Tag: Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation

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Daily Dose of Nuts Benefit Heart Health

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A daily dose of nuts—walnuts, almonds, pistachios— can make up for a heart-healthy diet, according to Mayo Clinic researchers.

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Most nuts contain some nutrients that can benefit heart health and help with cholesterol control.

They include unsaturated fats, omega-3 fatty acids, fiber, 1-arginine and plant sterols. Nuts have been shown to reduce low-density lipoproteins (LDL, or “bad” cholesterol) levels in the blood.

Eating nuts also can reduce the risk of developing blood clots and improve the health of the lining of the arteries.

The above benefits suggest that eating nuts, in limited amounts, may reduce the risk of heart disease, though studies haven’t yet proved this conclusively.

Almost any type of nut is nutritious — and high in calories. It is best to eat nuts in moderation, no more than a handful a day.

Also, choose unsalted or low-salt versions and use nuts as a substitute for saturated fats, such as those found in meats, eggs and dairy products.

Source: The study has been published in the latest issue of Mayo Clinic Women’s HealthSource.

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Ailmemts & Remedies

Cytopenia

DEFINITION:

Cytopenia is a reduction in the number of blood cells. It takes a number of forms:
*Low red blood cell count: anemia.
*Low white blood cell count: leukopenia or neutropenia (because neutrophils make up at least half of all white cells, they are almost always low in leukopenia).
*Low platelet count: thrombocytopenia.
*Low granulocyte count: granulocytopenia
*Low red blood cell, white blood cell, and platelet counts: pancytopenia..

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Blood cell development. A blood stem cell goes through several steps to become a red blood cell, platelet, or white blood cell.

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Cancer patients may frequently develop cytopenia, a disorder in which the production of one or more blood cell types ceases or is greatly reduced. Cancer and chemotherapy used to treat cancer, and sometimes radiation therapy, may sometimes cause cytopenia.

TYPES:
A deficiency of red blood cells which  is called anemia; a deficiency of white blood cells, or leukocytes, leukopenia or neutropenia (neutrophils make up over half of all white blood cells); and deficiency of platelets is called  thrombocytopenia.

Pancytopenia is the deficiency of all three blood cell types and is characteristic of aplastic anemia, a potentially life-threatening disorder that requires a stem cell transplant.

Blood Cells
The blood consists of three different  types of cells: red blood cells (erythrocytes), white blood cells (leukocytes), and platelets. Erythrocytes contain hemoglobin, the protein that carries oxygen from the lungs to all cells in the body. Proper cell function depends on an adequate oxygen supply. When cells are oxygen deprived, organ function can be seriously impaired.

Leukocytes (white blood cells) protect the body against viral, bacterial, and parasitic infection and detect and remove damaged, dying, or dead tissues. Someone with a deficiency of white blood cells is extremely vulnerable to infection.

The term “leukocyte” refers to all six types of white blood cells; each plays a unique role in the immune system:

1. Basophils circulate in the blood and initiate the inflammatory response.
2.Eosinophils kill infecting parasites and produce allergic reactions.
3.Lymphocytes produce antibodies and regulate immune responses.
4. Mast cells are fixed in tissues and initiate the inflammatory response.
5. Monocytes capture infecting organisms for identification, ingest infecting organisms, and remove damaged or dying cells and cell debris. When monocytes become fixed in tissue, they are called macrophages.
6.Neutrophils identify and kill infecting organisms, and remove dead tissue.

Platelets are essential factors for blood clotting. Sudden blood loss triggers platelet activity at the site of the wound. Exposure to oxygen in the air causes platelets to break apart and combine with a substance called fibrinogen to form fibrin. Fibrin has a thread-like structure and forms a scab, or external clot, as it dries. Platelet deficiency causes one to bruise and bleed easily. Blood does not clot at an open wound, and there is greater risk for internal bleeding.

All blood cells have a lifespan: erythrocytes have a lifespan of about 120 days; leukocytes, 1 to 3 days; and platelets, approximately 10 days. The body continually replenishes the blood supply through a process called hematopoiesis.

