Month: January 2012

Colloidal Silver

Spinach has an extensive history as a healing aid
Pubmed has published a long list of experiments performed with spinach. Spinach has been proven to help heal osteoporosis, hypoglycemia, heart disease, and brain function.

Spinach is used traditionally as a detoxifier and helps to raise blood hematocrit levels due to the high iron content contained within its leaves.

A California CAFO was blamed for the 2006 contaminated spinach incident
In 2006, almost three hundred people fell ill after eating fresh, organic spinach which had been contaminated with E. coli. The spinach was traced to a small organic grower in California. Half of the people poisoned with E. coli were hospitalized, and three deaths were reported. The FDA ordered all bagged spinach to be removed from store shelves, strongly cautioning consumers not to eat fresh spinach.

At first, the Centers for Disease Control believed that the spinach was contaminated by irrigated water which contained cattle feces from a nearby Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO). Later it was determined that the contamination came from groundwater runoff from a nearby Angus cattle ranch.

Pyrosequencing is a ground-breaking new technology heralded by geneticists
Since the 2006 E. coli outbreak, there have been several research studies performed to determine the safety of fresh packaged spinach. The latest study was published in May, 2011 in the Journal of Applied Microbiology. Using a new technology known as pyrosequencing, scientists found not only E. coli, but over 1000 different kinds of bacteria on fresh spinach leaves. A full 75% of these bacteria strains had never been described as being on spinach before.

Pyrosequencing is a new technology being used by geneticists. Using pyrosequencing, scientists are able to accurately analyze DNA sequences. In the spinach study, scientists found that keeping spinach below 40 degrees F (4 degrees C) for a day cut the number of bacteria present on the spinach by over 50%.

Proper handling of fresh spinach
"Ready to eat" fresh spinach cannot be considered ready to eat. Because of the possibility that fresh spinach may be contaminated with toxic bacteria, safe handling procedures should be observed. Consumers of bagged spinach leaves should not eat it right out of the bag or container. All commercially grown fresh spinach should be thoroughly washed and refrigerated for a day before eating it.

The study analyzed vitamin D levels in more than 2,700 children who were age nine, and then followed up with them again at age 13. Researchers found that children who had the lowest vitamin D levels were more likely to experience symptoms of depression.

The children with higher levels of vitamin D were 10 percent less likely to have depression. These children also showed a decrease in symptoms of depression as they became teenagers.

The specific form of vitamin D is also important. This study also found that vitamin D3 offered stronger anti-depressant benefits than vitamin D2.

Vitamin D helps with depression in kids and adults
Although this is the first study to link low vitamin D with depression in children, a number of previous studies have demonstrated how vitamin D can prevent or reduce depression in adults.

Studies done in Washington state and in Norway show that raising vitamin D levels in the body can reduce symptoms of depression in women. Other research has shown that higher serum vitamin D appears to reduce the severity of symptoms associated with depression. In Italy, women with low vitamin D levels were twice as likely to experience depression. Men with low vitamin D levels experienced a 60 percent increased risk for depression.

The best source of vitamin D is the sun, which can help you produce thousands of IUs of vitamin D with good exposure in the summer months. However, not everyone can get enough exposure to the sun to correct a vitamin D deficiency. In this case, eating foods rich in vitamin D can help. These include cod liver oil, salmon, mackerel, tuna and organic egg yolks. You can also supplement with vitamin D3 if you do not get enough vitamin D through sun exposure or your diet.

Getting rid of fleas is a two-step process — treat the pet and then, treat the house. The combination works, but both steps are necessary.

