December 24th, 2009

Latest News

ON THESE PAGES YOU WILL FIND EXTRACTS AND LINKS TO THE LATEST NATURAL AND SCIENTIFIC NEWS UPDATES
Please come back as this section will be updated on a regular basis. We have only put summaries here, but with full links so you can follow the story if you wish.

Treatments for patients with psoriatic arthritis – Mar 15, 2011

Golf pro Phil Mickelson’s recent admission that he’s battling psoriatic arthritis has put the national spotlight on this chronic autoimmune disease that most often affects people between the ages of 30 and 50. Mickelson is 40 years old.

“Psoriatic arthritis is a chronic inflammatory disease of the joints and skin that affects as many as one million people in the U.S.,” said Dr. Majid Serushan……

For more on this article CLICK HERE.

Psoriasis treatment trials bgin; $10M GSK milestone payment to come - Jan 26, 2011

A new psoriasis treatment being developed by a California drug development company has entered human trials, triggering a $10 million milestone payment from partner GlaxoSmithKline.

For more on this article CLICK HERE.

Dead Sea Salt Treatment for Psoriasis & Eczema Featured on CNN – May 27, 2010
An ancient holistic treatment for relief from Psoriasis is gaining new popularity as more people who have Psoriasis and Eczema turn to natural methods of getting relief. The natural treatment recreates the water conditions of the famous Dead Sea in the user’s bath tub. The effects of using mineral-rich Dead Sea salts to get relief from Psoriasis & Eczema have recently been shown & discussed on CNN with several interview subjects swearing by the results……

For more on this article CLICK HERE

Celgene sees inflammatory drugs driving new growth – April 8, 2010
………The company also has high hopes for apremilast, an experimental treatment for the skin disorder psoriasis and for psoriatic arthritis for which Celgene plans to begin late stage clinical trials this year. Celgene said the drug could eventually generate annual sales in excess of $2 billion to $3 billion………

For more on the article CLICK HERE.

Ayurvedic medicine and treatment of psoriasis – March 28, 2010
According to the Ayurveda system of medicine, psoriasis is caused due to an imbalance in two of the three Doshas, namely, Vata and Kapha Doshas. They affect the blood tissues and the water or moisture content of the skin. Along with this, other factors that may affect are controlling natural desires and urges, heavy foods, and psychological stress.

[Note: I've had a quick look at some of the books on Ayurveda and although the basic principles are daresay the same, some don't always mention psoriasis directly. This one does, and has a section on it if you want to take a look.  Ayurvedic Healting, 2nd Revised and Enlarged Edition: A Comprehensive Guide. You should be able to get it from around $16.]

For more on the article CLICK HERE.

Horsham, Pa., March 25, 2010 /PRNewswire/

Fit in Your Skin™, a first-of-its-kind health and wellness program specifically designed for people living with psoriasis, is being introduced today through a collaborative effort between Centocor Ortho Biotech Inc. and the National Psoriasis Foundation (NPF). Click here for more…

NICE Draft Guidance Proposes Treatment Options For Psoriatic Arthritis – 16 Mar 2010

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has published draft guidance recommending etanercept (Enbrel, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals) and adalimumab (Humira, Abbott Laboratories) for the treatment of adults with active and progressive psoriatic arthritis when specific criteria are met. Infliximab (Remicade, Schering-Plough) is also recommended where neither etanercept nor adalimumab can be used. Click here for more…

Ruth Watson: ‘My face is the only place I don’t have psoriasis’  7  March 2010

Ruth WatsonWell covered: Ruth Watson’s fringe hides the inflamed skin on her hairline due to psoriasis, which started when she was 24

Television presenter Ruth Watson gets through plenty of concealing make-up when she’s filming up and down the country – but it’s not for her lovely blemish-free face, it is to cover up the red scaly patches on her hands.

Click here for more…

Genomic differences identified in common skin diseases (23 Dec 2009)

It’s sometimes said that dermatologists do one of two things (though it’s not dermatologists who say it): Faced with a skin disease that’s too dry, they try to wet it; if the disease is too wet, they try to dry it. There’s some wisdom in this general approach, says James G. Krueger, head of the Laboratory for Investigative Dermatology at Rockefeller University. But it also suggests the lack of sophisticated treatments for many skin conditions. “A hairdryer or a sponge doesn’t make a very good therapeutic. We need to do better. We need to be more specific.”

In experiments published this month in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Krueger and colleagues drilled down on the molecular nitty-gritty that distinguishes the two most common forms of inflammatory skin disease, atopic eczema and psoriasis. The researchers say that the ability to distinguish between the disorders’ genetic and immunological signatures opens the door for more narrowly targeted therapies sorely needed by the millions of people afflicted worldwide.

Read more of this report  HERE

Study Redefines Placebo Effect as Part of Effective Treatment (22 Dec 2009)

Researchers used the placebo effect [subjects believe they are being given treatment] to successfully treat psoriasis patients with one quarter to one half of their usual dose of a widely used steroid medication, according to an early study published online today in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine. Early results in human patients suggest that the new technique could improve treatment for several chronic diseases that involve mental state or the immune system, including asthma, multiple sclerosis and chronic pain.

By designing treatment regimens that mix active drug and placebo, researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center hope to maximize drug benefits, reduce side effects, increase the number of patients who take their medicine and extend the use of drugs otherwise limited by addiction risk or toxicity. Using a fraction of the usual drug dose to get the same effect could also make possible a dramatic and timely reduction in healthcare costs, according to the authors.

The publication is a product of decades of research in the emerging field of “psychoneuro-immunology,” which holds that the ability of the human immune system to fight disease is closely linked with a person’s mind. Thoughts and moods are captured in neurochemicals that cause the release of hormones which interact with disease-fighting cells.

Read more of this report HERE

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