeeee;">Here is the list - Please note: I have not checked SCBN.org or goodrx.com about the offers. I just did the searching and posting for you. Offers status at this time on specific drug is unknown, as i didn't read each sites qualifying info andterms of offer.</span></u></b></li>
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<span style="color: #d0e0e3;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.uceris.com/patient/savings.asp#s2">$25 Co-pay Program | UCERIS (budesonide) Extended Release Tablets</a></span></b>: - <b>Manufacturer offer*</b></span></span><br />
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<a href="http://medicinecoupons.net/Medicine-UCERIS-coupon" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #d0e0e3;">http://medicinecoupons.net/Medicine-UCERIS-coupon</span></a><br />
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #d0e0e3;"><a href="http://draft.blogger.com/"><span id="goog_1928816771"></span>http://www.internetdrugcoupons.com/Uceris-Coupon <span id="goog_1928816772"></span></a><b>*This site gives people with no drug coverage an option to save. The manufacturer does not have an offer for cash paying individuals (I have no idea why. Makes no sense when these would be the people that would need the most help paying for medication).</b></span></span><br />
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<b><a href="http://www.goodrx.com/uceris" style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #d0e0e3;">http://www.goodrx.com/uceris</span></a></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #d0e0e3;"><b><a href="https://www.pparx.org/">https://www.pparx.org/</a> </b><span style="line-height: 16.15625px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>The Partnership for Prescription Assistance helps qualifying patients without prescription drug coverage get the medicines they need through the program that is right for them. Many will get their medications free or nearly free.</b></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #d0e0e3;"><span style="line-height: 16.15625px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><a href="http://www.needymeds.org/" target="_blank">http://www.needymeds.org/</a> </b></span></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;">NeedyMeds is a 501(c)(3) non-profit information resource devoted to helping people in need find assistance programs to help them afford their medications and costs related to health care.</span><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;"> </span></b></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #d0e0e3; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><span style="background-color: black; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;"><a href="http://healthfinder.gov/FindServices/SearchContext.aspx?topic=696" target="_blank">http://healthfinder.gov/FindServices/SearchContext.aspx?topic=696</a> US Dept of Health Resource Page</span></b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #d0e0e3; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 14px;"><span style="background-color: black;"><a href="http://www.scbn.org/" target="_blank">http://www.scbn.org/</a> </span></span></b></span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14915634441723395075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6511783416021231187.post-60696780780012734012013-07-24T12:52:00.001-04:002013-07-24T12:52:44.519-04:00Another Study Reveals Benefits of Medicinal Marijuana -Crohn's Remission<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #cfe2f3;">I have read dozens of articles, studies, reports, etc. that read similar to this article! How many more studies are necessary for people to realize pot is not harmful and isn't going to kill anyone? It's actually almost funny that this herb is still looked at as a dangerous drug. It's a plant... and it's shown to provide more benefits than harm. The research always results in a significant benefit when studies are conducted. I don't ever remember reading anything negative about marijuana, or it causing serious problems for the people that smoke it. We would definitely know by now if weed were harmful. Even if there were terrible outcomes from smoking pot, we do not hear these reports because of all the legality issues surrounding the word "marijuana". It's ridiculous that the plant is still illegal and considered harmful here in the US! Wake Up America!</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #cfe2f3;">Eventually, pot will be legal in all US states, but it's going to take a long time for all of them to adopt legislation (NY will probably be one of the last states to legalize it). Turtle pace.... because that's how the US of A rolls. Nice and s loooooooooooowwww. </span></span></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: black; color: #d9ead3; font-size: large;"><a href="http://m.latintimes.com/articles/6487/20130718/medical-marijuana-causes-complete-remission-crohns-disease.htm">Medical Marijuana Causes 'Complete Remission' In Crohn's Disease Patients Without Side Effects, Study Finds : Latin Times</a>: </span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #fff2cc; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Crohn's Disease has long been a fickle illness that requires meticulous attention to treat and live with. Researchers at the Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Meir Medical Center in Israel, however, <a href="http://www.medicaldaily.com/articles/17529/20130718/medical-marijuana-crohns-disease-remission-anti-inflammatory-drug-inflammatory-bowel-disease.htm" rel="nofollow" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">may have found relief for patients</a> of the disease in medical marijuana. <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23648372" rel="nofollow" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The study</a> split 21 patients who received a high Crohn's disease activity index and were not responding to other treatments into two groups. One group was given a joint to smoke twice a day while the other group were given placebos lacking cannabinoids for the duration of eight weeks.