Treating your pet
Using diatomaceous earth is not a new idea when it comes to treating animals for fleas. DE is a naturally occurring rock, similar to pumice, and is comprised of the fossilized skeletons of diatoms, a type of hard-shelled algae. The shells are abrasive, and when crushed into a powder, create a deadly insecticide for fleas, ticks, mites, bedbugs, chiggers and other insects. DE works by making microscopic cuts in the exoskeleton of the insect as they pass through the powder; and then absorbing their bodily fluids, killing them. It's safe to apply DE to pet fur as a powder and gently rub or brush it through. Leave it on the pet, and within 24 hours, fleas will be dead. However, take care to protect the pet and owner from inhaling the dust, which can cause damage to the lungs. Shake the powder on carefully and close to the pet's body to avoid creating a dust cloud. Ingested DE will not harm an animal and is useful for deworming instead of using veterinary chemicals.

In addition to applying DE to pets' coats, it can also be sprinkled around cracks and crevices in the home and on furniture. Vacuum up after allowing it to sit for several hours or longer. Use only pure food grade DE, which is available at feed stores and online.

Treating your house
Staphysagria is a homeopathic remedy known for being able to protect against the bites of certain insects, especially mosquitoes. Additionally, it makes an excellent flea repellant and insecticide when used as a spray around the house. No one knows exactly how the remedy works to kill fleas and other parasitic pests; however, anecdotal evidence indicates that mixing several pellets of Staphysagria 6C with water and spraying around cracks, crevices, and furniture will kill adult fleas and prevent eggs from maturing. Repeat twice a month or more frequently to keep the house free of fleas during summer.

Combining these two methods should rid pets of fleas and protect against new infestations. To ensure that dogs and outdoor cats remain free of fleas, apply DE to the yard with a fertilizer spreader. This must be done on a dry day where there is no threat of rain for several days afterwards. DE will not only destroy fleas, but will also kill ticks. To treat bushes for pests, place DE powder in a kitchen strainer and sprinkle throughout foliage. Repeat every few weeks during flea season.

Vitamins for healthy hair
The first vitamin for hair health is biotin. This is actually a form of vitamin B that is widely used to help prevent hair loss and stimulate hair growth. It is often recommended for chemotherapy patients to help increase the rate of growth.

It is also useful for thinning hair and is thought to help with loss of hair pigmentation although no conclusive evidence has been found. Biotin helps our bodies to break down fats, protein and carbohydrates. It can be found naturally in Swiss chard, liver, halibut and goat milk, to name a few.

Several other B vitamins help with hair loss or slow hair growth as well. Panthenol, or vitamin B5 is often used externally in shampoos and other hair products to help increase thickness. It has the ability to penetrate the cuticle and increase the diameter as a topical supplement.

A deficiency of vitamin B12 can lead to anemia, which stunts hair growth. Supplements of this vitamin often fall short as they don't absorb very well. Vitamin B12 shots are given for energy support in those who are deficient. However you can also increase your levels of this vitamin by eating foods such as grass fed beef, egg yolks and free range poultry.

Antioxidant vitamins are also an important source of nutrition for healthy hair. Vitamins C, E and A are important for the health of the skin and hair. They increase the health and efficiency of the entire body, thereby "freeing up" the resources to feed your hair the nutrients it needs on a daily basis. They help promote healthy connective tissues and cellular growth. A diet rich in these vitamins provides support for vibrant, abundant hair growth. Vitamin E also increases scalp circulation which in turn promotes hair growth.

Herbs for healthy hair
The foremost herb known for adding beauty and luster to the hair when taken orally is horsetail. Named for its long brush-like appearance, this herb is packed with a nutrient called silica. Silica is a substance that strengthens bones, nails and hair.

Siloca adds resilience to the hair by fortifying it with strength and thereby lessening breakage and thinning. Silica also is known for increasing shine and body thanks to the additional strength and presumably increased volume of hair. It is a relatively inexpensive herb and is used extensively for brittle or unhealthy hair.

Rosemary is an excellent herb to use topically to promote hair growth and increase scalp health. When applied to the scalp rosemary increases circulation and helps to gently remove excess sebum and dandruff, which can inhibit healthy hair growth.

Lavender is another herb that enhances the beauty of the hair. Lavender helps increase shine and gently cleanse deposits that dull the hair.

