The Raelian Movement
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Vitamin D May Treat or Prevent Allergy to Common Mold
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100816122122.htm
ScienceDaily (Aug. 18, 2010) — Research conducted by Dr. Jay Kolls,
Professor and Chair of Genetics at LSU Health Sciences Center New
Orleans, and colleagues, has found that vitamin D may be an effective
therapeutic agent to treat or prevent allergy to a common mold that
can complicate asthma and frequently affects patients with Cystic
Fibrosis. The work is scheduled to be published online August 16,
2010, ahead of the print edition of the September 2010 issue of the
Journal of Clinical Investigation.
The environmental mold, Aspergillus fumigatus, is one of the most
prevalent fungal organisms inhaled by people. In the vast majority, it
is not associated with disease. However, in asthmatics and in patients
with Cystic Fibrosis (CF), it can cause significant allergic symptoms.
Up to 15% of CF patients develop a severe allergic response called
Allergic Bronchopulmonary Aspergillosis (ABPA). Since the mold is so
common, the researchers wanted to identify the factors that determine
why only a subset of patients develop the allergy and what factors
regulate tolerance or sensitization to the mold resulting in the
development of ABPA. To gain insights, the group studied two groups of
patients with CF. Both groups were colonized with A. Fumigatus, but
only one had ABPA.
The researchers focused on Th2 cells-the hormonal messengers of
T-helper cells that produce an allergic response. They found that a
protein called OX40L was critical in driving Th2 responses to A.
fumigatus in the CD4+T cells isolated from patients with ABPA and that
this group had a much greater Th2 responses to A. Fumigatus. The CD4+T
cells from the group of patients that did not have ABPA had higher
levels of the proteins, FoxP3 and TGF-ß, critical to the development
of allergen tolerance. The researchers discovered that heightened Th2
reactivity in the ABPA group correlated with a lower average blood
level of vitamin D.
"We found that adding vitamin D not only substantially reduced the
production of the protein driving an allergic response, but it also
increased production of the proteins that promote tolerance," notes
Dr. Jay Kolls, Professor and Chair of Genetics at LSU Health Sciences
Center New Orleans.
According to the National Institutes of Health, Cystic fibrosis (CF)
is the most common, fatal genetic disease in the United States. About
30,000 people in the United States have the disease. CF causes the
body to produce thick, sticky mucus that clogs the lungs, leads to
infection, and blocks the pancreas, which stops digestive enzymes from
reaching the intestine where they are required in order to digest
food. It is estimated that about 70,000 people worldwide have the
disease.
Recent research has suggested that low levels of vitamin D may
contribute to heart disease, a higher risk of diabetes, certain
cancers, and depression as well as asthma, colds, and other
respiratory disorders.
"Our study provides further evidence that vitamin D appears to be
broadly associated with human health," notes Dr. Jay Kolls, Professor
and Chair of Genetics at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans. "The
next step in our research is to conduct a clinical trial to see if
vitamin D can be used to treat or prevent this complication of asthma
and Cystic Fibrosis."
Story Source:
The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by
ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by Louisiana State
University Health Sciences Center, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
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"Ethics" is simply a last-gasp attempt by deist conservatives and
orthodox dogmatics to keep humanity in ignorance and obscurantism,
through the well tried fermentation of fear, the fear of science and
new technologies.
There is nothing glorious about what our ancestors call history,
it is simply a succession of mistakes, intolerances and violations.
On the contrary, let us embrace Science and the new technologies
unfettered, for it is these which will liberate mankind from the
myth of god, and free us from our age old fears, from disease,
death and the sweat of labour.
Rael
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