Blood Cell Formation—Hematopoiesis, the formation and development of blood cells, occurs in bone marrow. Bone marrow is a nutrient-rich spongy tissue located mainly in the central portions of long flat bones (e.g., sternum, pelvic bones) in adults and all bones in infants.

All blood cells derive from blood-forming stem cells that reside in bone marrow. Stem cells replicate indefinitely and develop into mature, specialized cells. A hormone produced in the kidneys, erythropoietin, stimulates blood stem cells to produce all three types of blood cells.

CAUSES & RISK FACTORS:-

Chemotherapy and radiation therapy both reduce the number of blood-forming stem cells in cancer patients, but chemotherapeutic agents have a greater adverse effect because they suppress bone marrow function in several ways.The degree of damage is related to the particular drug(s) and the dose.

Chemotherapeutic agents can produce deficiencies in all blood cell types by

* damaging blood-forming stem cells,
* suppressing the kidneys? production of erythropoietin (hormone that stimulates blood cell production), and
* triggering red cell destruction (hemolysis) by inducing an immune response that causes the body to mistakenly identify erythrocytes as foreign bodies and destroy them.

Malignant tumors can cause anemia and other cytopenias when they directly invade bone marrow and suppress marrow function. Malignant cells also can migrate from tumors in other parts of the body to bone marrow. Tumors also can replace normal blood-forming stem cells with abnormal clones.

SIGN & SYMPTOMS:-

Anemia
A deficiency in erythrocytes reduces the amount of oxygen reaching all cells in the body, thus impairing all tissue and organ function. Severe fatigue is the most common symptom of anemia and is experienced by approximately 75% of chemotherapy patients. Patients find it more disabling than other treatment side effects, including nausea and depression.

Anemia also produces these symptoms:

* Confusion
* Dizziness
* Headache
* Lightheadedness
* Loss of concentration
* Pallor (pale skin, nail beds, gums, linings of eyelids)
* Rapid heart rate (tachycardia)
* Shortness of breath (dyspnea)

Neutropenia
Patients with a white blood cell deficiency experience frequent and/or severe bacterial, viral, and/or fungal infections; fever; and mouth and throat ulcers.

Complications—Bacteremia, the form of sepsis characterized by the presence of bacteria in the blood, can develop in immunocompromised patients who have neutropenia. Fever, rapid heart rate, and quick shallow breathing are signs of early sepsis, usually a reversible condition.

Untreated bacteremia can lead to severe sepsis, in which one or more organs become dysfunctional. Septic shock is severe sepsis with low blood pressure. The risk for death increases with the development of septic shock. Even aggressive treatment can fail to reverse the condition.

Thrombocytopenia
Platelet deficiency causes patients to bruise and bleed easily. Bleeding occurs most often in the mucous membranes lining the mouth, nose, colon, and vagina. Tiny reddish-purple skin lesions (petechiae), evidence of pinpoint hemorrhages, may appear on the skin or in the mouth.

Pancytopenia
Patients who are deficient in all blood cell types experience signs and symptoms associated with each, but bleeding from the nose and gums, and easy bruising usually appear first. Symptoms of anemia (e.g., fatigue, shortness of breath) are also common. Patients may look and feel well, otherwise, despite the seriousness of their condition.

Anemia
People with anemia (reduced red cell production) are advised to rest and eat foods high in iron (meat, fish, poultry, lentils, legumes, iron-enriched grains and flours).

If immediate remedy is necessary, treatment may include medication that helps restore the red blood supply and a transfusion of packed red blood cells.

Epoetin alpha (Epogen®, Procrit®)is a synthetic erythropoietin (normally produced by the kidneys) that stimulates stem cells to produce red blood cells. Restoration of the red blood cell supply with medication is gradual.

Darbepoetin alfa (Aranesp®) also stimulates red blood cell production but requires fewer doses and less disruption of daily living.

In March 2007, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning about these medications in response to studies indicating that they may increase the risk for blood clots, strokes, and heart attacks in some patients (e.g., patients who have kidney disease).

Thrombocytopenia
People with an abnormally low platelet count should avoid bruising or breaking the skin, and should carefully brush their teeth. A persistently decreased platelet count may be treated with a transfusion of platelets.