Hops are not only a main ingredient in beer. They make an excellent natural hair conditioner and softener when applied topically. The herb also contains silica so it helps fortify the hair from within. Many popular hair supplements use this to add strength and resilience.

For many in the mainstream medical and scientific community, it is not pharmaceutical drugs (killing approximately 100,000 each year), or pollutants found in our food, air and water that are dangerous. It is not the unstudied synergistic effect of the millions of tons of toxic waste released each year, creating a veritable toxic soup from which we breathe that may be dangerous to human health. Rather it is detoxification itself that poses a threat.

This community of "thinkers," who largely agree with Bender, believe the body incapable of self-healing (i.e. every symptom must be suppressed rather than expressed). They obviously see that chemicals and pharmaceuticals can be useful in manipulating symptoms; however, they fail to appreciate the merit and influence of eliminating harmful chemicals from the body through detoxification. In short, they want it both ways.

Is detoxification a fanciful notion?
To consider the skepticism which often surrounds detoxification, one must start with two specific questions: Is it possible to rid the body of harmful chemicals via detoxification; and, if so, is it necessary? Natural health advocates answer "yes" to both questions while conventional science and medicine generally say "no".

Setting aside the idea – which to some degree may be accurate – that every diet is based on some form of marketing scheme, the blanket claim that detoxification is completely unnecessary and even dangerous is absurd. Simply because it is possible that a person could harm him or herself when engaged in, let's say, a severe diet or fast does not mean detoxification is dangerous.

Detoxification is a critical part of any weight loss plan
Toxins have the ability to interfere with our metabolism in a number of ways. They overburden our liver and kidney's detoxification system, promote insulin resistance, activate the stress response, interfere with thyroid function and increase inflammation – all leading to obesity. It is naive to believe our body is capable of naturally detoxifying from the numerous stressors encountered in any given day.

The reason someone cannot lose weight is complicated. Dr. Mark Hyman writes in his book The UltraSimple Diet, "Obesity and weight problems are not always related to what we eat or how much we exercise. New research points to the role that environmental toxins play in causing weight gain and preventing weight loss."

For example, engaging in a diet for weight loss, in conjunction with a sound detoxification program, can be a most effective approach. We know that certain toxins and neurotoxic materials are stored in fat cells to protect the body from their toxicity. The body keeps these toxins from entering the bloodstream by creating a protective shield to act as their home until they can be processed by the liver.

Toxins are a fairly new concept to the human experience
We are just beginning to unearth the myriad mechanisms which can go awry when the body is overburdened with these mind and body-damaging poisons. Contrary to the many skeptics of detoxification, like Professor Bender, an emerging body of scientific evidence suggests detox diets can markedly improve the body's ability to cope in an environment fraught with an ever-increasing exposure to toxins.

Colloidal Gold

In Multiple Sclerosis marijuana can limit the
muscle pain and spasticity caused by the disease,
as well as relieving tremor and unsteadiness of gait.
We might expect the same in Parkinson's disease sufferers.

My first experience with a Parkinson's patient was with a patient of my wife. I saw her enter with much difficulty using a stroller. Her hands shook uncontrollably and she was miserable to say the least. We gave her a little magnesium to take both orally and transdermally. ?Two weeks later she came back but this time almost ran in without her stroller with the biggest smile I ever saw. Just a little magnesium had done something to her that none of her medications could.

Recently I went to visit a woman who also has Parkinson's disease. I left with her some iodine, sodium bicarbonate and magnesium and she looked like a new woman when I visited again. Her hands barely shook.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a disorder of the brain that leads to shaking (tremors) and difficulty with walking, movement, and coordination. Parkinson's disease most often develops after age 50. It is one of the most common nervous system disorders of the elderly. It sometimes occurs in younger adults and affects both men and women.

The National Parkinson Foundation reports that in the United States, 50,000-60,000 new cases of PD are diagnosed each year, adding to the one million people who currently have PD. In fact, it is estimated that four to six million people around the world suffer from the condition.

