Diabetes,the Vitamin&Mineral Connection.
eBook describing likely causes & cures of diabetic symptoms. Diabetes,the Vitamin&Mineral Connection. -
Background: The true relationship between methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase C677T homozygosity and risk of recurrent spontaneous abortion is unknown, and it is unclear if women with these mutations should be anticoagulated during pregnancy.ObjectivesWe report a series of 8 patients with this issue and review the current literature. Methods: 8 patients (3 of whom were actively pregnant) were referred with histories of spontaneous fetal loss; hypercoaguability work-ups revealed each were homozygous for the MTHFR C677T mutation without other thrombophilias. Results: In the 3 women who have conceived, treatment with LMW heparin during pregnancy led to two full-term births and one additional pregnancy without complication. For the 5 who have not, we recommended treatment with LMW heparin upon conception. Conclusion: We provide evidence to support the relationship between MTHFR C677T mutations and recurrent fetal loss, and to suggest that anticoagulation of these patients during pregnancy can lead to a successful pregnancy outcome.
Reaction to Zrii Review: NaturalNews Readers Weigh In on Zrii Criticism
(NaturalNews) It’s sometimes difficult to predict just how NaturalNews readers will respond to a story. After publishing my critical review of Zrii juice yesterday (see http://www.naturalnews.com/023101.html ), I was expecting to receive a lot of complaints from readers due to the fact that some were already signed up as Zrii distributors. But the opposite happened: I received more thanks on that review than for any other in recent memory. My e-mail inbox was full of positive comments from various authors, readers and industry leaders who said things like, “Thank you for stating the Emperor has no clothes!”Most responses fell into two categories: The first was from people who felt the same way I did about Zrii, and they were glad to see someone standing up and telling the obvious truth when it seems like no large health news website had yet published a critical review of Zrii juice.The second response was from people who were surprised to learn that Zrii contained mostly cheap junk juices because they had thought, all along, that Zrii was made of only those seven highlighted ingredients! It turns out that “the Zrii deception,” as I call it, had hoodwinked a whole lot of people in the industry who should frankly know better! The Zrii company, it seems, has done a really clever job of hiding the truth about the actual ingredients in the Zrii product, leading people to believe it’s made primarily of medicinal herbs instead of the apple juice, pear juice and pomegranate juice that makes up the bulk of the product.Why celebrity products warrant extra scrutinyI did receive one complaint from a reader who said, essentially, that nobody has the right to question anything endorsed by Deepak Chopra because the man is such a great author and teacher. Thus, to paraphrase, any Chopra-endorsed product should automatically receive a NaturalNews recommendation regardless of what’s in the bottle. I found this complaint to be rather bizarre. Why should Chopra (or anybody) be granted immunity from an honest assessment of what’s in their product?I’ve found an inverse relationship between the celebrity status of the person and the quality of the products they create. Usually, the more famous the person, the crappier their products are. It’s the unknown person who really has to make the best products possible, because they know their products will be judged on the integrity of the ingredients and not on their celebrity status (because they don’t have celebrity status). Too many celebrities, on the other hand, just sit back and decide, “Oh what the heck, people will buy it just because my name is on the label, or my big beard is on the label,” and they end up making really atrocious compromises on the quality of the materials used in their products.To remember this as a general rule: The more famous the person, the worse the product. (Usually, but not always.)One exception to this “inverse relationship” rule is David Wolfe. Even though he has achieved celebrity status to folks in the raw foods community, he refuses to sell junk products. David’s products from Sunfood Nutrition (www.Sunfood.com) continue to be outstanding, high-end, potent products that don’t compromise on the ingredients. And that’s extremely rare these days. It’s one of the reasons why I continue to support David’s company and product line. In fact, David has passed on a lot of opportunities to make a whole lot of money by cheapening his products. I appreciate the fact that he simply refuses to compromise on the integrity of his product line.In contrast to that, consider the products from the famous chef, Wolfgang Puck. Did you realize that most of Wolfgang Puck’s canned soup products are made with hidden forms of MSG? Just check the