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #fff2cc; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The study found complete remission for 45 percent of the group that smoked cannabis, or 5 out of 11 patients, as compared to the control group, which only experienced a 1 in 10 remission rate, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/05/21/cannabis-treatment-inflammatory-bowel-disease-crohns_n_3311278.html" rel="nofollow" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">the Huffington Post reported</a>. It is speculated that cannabinoids with their anti-inflammatory properties are likely the cause of relief for the disease, which causes inflamation of the bowels. This inflammation can lead to extreme discomfort, diarhrea that may contain blood, weight loss, vomiting, rashes, inflammation of other parts of the body and tiredness among other symptoms, <a href="http://blog.sfgate.com/smellthetruth/2013/05/14/smoking-marijuana-cured-crohns-disease-with-no-side-effects-new-study-shows/" rel="nofollow" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">SF Gate reported</a>. Others in the cannabis group reported lessened strength in their usual symptoms without the side effects caused by steroids often used to treat the illness.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #fff2cc; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>"THC-rich cannabis produced significant clinical, steroid-free benefits to 11 patients with active Crohn's disease, compared with placebo, without side effects,"</b> the researchers wrote in the study. "Subjects receiving cannabis reported improved appetite and sleep, with no significant side effects."</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #fff2cc; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The study, the authors conceded, was not a complete success as it was hypothesized that induced remission would occur for all or most of the patients. Still, researchers say that the relative success of this study is worth noting. The results have indeed produced a need for further investigation, the study says.</span></div>
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<ins style="border: none; display: inline-table; height: 50px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; visibility: visible; width: 320px;"><ins id="aswift_1_anchor" style="border: none; display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; visibility: visible; width: 320px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #fff2cc; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="50" hspace="0" id="aswift_1" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" name="aswift_1" scrolling="no" style="left: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px;" vspace="0" width="320"></iframe><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">RELATED:</strong> <a href="http://m.latintimes.com/articles/4104/20130517/marijuana-diabetes-pot-smokers-skinnier-health-benefits.htm" rel="nofollow" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Marijuana Diabetes: Pot Smokers Have Lower Diabetes Risk; Are Pot Smokers Skinnier?</a> </span></ins></ins></center>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #fff2cc; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Crohn's disease is highly prevalent for whites, with 43.6 percent of every 100,000 being affected by the disease, <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1587413" rel="nofollow" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">one study by the Department of Family Medicine in San Bernardino, Calif. found</a>. Latinos, by contrast, have the lowest rate of the disease with only 4.1 percent in every group of 100,000 being affected. Latinos, especially immigrants to the U.S., however, have notably higher rates of ulcerative colitis than most whites, <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1587413" rel="nofollow" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">VOXXI reported</a>. A study in the American Journal of Gastroenterology, the urgency of treatment also contrasted non-Hispanics. Whites needed surgery at a much higher rate than Hispanics. Access to care may influence how often the disease is actually diagnosed, but researchers said that it does not explain the difference between U.S.-born and foreign-born Hispanics in terms of the prevalence of the disease.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #fff2cc; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"It is unclear what is responsible for this observation, but possibilities include changes in the environment with migration, diet and other factors related to acculturation," Daniel Sussman, assistant professor of clinical medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology, Jackson Memorial Hospital and University of Miami, said. "Our research did not measure the incidence or prevalence of IBD in Hispanics. Available population-based studies show that the incidence of IBD in some Latin American countries is higher than anticipated; this may be a result of the "westernization" of many Latin-American countries. As the Hispanic population continues to grow in the U.S., we expect that the number of Hispanic patients with IBD will also rise."