Symptoms include:

– Automatic movements (such as blinking) slow or stop
– Constipation
– Difficulty swallowing
– Drooling
– Impaired balance and walking
– Lack of expression in the face (mask-like appearance)
– Muscle aches and pains
– Movement problems
– Difficulty starting or continuing movement, such as starting to walk or getting out of a chair
– Loss of small or fine hand movements; writing may become small and difficult to read; eating becomes difficult
– Slowed movements
– Stooped position
– Rigid or stiff muscles, often beginning in the legs
– Shaking, tremors
– Tremors usually occur in the limbs at rest, or when the arm or leg is held out
– Tremors go away during movement
– Over time, tremor can be seen in the head, lips, tongue, and feet
– May be worse when tired, excited, or stressed
– Finger-thumb rubbing (pill-rolling tremor) may be present
– Slowed, quieter speech and monotone voice

Other symptoms:

– Anxiety, stress, and tension
– Confusion
– Dementia
– Depression
– Fainting
– Hallucinations
– Memory loss

There is no known cure for Parkinson's disease in contemporary medicine for they refuse to acknowledge how toxicities from heavy metals and chemicals run head on into nutritional deficiencies causing disease. Meaning modern medicine has not the slightest idea what it's doing when it comes to neurological disorders.

Many of the medications used to control symptoms can cause severe side effects, including hallucinations, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and delirium. This is typical of pharmaceutical medicine, which only adds to the toxic burden and increases nutritional deficiencies.

I am happy to say that Parkinson's and other neurological diseases do respond well to my Natural Allopathic protocol. There is sufficient evidence and testimony to suggest that people do not have to suffer with the worsening disorder that leads to total disability. Untreated, Parkinson's leads to a deterioration of all brain functions and an early miserable death!

Magnesium and Parkinson's

Evidence is mounting that low levels of magnesium contribute to the heavy metal?deposition in the brain that precedes Parkinson's, multiple sclerosis, and Alzheimer's. Many of the symptoms of Parkinson's disease can be overcome with high magnesium supplementation. In a trial with 30 epileptics, 450 mg of magnesium supplied daily successfully controlled seizures. Another study found that the lower the magnesium blood levels the more severe was the epilepsy. In most cases magnesium works best in combination with vitamin B6 and zinc.

Magnesium protects the cells from aluminum, mercury, lead, cadmium, beryllium, and nickel and is often used alone as a mineral therapy for successful chelation of metals, and is necessary in their chelation when stronger agents are used. Because of its nerve and muscle support, magnesium is helpful for nervousness, anxiety, insomnia, depression, and muscle cramps.

Magnesium comes out on top in the class of cerebral protective agents. Magnesium offers significant cerebral protection with a high preservation effect on neurological function following brain injury or in healing chronic impaired dysfunction like in Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases. It certainly helps in the case of stroke and that's why they are experimenting with injecting it the minute the ambulance shows up at the door.

Nerve cells use a brain chemical called dopamine to help control muscle movement. Parkinson's disease occurs when the nerve cells in the brain that make dopamine are slowly destroyed. Without dopamine, the nerve cells in that part of the brain cannot properly send messages. This leads to the loss of muscle function. The damage gets worse with time.

It has been shown that continuous low magnesium intake induces exclusive loss of dopaminergic neurons in rats. Magnesium exerts both preventive and ameliorating effects in an in vitro rat Parkinson disease model involving 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium (MPP+) toxicity in dopaminergic neurons. Magnesium protects dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra from degeneration. There is a significant and striking effect of magnesium for prevention of neurite and neuron pathology, and also amelioration of neurite pathology. Magnesium deficiency, over generations in rats, is tied to the pathogenesis of the parkinsonism-dementia complex and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

The lack of dopaminergic neurons is reflected by a disturbed
balance of the neural circuitry in the basal ganglia. Cannabinoids
alleviate some parkinsonian symptoms by their remarkable receptor-
mediated modulatory action in the basal ganglia output nuclei.