labels yourself, and you’ll find yeast extract or autolyzed yeast extract right there on the label. The first time I saw that, I said to myself, “What the Puck is this guy thinking?” Famous name, lousy product in my opinion.The most bizarre complaint you’ve ever heardThe most bizarre complaint I received on the Zrii story was in response to my statement that you can’t meditate your way past what’s really in the bottle. One reader said you could, in fact, use the power of your intention to alter the properties of the apple juice and pear juice to be more medicinal, so it didn’t really matter what ingredients were in the bottle. Wow, where do I start with replying to that?First off, if it doesn’t matter what’s really in the bottle, then why don’t they just fill it with water and sell “Chopra Water” and say it’s been “blessed by Deepak Chopra” or something like that? Maybe they could call it “Ayurvedic water based on 5,000 years of people drinking water” or something similar. Of course, water is healing all by itself, but selling it for $30 / bottle would be criminal, and I don’t think that “blessed” water is any replacement for the genuine physiological powers of Ayurvedic herbs. Plus, if the bottle only contains water, then why not just buy your own spring water and bless it yourself? (This is also my answer to all those companies selling bottled water that’s been blessed or prayed over. Can’t consumers just bottle their own water and bless it themselves? Of course they can!)Secondly, if this reader really believes they can transform the apple juice and pear juice in the bottle into something else that doesn’t demonstrate the physiological properties of high-glycemic apple juice and pear juice, then why are they wasting their time writing me? Shouldn’t they be touring the world, amazing scientists with their new-found transmutation abilities that would be nothing less than the most amazing discovery in the history of the modern world? There are a few accounts in the Bible of miracle workers turning water into wine, so perhaps it’s possible, but I haven’t heard of anybody doing it in, say, the last 2,000 years or so. But just in case there’s someone out there who can really perform this miracle, I’m officially announcing a $250,000 reward to anyone who can transmute water into wine in front of my eyes, using nothing but the power of their mind. I’ll even settle for transmuting apple juice into pure water, for that matter (pun intended).Call me crazy, but I happen to think that what’s in the bottle really matters (ingredients matter, duh…) and it’s utterly insane to think that a manufacturer should fill a bottle with junk ingredients and then rely on some supernatural transmutation abilities of their customers to compensate for it. And besides, if a person can really transmute one juice into another juice, why do they need to buy Zrii at all? Couldn’t they just go to the store, buy some super cheap apple juice, and transmute it into Ayurvedic medicine anyway? And if they can really transmute substances, couldn’t they be instant billionaires by conquering the classic challenge of alchemists throughout history: turning lead into gold? (I suppose that means they won’t need my $250,000 reward after all, huh?)You see, reader complaints like the one described above just make no sense at all. Look, I believe in the power of intention, prayer and visualization to help create your new future, but some people just take it way too far and misapply those beliefs to things like a bottle of juice. Someone explaining the power of intention to me (which I strongly believe in and use on a daily basis, by the way) once said that the lottery was a contest to determine who could focus the most on creating their winning outcome. Oh really? That’s funny, because I always thought the lottery was a tax on people who can’t do math. And all the winners I’ve seen don’t look too enlightened to me. Nearly all lottery winners end up flat broke again within five years. I guess their “abundance intention” was only a temporary pass.Call me a skeptic if you wish, but I think playing the lottery is a silly application of the Law of Attraction, the power of intention, prayer or creating your own reality. You want to create a better future? You have to apply intention AND some effort. In my experience, the universe does not reward the lazy. Expecting to just win your way out of financial trouble, marriage trouble, work trouble, or whatever, is a fool’s journey. Personal problems need to be resolved from the inside out. They are presented as challenges to learn through, not as obstacles to be bypassed by a lucky win in a game of chance.Why critical reviews are important to defend the natural health industryGetting back to Zrii juice (sorry to deviate so much from the point of this article, but that piece of reader feedback needed a lot of explaining), I’m happy to learn that NaturalNews readers are so well-informed about nutrition and ingredients that they appreciated my review of