Neutropenia
The patient with a low white blood cell count is advised to  do the following:

*Avoid contact with people who are ill,
*Monitor closely for signs of infection (e.g., fever), and
*Take antibiotics when appropriate.

Medication, a colony-stimulating factor (CSF), may be prescribed to speed the development of white blood cells and shorten the period of susceptibility to infection.

Growth Factors
Growth factors are synthetic versions of substances involved in stimulating red and white blood cell production. Physicians exercise caution when prescribing these medications for people with tumors that involve the bone marrow, because growth factors might stimulate malignant cell growth.

These medications include the following:

Epoetin alpha (Procrit®, Epogen®; stimulates red blood cell production)
G-CSF (granulocyte colony-stimulating factor; e.g., filgrastim [Neupogen®]; stimulates neutrophil production)
GM-CSF (granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor; stimulates production of several white blood cells, including macrophages)

Leukocytes and other cells that contain granules are also called granulocytes.

Side effects
Fever, fatigue, dizziness, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, weakness, and paresthesia (prickling sensation) are side effects associated with epoetin alpha.

Bone pain, malaise, headache, flu-like symptoms, muscle ache, redness at the injection site, and skin rash may occur with GM-CSF.

G-CSF commonly produces bone pain.

MEDICATIONS:-

Medications used to treat bacterial infection and other illnesses also can contribute to immune system suppression.

Some of these are :

* Antacids: cimetidine (Tagamet®)
* Antibiotics: chloramphenical (Chloromycetin®), sulfonamide (Thiosulfil®, Gantanol®); cephalosporin (Cephalaxin®), vancomycin (Vancocin®)
* Anticonvulsants: phenytoin/hydantoin (Dilantin®), felbamate (Felbatol®), carbamazepine (Tegretol®)
* Antimalarials: chloroquine (Aralin®)
* Antivirals: ganciclovir (Vitrasert®), zidovudine (AZT®)
* Cardiac drugs: diltiazem (Cardizem®), nifedipine (Procardia®), verapamil (Calan®)
* Diabetes drugs: glipizide (Glucotrol®), glyburide (Micronase®)
* Hyperthyroid drug: propylthiouracil
* NSAIDs (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs): phenylbutazone (Butazolidine®), indomethacin (Indocin®, Indochron E-R®)—Due to potentially severe gastrointestinal and cardiovascular side effects, NSAIDs should only be used as instructed.
* Rheumatoid arthritis drugs: auranofin (Ridaura®), aurothioglucose (Solganal®), gold sodium thiomalate (Myochrisine®)

Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplantation:-
The treatment of choice for the pancytopenic patient with a matched bone marrow donor is stem cell transplantation. The goal of transplantation is to restore blood-forming stem cells to the marrow.

Disclaimer: This information is not meant to be a substitute for professional medical advise or help. It is always best to consult with a Physician about serious health concerns. This information is in no way intended to diagnose or prescribe remedies.This is purely for educational purpose.

Resources:
http://www.oncologychannel.com/cytopenia/index.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cytopenia
http://www.cancer.umn.edu/cancerinfo/NCI/CDR378089.html

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Herbs & Plants

Pushkaramul (lnula racemosa)

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Botanical Name :lnula racemosa
Family:    Asteraceae
Genus:    Inula
Species:I. racemosa
Kingdom:Plantae
Order:    Asterales
Family Name: Asteraceae
Hindi Name: – puskarmul
Sanskrit Names:
Padma patra– As its leaves are like lotus petals
Kashmira– As it generally grows in Kashmira area
Kushthabheda– As its characteristics and actions are like Kushtha(Saussurea lappa)

Part Used : Stem, Root

Click to see the picture.
Habitat : It grows in the hilly regions in the northwestern himalayas.
Description:
Inula are members of the daisy family, seldom seen in gardens. This selection forms an imposing clump of coarse green leaves, best sited towards the back of a sunny border. Large, shaggy yellow daisies are produced in mid to late summer. Excellent for cutting. Nice at the waterside or in the meadow garden where it can act as a specimen plant. Combines especially well with late summer blooming ornamental grasses. Seed heads may be useful for dried arrangements.

