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Webinar: Medical Food for Pediatric Asthma, by Dr. Julienne Lindemann

Children shouldn’t be sidelined by asthma. Today’s Practitioner is offering a free webinar for licensed practitioners on leukotriene management in pediatric asthma. Leukotrienes can exacerbate asthma by sustaining inflammatory reactions. This webinar will discuss the clinical benefits of the medical food, Lunglaid,™ which provides the nutritional support to manage leukotrieneRead

Vitamin D RDA Too Low, by Ten Fold

vitamin

A calculation error may have skewed the vitamin D recommendations by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS),  Institute of Medicine (IOM). They are far too low, by a factor of ten, say researchers at UC San Diego and Creighton University. Researchers submitted a letter of challenge, published in the journalRead

Shorter Flu Duration with Lianhuaqingwen

Rapid antigenic evolution in an influenza virus increases the likelihood of emergence of novel strains. Under the circumstances, if vaccines are not yet available, treatment plays a crucial role in control of the disease. In this meta-analysis, the authors have compared the efficacy and safety of Lianhuaqingwen capsule (LHQW-C) and oseltamivir in treating influenza A virus infection. By Pan Zhao MD et al, published in Alternative Therapies, Vol. 20, No. 2.

Larch Arabinogalactan and Immune Response

Influenza A

In 2013, a study, Immunomodulatory Effects of ResistAid™: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Multidose Study, evaluated the ability of a proprietary arabinogalactan extract from the larch tree (ResistAid™, Lonza Ltd., Basel, Switzerland) to change the immune response in healthy adults to a standardized antigenic challenge of tetanus and influenza vaccines in a dose-dependent manner compared to placebo. As it is flu season, Today’s Practitioner is revisiting the study and the subject with an interview with Bryan Rodriguez, Global Products Manager, of Lonza, makers of Resist Aid. Download the full study at the end of this article.

ICU Stays Destroy Gut Microbiome, Ups Sepsis Risk

Researchers at the University of Chicago have shown that after a long stay in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) only a handful of pathogenic microbe species remain behind in patients’ intestines. The team tested these remaining pathogens and discovered that some can become deadly when provoked by conditions that mimic

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Influenza Vaccine in Elderly: Nutritional Status-Dependent Immunogenicity

influenza vaccine

The immune response to influenza vaccine is attenuated in elderly persons, though they are at greatest risk for morbidity and mortality by influenza virus infection. Experimental studies demonstrate that co-administration of L-cystine and L-theanine enhanced antigen-specific production of immunoglobulin in aged mice infected with influenza virus. This study thus investigated the effect of L-cystine and L-theanine on antibody induction by influenza vaccines in elderly persons. By Koichi Miyagawa, Yoshimitsu Hayashi, Shigekazu Kurihara and Akiko Maeda, published in Geriatrics Gerentology Int’l., Japan Geriatrics Society, Vol. 8.

Attenuation of Natural Killer T-Cells with Cystine and Theanine

Men who perform resistance training 3 times a week for at least 6 months tend to have lower T-helper cell counts than non–resistance trained men. In addition, the natural killer (NK) cell count, an index of innate immunity, has been shown to decrease below the resting value after submaximal resistance exercise in both resistance-trained and non–resistance-trained men. It is a common hypothesis that resistance training impairs the immune system rather than enhancing its functions. This study examined the affects of cystine and theanine on NK cells, inflammation and immunity. By Shigeo Kawada, Kando Kobyahi, Masaru Ohtani and Chiho Fukusaki, published in J of Strength and Conditioning Research, Vol. 24, No. 3

Double-blind, Randomized Trial on Cystine, Theanine and the Common Cold

The common cold, an acute infection properly known as “cold syndrome,” is the most common human illness. The majority of cases of cold syndrome are acute infections of the upper respiratory tract, and its major cause is viral infection. Conventional methods of treatment use medications, such as analgesic agents and antihistamines, but these are only effective for the alleviation of symptoms, such as sneezing and runny nose. The incidence of subjects with colds during this trial was significantly lower in the CT group than in the placebo group, although the duration of the colds was not significantly different between the groups. These results suggest that CT supplementation may be useful for the prevention of the common cold. By Shigekazu Kurihara, Takenori Hiraoka, Masahisa Akutsu, Eiji Sukegawa, Makoto Bannai, and Susumu Shibahara, published in J of Amino Acids, Vol, 2010.

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