the Zrii product. I think it’s important for organizations like NaturalNews to serve this critical, skeptical role in order to protect the reputation of the natural health industry as a whole.Because what happens if someone new to natural health gets excited about some junk juice product and they start drinking one ounce every day (not knowing it’s most apple juice, pear juice or other junk juices), and they get no results? The answer is that they lose confidence in Ayurvedic medicine and natural health in general! Thus, I think that products made with junk juices are a great disservice to the natural health community because they make the industry look bad.It’s the same thing with people who practice bad acupuncture. One lousy acupuncture experience makes people afraid of acupuncture forever! In reality, they probably didn’t see a good practitioner to begin with. (There are a lot of bad acupuncture schools that teach it all wrong, thinking that acupuncture is all about the points and that it has nothing to do with intention. Acupuncture has been “Westernized” in America today, sadly.)I want people to know that if they’re interested in really high-density nutrition that has an opportunity to genuinely revolutionize their health, they should skip all the junk juice products and go right to the supplements that are really potent and loaded with high-density nutrition. I can’t think of a better example than Jameth Sheridan’s company, healthforce Nutritionals (www.healthforce.com) which makes such high-vibration, high-density superfood powders that it puts Zrii to shame.I’d like to take all the people drinking Zrii and show them something way better, like healthforce’s “Vitamineral Green” product or their “Earth” product which uses a lot of Ayurvedic ingredients, by the way. I think people would directly experience tremendous results from just 30 days on those healthforce products.Sure, they don’t taste like apple juice. In fact, his “Earth” product can be a bit sharp on the tongue, depending on what you blend it with. But since when was medicine supposed to be about entertaining the tongue anyway? Shouldn’t it be about getting the best nutrition into your body, even if it tastes bitter? If you want entertainment, eat a Twinkie. (Actually, don’t. It’s not good for you.) But if you want medicine, don’t expect it to taste like a Twinkie.For those people who think medicine should taste like fruit punch, there’s Zrii. But for folks who want real medicine, there are thousands of products that offer greater nutritional density, more potent ingredients and a lot more value for your dollar. I really do recommend www.healthforce.com and in fact, I’ve completed an interview with Jameth Sheridan that will be running on this site very soon. Did you ever wonder why I go out of my way to invite people like Jameth Sheridan (who is not a well-known celebrity) onto NaturalNews.com when I have virtually no interest in inviting guys like Deepak Chopra (who IS a well-known celebrity) for an interview? It’s because I believe that character matters, and I look at what people DO, not merely what they SAY. And I’m not dazzled by name-dropping.Some Hollywood agent could call me up and say they have the most famous person in the industry ready to do a live interview with me, but I have to plug some crappy product they’re pushing in exchange. My answer would be very clear: Sorry, Jack. No deal. I would not insult the intelligence of NaturalNews readers wish such a compromise.Now, of course, if Mr. Famous or Mrs. Famous has a really great product, or is involved in great work for protecting the planet, protecting health freedom, or whatever, then of course I’d be thrilled to have them on NaturalNews! For precisely that reason, we are currently trying to hook up an interview with Woody Harrelson, a celebrity who still has integrity and is involved with meaningful projects. If anybody out there knows Woody and would like to hook us up, please let me know by calling our offices at 520-232-9300.Be wary of celebrity endorsementsAnyway, the bottom line to all this is that celebrities do not get a free ride here on NaturalNews.com, and if they put out a product that I see as being made with junk ingredients, I’m going to say so. If we had more people willing to stand up and shout, “The Emperor has no clothes!” then we wouldn’t see so many junk products being put out by famous people. I mean, why do people even buy Dr. Weil’s vitamins anyway? Did they ever stop to read what’s in those products? Why do so many people just blindly believe in some guru personality and not engage their brains for ten seconds and ask some basic questions like, “I wonder what’s in this?”Of course, celebrity endorsements do cause people to disengage their rational minds, which is exactly why the food companies, cosmetics companies and drug companies spend so much money paying off celebrities to promote their junk products. Celebrity endorsements work! They bypass the “reason” portion of the brain and tap