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plant low growing groundcovers in front to allow the entire plant to be seen. The basal leaves are 1 m (40″) long by 20-25 cm (8-10″) wide. The flowers are 2 m (6’6″) tall.
All Panicums will complement this plant as well as Calamagrostis ‘Karl Foerster’

Flowers: 200-250 cm (6-7′); bright yellow daisy-like flowers that are clustered along the stalk; blooms July through September; dries to a shiny bronze colour in early winter

Medicinal uses:
Antianginal, digestant, appetizer, vasodilator, cardioprotective, anti-inflammatory and analgesic. In ayurvedic practice, it is mainly used as an expectorant and bronchodilator. It has been used in the treatment of tuberculosis and topically in the treatment of skin diseases.

The rhizome is sweet, bitter and acrid in taste with a neutral potency and act as antiseptic, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-inflammatory, analgesic and mild diuretic. It is used in the treatment of contagious fevers, anginapectoris, heart disease and ischemic heart disease. It is also used in cough, hiccup, bronchial asthma, indigestion, flatulence, inanorexia and in fever. Externally, the paste of its roots is used effectively, in dressing the wounds and ulcers as the herb possesses antiseptic property. Also used to boost the appetite.

Home remedies:
1.Its paste should be applied on the chest to reduse chest pain.
2.In dyspnoea with cough, 1 gm root powder of Pushkarmula should be taken with honey.
3.Daily intake of pushkarmula provides you a healthy heart

Inula racemosa root powder was investigated in patients with proven ischaemic heart disease. The powder prevented ST-segment depression and T-wave inversion as observed in the post-exercise electrocardiogram. This indicates that one of the constituents of Inula racemosa may have adrenergic beta-blocking activity.
Inula racemosa exhibites antiperoxidative, hypoglycaemic and cortisol lowering activities, it is suggested that its extracts may potentially regulate diabetes mellitus.
Inula racemosa possesses potent antiallergic properties.
The herb Inula racemosa was shown to help lower the stress hormone, cortisol, which in turn leads lower blood sugar levels.

Useful part: Roots

Doses:
2-4gm

Some Useful combinations of Pushkara moola:
Pushkaradi choorna; Pushkar guggulu

Effect on Tridosha (Three bio humors):
Pushkara mool pacifies Vata and Kapha bio homors i.e. it is useful in management of diseases with Kapha/ Vata origin or both.

Actions according to Ayurveda:
Kasa-shwashara- Pushkarmool is useful in cough and respiratory discomfort
Hikka nigrahana- Pushkarmool alleviates hicough
Parshwa shoola hara- Pushkarmool helps in pain in thorax region
Shophaghna- Pushkarmool is useful in all edematous conditions
Pandunashanam- Pushkarmool is useful in Anemia and its complications
Ardit vinashanam- Pushkarmool is useful in conditions involving nervous system specially the facial paralysis
Hrich chhulaghna- Pushkarmool alleviates pain in heart region

Parts used: roots

Properties and uses:
The roots are bitter, acrid, thennogenic, aromatic, stimulant, antiseptic, deodorant, anodyne, antiinflammatory, digestive, canninative, stomachic, cardiotonic, expectorant, bronchodilator, diuretic, uterine stimulant, aphrodisiac, sudorific, emmenagogue, resolvent, febrifuge and tonic.

They are useful in vitiated conditions of kapha and vata, foul ulcers and wounds, hemicrania, cardiodynia, hepatalgia, splenalgia, arthralgia, inflammations, anorexia, dyspepsia, flatulence, colic, cardiac debility, hiccough, cough, cardiac and bronchial asthma, bronchitis, strangury, nephropathy, amenorrhoea, dysmenorrhoea, skin diseases, cerebropathy, pneumonosis, emaciation, anaemia, fever and general debility.

Disclaimer:The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplements, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider.

Resources:

http://www.chakrapaniayurveda.com/pushkarmool.html
http://www.ayurvedicdietsolutions.com/Pushkarmool.php

http://www.ayurvedakalamandiram.com/herbs.htm#pashanabheda

http://www.perennials.com/seeplant.html?item=1.293.150
http://www.esveld.nl/htmldiaen/i/inrson.htm
http://www.motherherbs.com/inula-racemosa.html

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Gene Therapy Cures Form of ‘Bubble Boy Disease’

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Gene therapy seems to have cured eight of 10 children who had potentially fatal “bubble boy disease,” according to a study that followed  their progress for about four years after treatment.