</span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14915634441723395075noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6511783416021231187.post-46051869685371088732013-06-28T21:27:00.001-04:002013-07-30T05:33:25.097-04:00New Law -> Regulates Antibiotic Use On Farm Animals <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #d9d2e9;">The FDA should have taken action a long time ago with regulating the use of antibiotics for farm animals, especially the healthy animals that don't need them. Of course, everytime we eat non-organic meat (sometimes I even wonder about the quality of "organic" meat in the US) we are pretty much swallowing antibiotics and most people don't even recognize this or think about it... OR they just don't care. As the article says: </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #d9d2e9;"><b>"</b><span style="font-family: arial, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;"><b>The over-use of these antibiotics contributes to the development of so-called ’superbugs,’ or infections that cannot be treated with existing medicines.</b>" </span></span></blockquote>
<span style="background-color: black; color: #d9d2e9;">I recently read that C-Diff has now developed a strain being a superbug. When I read that <b>300 people a day die from C-diff... A DAY</b>, my jaw dropped. I thought the words after 300 would be something more like "people per month". That sounds about right in my opinion, but things have gotten out of control in this country. The use of drugs for everything and the medical field's lack of knowledge of NATURAL, more healthy ways of eradicating a pathogen/illness is now biting us in the ass. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #d9d2e9;"><b><span style="font-family: arial, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">"A recent study published in the medical journal,</span><span style="font-family: arial, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;"> </span><em style="font-family: arial, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">Clinical Infectious Diseases,</em><span style="font-family: arial, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">found that nearly 50 per cent of grocery store meat was contaminated with antibiotic resistant pathogens, according to the Senator. Approximately 25 per cent of this meat was contaminated with pathogens that were resistant to three or more type of antibiotics."</span></b> </span></blockquote>
<span style="background-color: black; color: #d9d2e9;">Mmmmm yummy! Makes you want to have a nice steak huh?! Yeah right... ORGANIC ONLY. The standards that certified organic follow should be the normal standards for all farms and all the food that is allowed into the grocery store for human consumption. That 50% of meat that is full of pathogens is not even fit for an animal to consume and people are eating it everyday. <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"> Y U C K! </span> </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #d9d2e9; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.thepigsite.com/swinenews/33580/new-law-introduced-to-safeguard-use-of-antibiotics-in-agriculture">New Law Introduced to Safeguard Use of Antibiotics in Agriculture - The Pig Site</a>: </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #d9d2e9;">New Law Introduced to Safeguard Use of Antibiotics in Agriculture</span></h2>
<span class="newsdate" style="font-size: 10px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #d9d2e9;">28 June 2013</span></span></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: black; color: #d9d2e9;">US - Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-California) has introduced legislation to combat antibiotic resistant superbugs that develop when antibiotics are misused in animal agriculture.</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #d9d2e9;">The Preventing Antibiotic Resistance Act of 2013 directs the Food and Drug Administration to prohibit the use of human antibiotics in the feed and water of healthy farm animals if they jeopardize human health.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #d9d2e9;">The bill requires drug companies and agriculture producers to demonstrate that antibiotics are used to treat clinically diagnosable diseases - not just to fatten livestock. The over-use of these antibiotics contributes to the development of so-called ’superbugs,’ or infections that cannot be treated with existing medicines.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #d9d2e9;">“Antibiotics are the closest thing to a ‘silver bullet’ in human medicine given their ability to wipe out a wide variety of bacterial infections, but we are in danger of losing this weapon in the fight against infectious diseases,” said Senator Feinstein. “When antibiotics are fed in low doses to animals, only the strongest, most resistant bacteria are left behind to reproduce. By the time these resistant pathogens make their way from the animals into our communities, the infections can be costly to treat or untreatable all together.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #d9d2e9;">A recent study published in the medical journal, <em>Clinical Infectious Diseases,</em> found that nearly 50 per cent of grocery store meat was contaminated with antibiotic resistant pathogens, according to the Senator. Approximately 25 per cent of this meat was contaminated with pathogens that were resistant to three or more type of antibiotics.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #d9d2e9;">“The irresponsible use of antibiotics is dangerous, and tens of thousands of people in the US die each year from antibiotic resistant infections,” Senator Feinstein added. “We must preserve the efficacy of these life-saving drugs by carefully restricting their overuse in our agriculture products.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #d9d2e9;">The <em>Preventing Antibiotic Resistance Act</em> of 2013:</span></div>