Magnesium Testimonial

"I have completed my first day of magnesium oil therapy on William who has had Parkinson's for over 20 years. I am hoping for a revival of functionality but not with high expectations because of the severity and duration of his symptoms. His condition before starting the magnesium oil was: He couldn't talk at all. Could not articulate what-so-ever! He was barely functional and did nothing voluntarily. No exercise and no attempt to stop drooling. The drooling was getting so bad and so constant that I was beginning to isolate him to his bedroom in his big recliner because the carpets are new here and the enzymes of the saliva stain permanently. And it appeared to be getting worse by the week. That's how he was. He also had started getting violent with me. If I pushed him too hard he would fly into a rage and hit me with whatever he could lay his hands on."

"I applied the magnesium oil twice yesterday and he woke this morning and washed his own face, cleaned his teeth and put on his robe by himself — without being told to do these things. This is unheard of and hasn't happened for two years. What is more, he is not drooling. The drooling has been massive and absolutely uncontrollable for about a year. His swallowing reflex is simply going. He has had his nutritional drink, his coffee, his brain formula, fresh veggies, and scrambled eggs and hasn't drooled once. So, my hope is high. This is the best I've seen for a very long time."

"After only three days interestingly his speech has been much better overall. I am applying it faithfully three times a day all over him. I will just keep up the application and let time do the explaining. I am very encouraged by the improvement in speech. I honestly did not expect to see any results. His eyes are brighter, the concentration is longer and better and the speech is much improved. By no means has he become a "toastmaster" but at least he can string two or three words together now and does not freeze up completely."

"Most recently he has been quite violent. For example he thrashed me over the head with a plastic ladle one day so quickly that he got in six or seven good thwacks before I could snatch it away from him. But since starting the magnesium oil, his demeanor has improved immensely. No more surly ugly looks, no more stubborn refusals to swallow or do something that I ask him to do. Great improvement and best of all he is now able to communicate so he can tell me what he wants and needs."

"After 3+ weeks his speech is still much improved. It seems to be stable now. He couldn't give any lectures at Harvard, but he can make himself understood as to what he needs or wants. As I said prior to the magnesium treatment he couldn't speak well enough to communicate anything."
Nancy English Vinal

Cannabis and Parkinson's Disease

It has only recently been observed that some cannabinoids are potent antioxidants that can protect neurons from death even without cannabinoid receptor activation. It seems that cannabinoids can delay or even stop progressive degeneration of brain dopaminergic systems, a process for which there is presently no prevention. In combination with magnesium cannabinoids represent, qualitatively, a new approach to the treatment of Parkinson's Disease.

Dr. Evzin Ruzicka, an attending neurologist at Charles University in Prague in the Czech Republic said, "To our knowledge, this is the first study to assess the effect of cannabis on Parkinson's disease, and our findings suggest it may alleviate some symptoms" states Dr. Evin RuIcka.

39 patients (46%) reported that their Parkinson's disease symptoms in general were relieved after they started using cannabis. In terms of specific symptoms, 26 (31%) reported an improvement in tremor while at rest, and 38 (45%) experienced a relief of bradykinesia. Relief of muscle rigidity was reported by 32 (38%), and 12 (14%) said they had an improvement in levodopa-induced dyskinesias.

The respondents reported that the improvement in symptoms occurred an average of 1.7 months after they had started using cannabis. Patients who used it for at least three months were more likely to experience symptom relief than those with shorter experience, the investigators reported.

In a 2007 study published in Nature, researchers from the Stanford University School of Medicine report that endocannabinoids, naturally occurring chemicals found in the brain that are similar to the active compounds in marijuana and hashish, helped trigger a dramatic improvement in mice with a condition similar to Parkinson's.

