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A chemical that occurs naturally in green tea appears to prevent HIV-1, the virus that causes AIDS, from infecting cells in the immune system and could prove a valuable component of treatment for the disease, according to a report by researchers from Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital.

After further research, the study could move to human trials, the researchers said Thursday.

In previous studies, Dr. Christina Nance, assistant professor of pediatrics at BCM, and Dr. William Shearer, professor of pediatrics at BCM, had demonstrated that epigallocatechin gallate — EGCG — found in green tea, inhibited infection in a specific HIV-1 strain.

The latest discovery shows EGCG can inhibit infection in multiple HIV-1 strains.

“This is paramount from a global aspect,” Nance said. “Most initial studies with HIV-1 in the Americas are based on subtype B.” However, she added, most of the world is infected with other strains.

“EGCG may represent a potential low-cost inhibitor of global HIV-1 infection that could be used at least as adjunctive anti-HIV therapy,” said Nance and Shearer in their report.

Previous drugs developed to block the entry of HIV-1 into cells proved ineffective because the virus mutated. Nance hopes that EGCG, derived from a natural product, will be less likely to generate such mutations.

BCM has received a grant from the National Institutes of Health to being a phase 1 trial to study the safety of the compound in HIV-1-infected people.

Funding for the research came from the National Institutes of Health and the Baylor Center for AIDS Research.

The report appears in the current issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

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Tea Tree Oil has been known to the Bundjalung Tribe of New South Wales Australia for hundreds of years for its medicinal properties.

This wonder oil was only tested scientifically in the early 1920′s by Arthur Penfold and found to be around 12 times more powerful than carbolic acid and yet caused no harm to the skin. It was used extensively by the Australian Defence Force during World War Two but due to the discovery of synthetic drugs did not become popular again until the 1960′s.

Over the years it has proved itself as a natural antiviral, antibacterial, anti-fungal, anti-inflammatory oil. One great development was that it was found to deep penetrate the skin cleaning it and encouraging the formation of scar tissue.

Some of the medical uses include healing blisters, reducing swelling from insect bites and stings, cleaning and healing abrasions and cuts, cures athletes foot and is very helpful in the healing of acne. It will cure a sore throat, cold sores, coughs and dental abscesses. It will solve most day to day first aid and medical problems.

It also lends to daily beauty care as putting drops in shampoo, body lotion, hand cream and in the bath will keep hair and skin clean and healthy. A couple of drops on toothpaste will prevent gum infections and bad breathe. It helps take the sting out of sunburn and softens corns and calluses.

Tea Tree Oil’s anti-bacterial properties also extend use in the household chores, making the house clean and healthy. Putting drops in the humidifier will clean, disinfect and refresh the air and putting drops in the dishwasher and washing machine will kill all the germs.

Tea Trees only grow in Australia. There are many brands that are from inferior trees and not from the genuine Tea Tree whose Botanical name is Malaeuca. The name Tea Tree was given by Joseph Banks the botanist who traveled with Captain Cook and collected the leaves to make herbal teas.

Your first purchase should be made from a Health Shop until you know how to define whether it is the genuine oil or an inferior oil as the results will obviously not be the same with an inferior product.

There are many excellent websites on the internet and many excellent books which will give you all uses of this wonderful oil. You will be amazed at the excellent results you obtain and will find it is truly a medicine kit in a bottle.

About the Author
Find out more about Herbs and Remedies at healthandfinesse.com

Article source:
Tea Tree Oil – The Medicine Kit in a Bottle

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For those who want to stay fit but low on motivation, a personal trainer is often the best option. However, the human version may not be the most effective. A new study has shown that having a dog can successfully fill that requirement.
A survey of 5,000 Britons, conducted by pet healthcare company Bob Martin, showed that dog owners get more exercise walking their pet than people who go to gyms. Two dog walks a day each lasting 24 minutes and three longer walks a week each lasting 30 minutes give pet owners seven hours’ exercise a week, reports the Daily Express. Those without a dog spend an average of just one hour and 20 minutes a week exercising by going to the gym or walking or jogging. And 47 per cent of non-pet owners admit they do no exercise.
The survey revealed that 86 per cent of dog owners enjoy walking. On the other hand, only 16 per cent of gym users actively enjoy it, with almost 70 per cent seeing gym exercise as a chore.