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<li style="padding: 2px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #d9d2e9;">directs the Food and Drug Administration to prohibit the use of antibiotics in ways that accelerate antibiotic resistance</span></li>
<li style="padding: 2px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #d9d2e9;">requires drug companies and producers to demonstrate they are using antibiotics to treat clinically diagnosable diseases—not just to fatten their livestock</span></li>
<li style="padding: 2px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #d9d2e9;">applies restrictions to only the limited number of antibiotics that are critical to human health. Any drug not used in human medicine is left untouched by this legislation, and</span></li>
<li style="padding: 2px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #d9d2e9;">preserves the ability of farmers to use all available antibiotics to treat sick animals. If a veterinarian identifies a sick animal, or a herd of animals that are likely to become sick, there are no restrictions on what drugs can be used.</span></li>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #d9d2e9;">More than 375 public, consumer and environmental health groups, including the American Medical Association, the American Public Health Association, and the Infectious Diseases Society of America, support the legislation.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #d9d2e9;">Senators Susan Collins (R-Maine), Jack Reed (D-Rhode Island), Maria Cantwell (D-Washington), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York) and Barbara Boxer (D-California) are co-sponsors of the legislation.</span></div>
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<em><span style="background-color: black; color: #d9d2e9;">ThePigSite News Desk</span></em></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14915634441723395075noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6511783416021231187.post-33471274199822974292013-05-30T18:03:00.002-04:002013-05-30T18:05:06.311-04:00Don't Eat The Sausage - Sick Pigs = Your Food. #PEDV Is Effecting The US #Pork Industry<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">So basically all the pork in our grocery stores is from pigs that have this swine PEDV. Yeah OKAYYYY!! Like we should really put diseased pork into our bodies.... sounds real healthy (sarcasm)! There is just something about this sentence below that sounds a loud effing horn that says .... THEY ARE IDIOTS...... DON'T LISTEN TO THEM... I REPEAT... DO NOT LISTEN TO THEM. I like how they begin the article with this too..</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #f4cccc; font-size: large;">"<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans; line-height: 22px;">The swine-only virus, the Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus (PEDV), poses no danger to humans or other animals, <b>and the meat from infected pigs is safe for people to eat</b>." - <i>F YOU!!! </i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans; line-height: 22px;">I would like to make a BLT for the person who said this and watch them eat it...Yummy BACON!!! Not just any old bacon... DISEASED BACONNNN!!</span></span></span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans;"><span style="line-height: 22px;"><span style="background-color: black; color: #f4cccc;">"Like everything else, we screw up from time to time," said Ronald L. Plain, professor of agricultural economics at University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri. "<b>We know so little about the transmittal of this virus. We can't be sure if it's happening because of something we're supposed to do right and didn't - or by some mechanism we don't know that we're supposed to do differently</b>." <b><i>This statement says a lot... they know so little about the virus. I don't think it's just a lack of knowledge on how it's spread, but a lack of knowledge about the in's & out's of the virus. It's never been a problem, so there's been no real research done on PEDV. So, with that said, how can they be certain that this virus poses no risk to humans? Just because someone eats some diseased meat and doesn't initially show signs of sickness, doesn't mean that the person will never be effected (years from now). It just can't be a good idea to eat diseased meat; any kind of meat.</i></b></span></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans; line-height: 22px;">"But the food shield is not impermeable. "If it becomes clear that this is not a novel way for to be transmitted, and that there had to be physical contact, that's going to be a major concern," said William Marler, a leading food-safety attorney. "It means that there was a failure in the system." <b>the system fails us all the time... that's not new news. They know nothing about this virus.</b></span> </span></span></li>
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<li><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;"> "<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans; line-height: 22px;">Initial reporting about the virus may have been delayed, say sources, because its symptoms can be confused with a more common malady, transmissible gastroenteritis (TGE)" <b>It's actually sad that there are all these animals that are sick and suffering and just loaded up with antibiotics to stay alive until they are slaughtered. It's just not right.</b></span></span></span></li>