Dr. Robert Malenka, at the Nancy Friend Pritzker Professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and Dr. Anatol Kreitzer combined a drug used to treat Parkinson's disease (Dopamine) with an experimental compound that can boost the level of endocannabinoids in the brain. When they used the combination in mice with a condition like Parkinson's, the mice went from being frozen in place to moving around freely in 15 minutes. "They were basically normal," Kreitzer said.

"It turns out the receptors for cannabinoids are all over the brain, but they are not always activated by the naturally occurring endocannabinoids," said Malenka. The treatment used on the mice involves enhancing the activity of the chemicals where they occur naturally in the brain. "That is a really important difference, and it is why we think our manipulation of the chemicals is really different from smoking marijuana."

Iodine

Iodine is found in large quantities in the brain and the
ciliary body of the eye. Lack of iodine may be involved
in production of Parkinson's disease and glaucoma.
Dr. James Howenstein

Long-term iodine deficiency appears linked to abnormalities in the dopaminergic system that include an increased number of dopamine receptors. It is argued that this raises susceptibility to dopamine oxidation which, in turn, causes deficiencies of the antioxidant enzymes Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase and catalase. Dopamine deficiency also leads to elevated cytotoxic glutamate levels.

"….The hypothesis that Parkinson's disease may be linked to soil and hence dietary iodine deficiency, associated with glaciation, is not new. In 1987, De Pedro-Cuesta concluded that Parkinsonism had the strongest links with "Early life exposure to a geochemical imbalance, related to the last glaciation, associated to iodine washing out, present in soil, water and diet."

De Pedro-Cuesta reached this conclusion based on Parkinson's disease prevalence and mortality in selected age groups and similarities between current levodopa use and goiter distribution, during the period 1920 to 1935. As early as 1959, Warren also argued that multiple sclerosis was more common in regions that had suffered recent continental glaciations, where it tends to develop most frequently in individuals who, as newborns, were fed milk from iodine deficient cows. It has been hypothesized that a lack of iodine in fodder deprives cattle of thyroxine, a deficiency which in turn prevents the conversion of carotene to vitamin A.

Milk short of this vitamin also lacks the essential fatty acids because the latter, which form the main constituents of the myelin sheath, are oxidized rapidly in the absence of vitamin A. Certainly, a thyroid deficiency in rats has been linked to reduced myelin formation.

Rat studies indicate that iodine deficiencies can cause reduced brain weight, limited myelin formation, retarded neuronal maturation, a lowering of the production of various enzymes and slowing of the rates of protein and R.N.A. synthesis. Similar processes appear to occur in many neurological diseases.

In the brain, iodine concentrates in the substantia nigra, an area
of the brain that has been associated with Parkinson's disease.
David Brownstein M.D.

For all the references, sources and more articles, please visit Dr. Mark Sircus blog.

About the author:
About the author:
Mark A. Sircus, Ac., OMD, is director of the International Medical Veritas Association (IMVA) http://www.imva.info/.

Dr. Sircus was trained in acupuncture and oriental medicine at the Institute of Traditional Medicine in Sante Fe, N.M., and at the School of Traditional Medicine of New England in Boston. He served at the Central Public Hospital of Pochutla in Mexico, and was awarded the title of doctor of oriental medicine for his work. He was one of the first nationally certified acupuncturists in the United States. Dr. Sircus's IMVA is dedicated to unifying the various disciplines in medicine with the goal of creating a new dawn in healthcare.

The heartbreaking story you are about to read recently occurred at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHP), where an arrogant, uncaring doctor and his social worker pawn told the parents of a young girl with mental impairment that she is not eligible for a needed organ transplant at their hospital. Even though both parents expressed willingness to donate one of their own organs for the transplant, the doctor in question still refused, recommending that the girl just be left to die.

Little Amelia suffers from an affliction known as Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome (WHS) that causes developmental delay, a characteristic facial appearance, and sometimes other birth defects. Amelia had been seeing a nephrologist at CHP for three years before the horrific incident denying her right to life took place, and had made much progress in spite of her condition, thanks to the unconditional love and dedication of her long-suffering parents.