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The eight patients were no longer on medication for the rare disease, which cripples the body’s defenses against infection. The successful treatment is reported in Thursday’s issue of the New England Journal of Medicine and offers hope for treating other diseases with a gene therapy approach.

Bubble boy disease is formally called severe combined immunodeficiency, or SCID. This genetic disorder is diagnosed in about 40 to 100 babies each year in the United States. The nickname comes from the experience of a Houston boy, David Vetter, who became famous for living behind plastic barriers to protect him from germs. He died in 1984 at age 12.

He had the most common form of SCID. Recent studies found that gene therapy produced impressive results for that form of the disease, but also carried a risk of leukemia.

The new study involved a different, less common form of SCID _ and one that holds a key position in medical history. In 1990 it became the first illness to be treated by gene therapy, according to the US government. Two Ohio girls improved but continued to take medication.

This form of SCID arises in babies with a genetic defect that leaves them deficient of an enzyme called adenosine deaminase. Patients can be treated with twice-weekly shots of the enzyme or a bone marrow transplant, but the medicine is expensive and marrow transplants don’t always work.

Gene therapy for the new study was performed in Italy and Israel. Researchers removed marrow cells from the patients, equipped the cells with working copies of the gene for the enzyme, and injected the cells back into the patients. In most cases, that was done before age 2.

The journal article reports the outcome two to eight years later, with an average of four years. All 10 patients were still alive, but two needed further treatment. None showed signs of leukemia or other health problems from the therapy, the researchers said.

Dr Donald Kohn, a SCID expert at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles and the University of Southern California, said scientists are trying to understand why gene therapy produces a leukemia risk with the most common form of SCID but not the enzyme-related form.

The new findings are good news for the idea of using gene therapy to treat some other blood cell disorders, including sickle cell disease, said Kohn, who didn’t participate in the new study.

Sources: The Times Of India

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Bone Marrow ‘Cures AIDS Patient’

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A bone marrow transplant using stem cells from a donor with natural genetic resistance to the AIDS virus has left an HIV patient free of infection for nearly two years, German researchers.

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The patient, an American living in Berlin, was infected with the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS and also had leukemia.

The best treatment for the leukemia was a bone marrow transplant, which takes the stem cells from a healthy donor’s immune system to replace the patient’s cancer-ridden cells.

Dr Gero Hutter and Thomas Schneider of the Clinic for Gastroenterology, Infections and Rheumatology of the Berlin Charite hospital said on Wednesday the team sought a bone marrow donor who had a genetic mutation known to help the body resist AIDS infection.

The mutation affects a receptor, a cellular doorway, called CCR5 that the AIDS virus uses to get into the cells it infects.

When they found a donor with the mutation, they used that bone marrow to treat the patient. Not only did the leukemia disappear, but so did the HIV.

“As of today, more than 20 months after the successful transplant, no HIV can be detected in the patient,” the clinic said in a statement. “We performed all tests, not only with blood but also with other reservoirs,” Schneider told a news conference. “But we cannot exclude the possibility that it’s still there.”

The researchers stressed that this would never become a standard treatment for HIV. Bone marrow stem cell transplants are rigorous and dangerous and require the patient to first have his or her own bone marrow completely destroyed.

Patients risk death from even the most minor infections because they have no immune system until the stem cells can grow and replace their own.

HIV has no cure and is always fatal. Cocktails of drugs can keep the virus suppressed, sometimes to undetectable levels. But research shows the virus never disappears — it lurks in so-called reservoirs throughout the body.

Hutter’s team said they have been unable to find any trace of the virus in their 42-year-old patient, who remains unnamed, but that does not mean it is not there. “The virus is tricky. It can always return,” Hutter said.

The CCR5 mutation is found in about 3% of Europeans, the researchers said. They said the study suggests that gene therapy, a highly experimental technology, might someday be used to help treat patients with HIV.

Sources: The Times Of India

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