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<li><span style="background-color: black; color: #f4cccc; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans; line-height: 22px;">"Also, states are not required to report cases of PEDV to the federal government, and farmers are not required to report to state veterinarians." <b>Why the hell not?? That's just not wise. Any sick animal(s) that will be going into the food supply should have to report these conditions. But wait... now that I think about it, the majority of farm animals are sick. There would be an overload of cases and not enough man power to investigate. I just answered my question</b></span></li>
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<b><span style="background-color: black; color: #f4cccc; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/28/us-swine-virus-insight-idUSBRE94R0VD20130528">Insight: Pork industry hunts for deadly pig virus | Reuters</a>: </span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">By P.J. Huffstutter</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;"><span class="location" style="font-weight: bold;">Chicago</span> | <span class="timestamp" style="margin: 0px;">Tue May 28, 2013 3:11pm EDT</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">(Reuters) - The sudden and widespread appearance of a swine virus deadly to young pigs - one never before seen in North America - is raising questions about the bio-security shield designed to protect the U.S. food supply.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">The swine-only virus, the Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus (PEDV), poses no danger to humans or other animals, and the meat from infected pigs is safe for people to eat.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">Though previously seen in parts of Asia and Europe, the virus now has spread into five leading hog-raising U.S. states. How it arrived in the United States remains a mystery.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">While the U.S. imports millions of pigs each year from Canada, it imports pigs from virtually no other country, and no Canadian cases of PEDV have been confirmed. Veterinarians and epidemiologists say pigs are infected through oral means, and that the virus is not airborne and does it not occur spontaneously in nature.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">In recent years, with the emergence of dangerous pathogens such as H1N1, also known as <span class="mandelbrot_refrag"><a class="mandelbrot_refrag" href="http://www.reuters.com/subjects/swine-flu?lc=int_mb_1001" style="cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">swine flu</a></span>, and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) or mad cow disease, the United States and other countries have sought to secure defenses both on the farm and at the national borders to protect against barnyard epidemics.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">"We're just trying to get a handle on what's happening," said Tom Burkgren, executive director of the American Association of Swine Veterinarians. "It's like drinking water out of a fire hose. We're getting hits from all over the place."</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">Overall numbers of confirmed cases and mortality rates are not yet available, though anecdotal evidence suggests there are devastating losses for farms that are hit.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">"If you've got it, it's bad," said Mark Greenwood, vice president of agri-business capital at AgStar Financial Services, who said none of his clients have been affected. "I spoke to a farmer in the Midwest who had it show up in a 2,000-head barn of pigs, and had a 40 percent death loss."</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">A spokeswoman for U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service told Reuters the agency is working with state agencies and pork industry officials to discover where the virus originated.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">THE VIRUS SPREADS</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">Confirmed cases have been reported in five hog-raising states including Iowa, the largest U.S. hog producer with 20 million hogs, according to the USDA. While only seven farms have had confirmed cases since May 17, more cases are expected as labs sift through samples, say sources investigating the outbreak.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">Colorado, Indiana, Illinois and Minnesota reportedly have positive tests for PEDV, according to state veterinarians and agriculture department officials, and the National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">PEDV, most often fatal to very young pigs, causes diarrhea, vomiting and dehydration. It also sickens older hogs, though their survival rate tends to be high.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">Known as a "coronavirus" because of the crown-like spikes on its surface, the virus afflicted <a data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.reuters.com/places/china" style="cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;" title="Full coverage of China">China</a>in recent years and killed more than 1 million piglets.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">PEDV is spread most commonly by pigs ingesting contaminated feces. Investigators are focused on physical transmission, perhaps a PEDV infected pig, equipment marred with feces, or even a person wearing dirty boots or with dirty nails.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">The mystery about how the virus entered the United States is raising concern about potential holes in the bio-security shield designed to protect the U.S. food and <span class="mandelbrot_refrag"><a class="mandelbrot_refrag" href="http://www.reuters.com/sectors/industries/overview?industryCode=113&lc=int_mb_1001" style="cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">farming</a></span> sectors.