into the emotional portion where people make good-feeling decisions based on zero factual information. This is what I think happened to a lot of people with Zrii: They had all these positive feelings about Deepak Chopra (I did, too), and when the Chopra name was associated with Zrii, then zamm! All those good feelings were attached to the Zrii product and people just bought it without thinking. Literally. Don’t blame yourself if you did this, the power of emotional association can sometimes be overwhelming. Just take the time now to think critically and reevaluate the situation to see what really makes sense for you.By the way, I do want to make one correction to the story published yesterday. After listing the three primary ingredients as apple juice, pear juice and pomegranate juice, I accidentally stated later that the product contained grape juice instead of apple juice. What I meant to say was that it tasted like grape juice to me, even though the three primary ingredients were not grape juice. They are apple, pear and pomegranate juices, all pasteurized, processed and non-organic juices. So I’ve corrected that slip-up in the original story. Sometimes, flavored apple juice tastes a lot like grape juice. Anyway, they’re all quite similar in terms of cost and liquid sugar content. In my view, they’re both the same sort of “junk juices” used by companies to add low-cost filler to a juice product.Don’t be fooled by celebrity-endorsed products, folks, not even if the celebrity is someone you deeply trust. Always, always, ALWAYS engage your critical thinking skills before buying products or supporting a particular company. By doing so, you will avoid being hoodwinked by celebrity power and you’ll greatly improve the value of what you’re getting for your dollar.And please, folks, if I ever completely lose my mind and launch a silly line of “health Ranger Juice” products made primarily with apple juice and pear juice, somebody please slap me back to my senses.
Stroke in inflammatory bowel disease: a report of two cases and review of the literature
Thrombosis is a recognised complication of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), in particular venous thrombosis. Arterial thrombosis, especially stroke is rare. There is a paucity of information regarding stroke in IBD and its management. The authors describe two cases of stroke in patients with IBD during periods of increased disease activity. The literature regarding this devastating complication and the procoagulant state that exists in IBD are reviewed.
Percutaneous mechanical thrombectomy for the treatment of acute massive pulmonary embolism: case report
Background: To our knowledge we report the first case of percutaneous mechanical thrombectomy used for the treatment of massive pulmonary embolism in the United Kingdom. Pulmonary embolism is a common disease process but can be difficult to diagnose. Massive pulmonary embolism presenting with profound hypotension, however, is rare. Both phenomena carry with them significant mortality. Traditionally those patients suffering haemodynamic compromise from pulmonary embolism are treated with intravenous or catheter-directed thrombolysis. When this is contraindicated surgical embolectomy or mechanical techniques via a right heart catheter are alternative options. The former is well established but the latter is less commonly utilised in clinical practice. Our aim is to highlight the effectiveness and relative safety of percutaneous mechanical thrombectomy as a therapeutic tool in massive pulmonary embolism.Case presentationA 70 year-old gentleman presented with a 4-month history of dry cough and general malaise. Clinical examination along with routine chest radiograph confirmed a left pleural effusion which was drained. Computed tomography of the chest, abdomen and pelvis revealed a left renal mass consistent with renal cell carcinoma plus multiple metastatic subpleural nodules. Following planned thoracoscopy and pleural biopsy the patient became acutely dyspnoeic and hypotensive. Relevant investigations including computed tomography pulmonary angiogram confirmed a large saddle embolus extending in to the lobar branches of both left and right pulmonary arteries. There were several relative contraindications to thrombolysis and so the patient proceeded to have percutaneous mechanical thrombectomy with excellent results. The patient made a full recovery from the acute episode and was discharged home on warfarin with a view to planned cyto-reductive nephrectomy. Conclusion: We illustrate here that percutaneous mechanical thrombectomy can be a safe and effective method of treating massive pulmonary embolism when thrombolysis is relatively contraindicated. It may also be of use as an adjuvant therapy in those patients able to receive thrombolysis. In the future further evaluation involving a larger cohort of subjects is necessary to determine whether this treatment is superior to surgical embolectomy when thrombolysis cannot be performed.
