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Mixed Results From Trials Of DHA In Alzheimer's Disease And Age-Related Cognitive Decline Emphasize The Need For Earlier Detection And Intervention
Results from two large studies using DHA, an omega 3 fatty acid, were reported at the Alzheimer"s Association 2009 International Conference on Alzheimer"s Disease (ICAD 2009) in Vienna.
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Lobbyists Swarm Around Health Reform Activity
NPR began a series of reports on the health care lobbyists who attend Congressional sessions as part of their campaign. Richard Miller, a "longtime lobbyist for the American Chiropractic Association, says it"s important that the chiropractors keep on top of the health care overhaul legislation - and also take pains to make sure that senators and staff see them doing that, because the chiropractors are small dogs in a big fight." President Barack Obama "certainly sees Washington"s lobbyists as an obstacle to change. He"s tried limiting their access to the executive branch, but that runs into the constitutional question." Lobbying is on the rise: "Between 1998 and 2008, the number of registered lobbyists on health care more than doubled, to 3,627, according to the Center for Responsive Politics." Spending also increased: "Organizations lobbying on health care spent $484.4 million in 2008, more than two and a half times the spending in 1998." The project includes an interactive panoramic photo of lobbyists in the Senate HELP Committee hearing room and asks readers to help identify the players (Overby and Seabrook, 6/25).
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Sinai Physiatrist Enthusiatic About Word Addition
It"s a word that"s been around since the days of the Truman presidency. But a patient looking up "physiatry" would find nothing in the dictionary.
Nutrition

Ginseng -- Nature's Anti-Inflammatory?

Laboratory experiments have demonstrated the immunological effects of ginseng. Researchers writing in BioMed Central"s open access Journal of Translational Medicine have shown that the herb, much used in traditional Chinese and other Asian medicine, does have anti-inflammatory effects. Allan Lau led a team of researchers from the University of Hong Kong who identified seven ginseng constituents, ginsenosides, which showed immune-suppressive effects. He said, "The anti-inflammatory role of ginseng may be due to the combined effects of these ginsenosides, targeting different levels of immunological activity, and so contributing to the diverse actions of ginseng in humans". The scientists treated human immune cells with different extracts of ginseng. They found that of the nine ginsenosides they identified, seven could selectively inhibit expression of the inflammatory gene CXCL-10. Lau concludes, "Further studies will be needed to examine the potential beneficial effects of ginsenosides in the management of acute and chronic inflammatory diseases in humans". Uniquely, the researchers were able to holistically test the ginseng extract"s immune effects by using sophisticated purification technologies to identify individual constituents and define their bioactivity using genomics and bioactivity assays. After that, they reconstituted them back into a whole extract with definable individual ginsenosides for re-confirmation of effects. This potentially opens up a vigorous methodology to study medicinal herbs with state-of-the-art technologies. Bioactivity-guided identification and cell signaling technology to delineate the immunomodulatory effects of Panax ginseng on human promonocytic U937 cells Davy CW Lee, Cindy LH Yang, Stanley CC Chik, James CB Li, Jian-hui Rong, Godfrey CF Chan and Allan SY Lau Journal of Translational Medicine (in press) http://www.translational-medicine.com/ Graeme Baldwin BioMed Central


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