http://www.dnaindia.com/scitech/report_dog-owners-get-more-exercise-than-gym-members-study_1317129

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An Italian doctor has been getting dramatic results with a new type of treatment for Multiple Sclerosis, or MS, which affects up to 2.5 million people worldwide. In an initial study, Dr. Paolo Zamboni took 65 patients with relapsing-remitting MS, performed a simple operation to unblock restricted bloodflow out of the brain – and two years after the surgery, 73% of the patients had no symptoms. Dr. Zamboni’s thinking could turn the current understanding of MS on its head, and offer many sufferers a complete cure.

Multiple sclerosis, or MS, has long been regarded as a life sentence of debilitating nerve degeneration. More common in females, the disease affects an estimated 2.5 million people around the world, causing physical and mental disabilities that can gradually destroy a patient’s quality of life.

It’s generally accepted that there’s no cure for MS, only treatments that mitigate the symptoms – but a new way of looking at the disease has opened the door to a simple treatment that is causing radical improvements in a small sample of sufferers.

Italian Dr. Paolo Zamboni has put forward the idea that many types of MS are actually caused by a blockage of the pathways that remove excess iron from the brain – and by simply clearing out a couple of major veins to reopen the blood flow, the root cause of the disease can be eliminated.

Dr. Zamboni’s revelations came as part of a very personal mission – to cure his wife as she began a downward spiral after diagnosis. Reading everything he could on the subject, Dr. Zamboni found a number of century-old sources citing excess iron as a possible cause of MS. It happened to dovetail with some research he had been doing previously on how a buildup of iron can damage blood vessels in the legs – could it be that a buildup of iron was somehow damaging blood vessels in the brain?

He immediately took to the ultrasound machine to see if the idea had any merit – and made a staggering discovery. More than 90% of people with MS have some sort of malformation or blockage in the veins that drain blood from the brain. Including, as it turned out, his wife.

He formed a hypothesis on how this could lead to MS: iron builds up in the brain, blocking and damaging these crucial blood vessels. As the vessels rupture, they allow both the iron itself, and immune cells from the bloodstream, to cross the blood-brain barrier into the cerebro-spinal fluid. Once the immune cells have direct access to the immune system, they begin to attack the myelin sheathing of the cerebral nerves – Multiple Sclerosis develops.

He named the problem Chronic Cerebro-Spinal Venous Insufficiency, or CCSVI.

Zamboni immediately scheduled his wife for a simple operation to unblock the veins – a catheter was threaded up through blood vessels in the groin area, all the way up to the effected area, and then a small balloon was inflated to clear out the blockage. It’s a standard and relatively risk-free operation – and the results were immediate. In the three years since the surgery, Dr. Zamboni’s wife has not had an attack.

Widening out his study, Dr. Zamboni then tried the same operation on a group of 65 MS-sufferers, identifying blood drainage blockages in the brain and unblocking them – and more than 73% of the patients are completely free of the symptoms of MS, two years after the operation.

In some cases, a balloon is not enough to fully open the vein channel, which collapses either as soon as the balloon is removed, or sometime later. In these cases, a metal stent can easily be used, which remains in place holding the vein open permanently.

Dr. Zamboni’s lucky find is yet to be accepted by the medical community, which is traditionally slow to accept revolutionary ideas. Still, most agree that while further study needs to be undertaken before this is looked upon as a cure for MS, the results thus far have been very positive.

Naturally, support groups for MS sufferers are buzzing with the news that a simple operation could free patients from what they have always been told would be a lifelong affliction, and further studies are being undertaken by researchers around the world hoping to confirm the link between CCSVI and MS, and open the door for the treatment to become available for sufferers worldwide.

It’s certainly a very exciting find for MS sufferers, as it represents a possible complete cure, as opposed to an ongoing treatment of symptoms. We wish Dr. Zamboni and the various teams looking further into this issue the best of luck.

Via The Globe and Mail.

Technorati Tags: Brain, Cure, Medical, Multiple Sclerosis, Nerves, Research, Surgery

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