But all of this changed on January 10, 2012, when an unnamed Peruvian doctor of about 65 years old told Amelia's parents that he would not be approving a life-saving kidney transplant. The hubristic doctor, presumptuously assuming the role of God, explained his opinion that Amelia's "mentally retarded" and "brain damaged" state rendered her unworthy of the transplant, and proceeded to explain that Amelia would not, under any circumstances, receive the transplant at CHP.
Be sure to read the full sobering account of Amelia's parents' harrowing experience here(http://www.wolfhirschhorn.org/2012/01/amelia/brick-walls/).

As we all know, the mainstream medical system is wrong about a lot of things, including its assessments of "quality of life" and determinations of who is worthy of living. After all, how many times have stories emerged about terminal patients living far longer than doctor assessments, for instance, or individuals in a "permanent" vegetative state miraculously recovering in spite of physicians declaring that such individuals would never recover?

Allowing an individual with developmental deficiencies to die because you consider his or her life to be less valuable is the epitome of eugenicist ideology. And such thinking is becoming increasingly more common as government agencies in concert with megalith insurance corporations seize control of healthcare and dictate who is worthy of receiving it.

For example, NaturalNews previously reported that scientists at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Comprehensive Cancer Center and UAB Department of Chemistry are currently investigating the very real possibility that dead cancer cells left over after chemotherapy spark cancer to spread to other parts of the body (metastasis). And now comes news that a little-explored specific cell type, the pericyte, found in what is called the microenvironment of a cancerous tumor actually may halt cancer progression and metastasis. And by destroying these cells, some anti-cancer therapies may inadvertently be making cancer more aggressive as well as likely to spread and kill.

A study just published in the January 17 issue of the journal Cancer Cell concludes that anti-angiogenic therapies (which shrink cancer by cutting off tumors' blood supply) may be killing the body's natural defense against cancer by destroying pericyte cells that likely serve as important gatekeepers against cancer progression and metastasis. Pericytes cover blood vessels and support their growth.

For the new research, Raghu Kalluri, MD, PhD, Chief of the Division of Matrix Biology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School (HMS), investigated whether targeting pericytes could inhibit tumor growth in the same way that other antiangiogenic cancer drugs do.

Dr. Kalluri and his research team worked with mice genetically engineered to support drug-induced depletion of pericytes in growing tumors. Next, they removed pericytes in implanted mouse breast cancer tumors, decreasing pericyte numbers by 60 percent.

Compared with control animals, there was a 30 percent decrease in the size of cancerous tumors over 25 days. But there was a serious catch to these results. Contrary to conventional mainsteam medical wisdom, the scientists discovered the number of secondary lung tumors in the engineered mice had increased threefold compared to the control mice, indicating that the tumors had metastasized.

How cancer drugs can spread cancer cells
"If you just looked at tumor growth, the results were good," Dr. Kalluri said in a press statement. "But when you looked at the whole picture, inhibiting tumor vessels was not controlling cancer progression. The cancer was, in fact, spreading. This suggested to us that without supportive pericytes, the vasculature inside the tumor was becoming weak and leaky — even more so than it already is inside most tumors– and this was reducing the flow of oxygen to the tumor."

That change, he explains, makes cancer cells more mobile, so they can travel through those leaky vessels to new locations. It also makes cancer cells behave more like stem cells, so they are better able to survive.

Because cancer therapies such as Imatinib, Sunitinib and others are known to decrease pericytes in tumors, the scientists next carried out the same experiments in mice with primary tumors. Only this time, they used the chemotherapy drugs Imatinib and Sunitinib instead of genetic programs to decrease pericyte numbers. Both Imatinib and Sunitinib caused 70 percent pericyte depletion — and they also increased metastasis threefold.