Dual antiplatelet therapy and drug eluting stents: a marriage of convenience
This is an editorial. No abstract or subheadings are provided
An unusual case of peripartum cardiomyopathy manifesting with multiple thrombo-embolic phenomena
Peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) is a rare form of heart failure with a reported incidence of 1 per 3000 to 1 per 4000 live births and a fatality rate of 20% 50%. Onset is usually between the last month of pregnancy and up to 5 months postpartum in previously healthy women. Although viral, autoimmune and idiopathic factors may be contributory, its etiology remains unknown. PPCM initially presents with signs and symptoms of congestive heart failure and rarely with thrombo-embolic complications. We report an unusual case of PPCM in a previously healthy postpartum woman who presented with an acute abdomen due to unrecognized thromboemboli of the abdominal organs. This case illustrates that abdominal pain in PPCM may not always result from hepatic congestion as previously reported, but may occur as a result of thromboemboli to abdominal organs. Further research is needed to determine the true incidence of thromboemboli in PPCM.
Point-of-care platelet function assays demonstrate reduced responsiveness to clopidogrel, but not aspirin, in patients with Drug-Eluting Stent Thrombosis whilst on dual antiplatelet therapy
Background: To test the hypothesis that point-of-care assays of platelet reactivity would demonstrate reduced response to antiplatelet therapy in patients who experienced Drug Eluting Stent (DES) ST whilst on dual antiplatelet therapy compared to matched DES controls. Whilst the aetiology of stent thrombosis (ST) is multifactorial there is increasing evidence from laboratory-based assays that hyporesponsiveness to antiplatelet therapy is a factor in some cases. Methods: From 3004 PCI patients, seven survivors of DES ST whilst on dual antiplatelet therapy were identified and each matched with two patients without ST. Analysis was performed using (a) short Thrombelastogram PlateletMapping (TEG) and (b) VerifyNow Aspirin and P2Y12 assays. TEG analysis was performed using the Area Under the Curve at 15 minutes (AUC15) as previously described. Results: There were no differences in responses to aspirin. There was significantly greater platelet reactivity on clopidogrel in the ST group using the Accumetrics P2Y12 assay (183 51 vs. 108 31, p = 0.02) and a trend towards greater reactivity using TEG AUC15 (910 328 vs. 618 129, p = 0.07). 57% of the ST group by TEG and 43% of the ST cases by Accumetrics PRU had results > two standard deviations above the expected mean in the control group. Conclusion: This study demonstrates reduced platelet response to clopidogrel in some patients with DES ST compared to matched controls. The availability of point-of-care assays that can detect these responses raises the possibility of prospectively identifying DES patients at risk of ST and manipulating their subsequent risk.
Higher Doses of Vitamin D Needed to Prevent Cancer
(NaturalNews) Experts are increasingly pushing for higher daily recommended intakes of vitamin D, saying that while current amounts may prevent signs of deficiency, they are insufficient to provide a protective benefit against cancer.Vitamin D is an essential nutrient produced by the body when ultraviolet radiation from sunlight strikes the skin. In northern latitudes, however, when sunlight is dim for significant parts of the year, many people cannot get enough sun to synthesize sufficient levels of the vitamin. This problem is particularly pronounced among those with darker skin. Few foods are rich in vitamin D. Fish oil and fortified food sources, such as milk or non-dairy milk substitutes, provide the most common dietary sources.The United States and Canadian governments recommend a daily vitamin D intake of 200 IU. But vitamin D and cancer experts warn that this value is far too low.Recently, the Canadian Cancer Society advised that light-skinned people take a 1,000 IU vitamin D supplement daily during fall and winter months, and that dark-skinned people or those who regularly keep all their skin covered while outdoors take a supplement year-round.”We’re recommending 1,000 IU daily because the current evidence suggests this amount will help reduce cancer risk with the least potential for harm,” said Heather Logan, director of the society’s Cancer Control Policy.”I have to commend the Canadian Cancer Society,” vitamin D researcher Joan Lappe said. “They’re right out in the lead there on changing the recommendations.”Lappe was lead researcher in a recent study that found that women taking 1,100 IU of vitamin D per day showed a 60 percent reduced risk of developing cancer than women taking a placebo. Excluding women who developed cancer during the first year of the four-year study, the risk reduction from vitamin D was 77 percent.In a paper published in the “American Journal of Clinical Nutrition,” a group of vitamin D experts recently advised that an upper daily limit of 10,000 IU be set for vitamin D exposure, making a break with the current, more cautious, government recommendations.
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