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">"Like everything else, we screw up from time to time," said Ronald L. Plain, professor of agricultural economics at University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri. "We know so little about the transmittal of this virus. We can't be sure if it's happening because of something we're supposed to do right and didn't - or by some mechanism we don't know that we're supposed to do differently."</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">Initial reporting about the virus may have been delayed, say sources, because its symptoms can be confused with a more common malady, transmissible gastroenteritis (TGE).</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">Also, states are not required to report cases of PEDV to the federal government, and farmers are not required to report to state veterinarians.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">As part of its assessment of the situation, USDA will email epidemiological surveys to swine veterinarians who are dealing cases of PEDV. Meanwhile, the veterinarians are sending samples to diagnostic labs, where technicians are scrambling gathering the <span class="mandelbrot_refrag"><a class="mandelbrot_refrag" href="http://www.reuters.com/sectors/industries/overview?industryCode=79&lc=int_mb_1001" style="cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">tools</a></span> needed to check the samples for PEDV - supplies many labs did not have prior to the outbreak.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">While most farmers are taking a wait-and-see approach, some told Reuters they are turning away unnecessary visitors and double checking to ensure their safety protocols are being followed.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">LOOKING NORTH</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">The search for leads also has turned to the nation's borders and ports of entry - specifically, Canada, where the United States imported 5.7 million head of live hogs last year.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">Canada has never had a confirmed case of the virus, though it does not test for it, government officials told Reuters.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">"Canada has very effective import measures in place to address this risk," said Dr. Rajiv Arora, senior staff veterinarian for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's foreign animal disease section.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">Canada can import live breeding pigs, under permits, from either the United States or the European Union, Arora said. The animals are quarantined by CFIA for a period of time, then inspected and tested - although not for PEDV - before released.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">Canada imported C$1.7 million ($1.6 million) worth of live swine in 2012, including both slaughter-ready and breeder pigs, according to Canada's Agriculture Department.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;"><span class="mandelbrot_refrag"><a class="mandelbrot_refrag" href="http://www.reuters.com/places/china?lc=int_mb_1001" style="cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">CHINA</a></span> HARD HIT</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">Veterinarians and agricultural epidemiologists in the United States are drawing grim lessons from the devastating effect PEDV has had in other countries where it has hit.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">The first reports of suspected PEDV came in 1971 in the United Kingdom. As years passed, PEDV spread across parts of Europe and Asia. Veterinary researchers later concluded that lax bio-security measures contributed to PEDV's spread in Asia.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">One of the worst known outbreaks of the virus hit China's pig herds in late 2010, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal. Vaccines had limited effectiveness and PEDV over ran southern <span class="mandelbrot_refrag"><a class="mandelbrot_refrag" href="http://www.reuters.com/places/china?lc=int_mb_1001" style="cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">China</a></span> killing more than 1 million piglets. The death rate for virus-infected piglets ranged from 80 percent to 100 percent.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">Biosecurity measures in the U.S. food supply have been beefed up over the years, and especially after the outbreaks of mad cow disease and <span class="mandelbrot_refrag"><a class="mandelbrot_refrag" href="http://www.reuters.com/subjects/swine-flu?lc=int_mb_1001" style="cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">swine flu</a></span>. Both outbreaks posed risks to human health.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">Today, trucks carrying live animals are supposed to be cleaned before entering and leaving farms. At commercial hog operations, visitors routinely shower and change clothing before stepping into a barn. Overseas visitors typically wait several days before being in the presence of a commercially raised hog.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">But the food shield is not impermeable. "If it becomes clear that this is not a novel way for to be transmitted, and that there had to be physical contact, that's going to be a major concern," said William Marler, a leading food-safety attorney. "It means that there was a failure in the system."</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: #f4cccc;">(Additional reporting by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg, Alexandra Harney in Tokyo, and Mark Weinraub, Theopolis Waters and Alyce Hinton in Chicago.; Editing by David Greising, Mary Milliken and Leslie Gevirtz)</span></span></div>
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