In order to see if their findings are relevant to human patients, the research team examined 130 breast cancer tumor samples of varying cancer stages and tumor sizes and compared pericyte levels with prognoses. The result? The samples with low numbers of pericytes in tumor vasculature correlated with the most deeply invasive cancers, distant metastasis and five to ten year survival rates less than 20 percent.

"These results are quite provocative and will influence clinical programs designed to target tumor angiogenesis," Ronald A. DePinho, president of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, said in a press statement. "These impressive studies will inform and refine potential therapeutic approaches for many cancers."

Traditionally, fevers were respected and understood. People knew that the fever would build and then break, like a wave rolling into shore. Now, without knowing or understanding the process, most try to suppress it immediately using antipyretics, or substances that lower temperature, such as acetaminophen and ibuprofen. Antipyretics may quickly lower temperature, but in doing so they silence the body, hinder immune system development, allow the invader to survive and potentially induce chronic disease development.

Antipyretics are often misused, incorrectly administered or excessively dosed as well. Fifty percent of parents consider a temperature of less than 100.4°F is a fever and 25% of caregivers administer an antipyretic then, before the temperature actually reaches fever status. More disturbingly, 85% of parents report waking a sleeping child to administer antipyretics. 80% of pediatricians disagree with this practice. The physiologic healing that occurs while sleeping far surpasses the desire to simply lower the fever.

Modern medicine has lead us away from our bodies. Through its symptom-targeted treatments, patients have learned to expect immediate results. This is even more true when loving parents are concerned for their children. Treating symptoms without treating the cause is like taking the batteries out of the fire alarm, while the house burns down. It is essential to teach parents and children to listen and interpret these signs from the body, not just focus on removing of them.

Fever as a friend, not a foe
A fever is defined by an oral temperature exceeding 100.4° F. They are usually self-limiting and short in duration. There is no evidence of fevers worsening the course of the illness or causing long- term neurological complications. It is important to understand, that the fever itself is not a disease, but rather a symptom of an underlying disharmony.

As human beings, we want to stay alive. This is true on all levels. Mentally, physically, physiologically, and biologically, we function to promote life. Once this is understood, it's easy to grasp that a fever is a physiologic process the body uses to fight infection, thus promoting survival or life. When an invader (virus, bacteria etc.) enters the body, signals are sent to the brain to increase the hypothalamic "set point". This essentially turns up the thermostat for a few days to kill the intruder. Signals can come from bacterial toxins or the body's response to the intruder, i.e. the production of cytokines, chemical mediators, macrophages, and antibodies. The temperature increase also enhances the immune system by catalyzing enzymes, increasing neutrophil production and T-lymphocyte proliferation. Inflammation is stimulated to protect the area, prevent the spread of infection and initiate the healing process.

Always consult your naturopathic physician or pediatrician when fevers exceed 102°F or last longer than three days. Also consult if the fever causes great discomfort, breathing difficulty, stiff neck, convulsions or any time you are unsure. Proper hydration and electrolyte replenishment are essential to support the body.

Sources for this article include:

Boyle A, Saine A. Lectures in Naturopathic Hydrotherapy. 1988. Eclectic Medical Publications, Oregon.

Crocetti M, Moghbeli N, Serwint J. Fever Phobia revisited: have parental misconceptions about fever changed in 20 years. Pediatrics. 2001; 107(6)1241-1246

Skowron, J. Pediatrics. University of Bridgeport College of Naturopathic Medicine. 2012. Bridgeport, CT.

Sullivan J, Farrar H. 2011. Clinical Report- Fever and Anti-pyretic use in children. Pediatrics: From the American Academy of Pediatrics 2001; 127(3), 580-587.

Yale School of Medicine, Yale Medical Group: Fevers.

About the author:
Lindsay Chimileski: I am a graduate medical student currently pursuing dual degrees in Naturopathic Medicine and Acupuncture, expecting to graduate in 2013. I have a passion for health education, patient empowerment and the restoration of balance- both on the individual and communal level. I believe all can learn how to live happily, in harmony with nature and in ways that support the body's innate ability to heal itself.