4/25/18 4/25/18

Osteoarthritis: auto-inflammation, IL-17 and the microbiome

Osteoarthritis is an autoinflammatory condition characterized by a more aggressive inflammatory response to stressed or damaged tissue, with a subset exhibiting high IL-17 activity, a hallmark of autoimmunity. This may be ameliorated by regulating the autoinflammatory response through manipulation of the gut microbiome.

5/24/14 5/24/14

Exercise: moderation is best for the heart

Exercise can benefit with surprisingly little effort and time as documented by recent studies, but like everything else there is a dose-response curve, meaning that the effect of exercise varies with the dose (intensity, duration). Now there is more evidence that exercising too intensively can do harm, particularly to the cardiovascular system.

9/4/13 9/4/13

Chronic Lyme disease, post-Lyme disease syndrome and insights from the pathophysiology of sepsis

Chronic Lyme disease, now correctly termed post-Lyme disease syndrome (PLDS), has challenged and confused practitioners and patients unfamiliar with the potential autoimmune sequelae of infection... The principles of managing autoimmunity, triggered by infection or not, entail discernment of the multiple underlying mechanisms contributing to loss of immune tolerance of self-tissue...This must be borne in mind by the clinician managing either autoimmunity triggered by Lyme or other infections

2/14/13 2/14/13

More on the autoimmunity of osteoarthritis

A paper just published in the journal Clinical Immunology reminds clinicians that osteoarthritis occurs when there is a pathological immune response to articular cartilage. "Even though osteoarthritis (OA) is mainly considered as a degradative condition of the articular cartilage, there is increasing body of data demonstrating the involvement of all branches of the immune system."