TheWellnessLiving Health Tips

Stem cell treatment for acute myocardial infarction. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2008;(4):CD006536 Authors: Martin-Rendon E, Brunskill S, Dorée C, Hyde C, Watt S, Mathur A, Stanworth S BACKGROUND: Stem cell therapy offers a promising approach to the regeneration of damaged vascular and cardiac tissue after myocardial infarction (MI). This has resulted in multiple randomised controlled trials (RCTs) worldwide. OBJECTIVES: To critically evaluate evidence from RCTs on the effectiveness of adult bone marrow-derived stem cells (BMSC) to treat acute MI. SEARCH STRATEGY: MEDLINE (1950 to August 2007), EMBASE (1974 to August 2007), The Cochrane Library (Issue 3 2007), and CINAHL (1982 to August 2007) were searched. In addition LILACS, KOREAMED, INMED, Current Controlled Trials Register, the UK National Research Register and other handsearching was undertaken to August 2007. SELECTION CRITERIA: RCTs comparing autologous stem/progenitor cells with no autologous stem/progenitor cells in patients diagnosed with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) were eligible. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two reviewers independently screened all references, assessed trial quality and extracted data. Meta-analyses using a random-effects model were conducted and heterogeneity was explored using sub-group analyses. MAIN RESULTS: Thirteen RCTs (811 participants) were included. There were insufficient events on clinical outcomes like mortality to draw clear conclusions. Stem/progenitor cell treatment does not appear to be associated with an increase in adverse events but again the data do not allow clear conclusions. Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was the outcome with most results and there was marked heterogeneity between trials. There was however a consistent pattern indicating that BMSC treatment generally improves short-term LVEF, with similar trends for left ventricular end systolic and end diastolic volumes (LVESV and LVEDV), infarct size or cardiac wall motion. There was a positive correlation between cell dose infused and the effect on LVEF measured by magnetic resonance imaging. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: The results of this systematic review suggest that there is little evidence to assess the clinical effects of this treatment. Larger trials using optimal dosing and more reliable, patient-centred outcomes are required. Several trials are ongoing but is unclear whether these will overcome the limitations of the current evidence base. PMID: 18843721 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Stem cell treatment for Crohn's disease. Expert Rev Clin Immunol. 2010 Jul;6(4):597-605 Authors: Panés J, Ordás I, Ricart E While stem cell-based treatments have been established as a clinical standard of care for some conditions, such as hematopoietic stem cell transplants for cancer, the scope of potential stem cell-based therapies has expanded in recent years due to advances in stem cell research, paving the way for the increasing utilization of stem cell therapies in severe immune-mediated diseases including inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) and, in particular, Crohn's disease. Both hematopoietic stem cells and mesenchymal (stromal) stem cells are considered to be of potential therapeutic benefit in immune-mediated conditions. A growing body of experimental and clinical evidence shows that hematopoietic stem cell transplant induces long-lasting remission in a majority of patients with active severe Crohn's disease refractory to drug treatments, and the differential effect of potent immunosuppression and immune reconstitution in this setting is under evaluation. Mesenchymal stem cells have been shown to exert immunomodulatory action on various types of immune-mediated diseases, and in experimental models of IBD, but evaluation of the potential efficacy of this therapy in IBD is still in the early stages. PMID: 20594133 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Resveratrol and red wine, healthy heart and longevity. Heart Fail Rev. 2010 Sep;15(5):467-77 Authors: Das DK, Mukherjee S, Ray D Resveratrol, a polyphenol phytoalexin, present in red wine and grapes possesses diverse biochemical and physiological properties, including estrogenic, antiplatelet, and anti-inflammatory properties as well as a wide range of health benefits ranging from chemoprevention to cardioprotection. Recently, several studies described resveratrol as an anti-aging compound. This review focuses on the anti-aging aspects of resveratrol, the possible mechanisms of action, and emerging controversy on its life-prolonging ability. It appears that resveratrol can induce the expression of several longevity genes including Sirt1, Sirt3, Sirt4, FoxO1, Foxo3a and PBEF and prevent aging-related decline in cardiovascular function including cholesterol level and inflammatory response, but it is unable to affect actual survival or life span of mice. PMID: 20238161 [PubMed - in process]

Resveratrol and cardiovascular health. Mol Aspects Med. 2010 Sep 15; Authors: Das M, Das DK Resveratrol (3,4',5-trihydroxystilbene) is a member of natural, plant-derived chemicals known as polyphenols and is attracting increased attention due to its diverse health benefits especially in case of cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes and neurological problems. Despite impressive gains in diagnosis and treatment, cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains a serious clinical problem and threat to public health. Resveratrol possesses potent antioxidant properties and has been shown to decrease low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol oxidation and platelet aggregation. This compound also possesses a range of additional cardioprotective and vasoprotective properties including antiatherosclerotic and vasorelaxation action. Resveratrol also has the capacity to interact with multiple molecular targets, which involve diverse intracellular pathways. Most well-known is the ability of resveratrol to activate sirtuins, a class of NAD(+)-dependent deacetylase that affect multiple transcription factors and other protein targets. Recently, resveratrol was found to induce autophagy and regenerate myocardial ischemic tissue treated with stem cells. Overall observation indicates that resveratrol has a high therapeutic potentials for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. PMID: 20837050 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Physiological effects of resveratrol. [caption id="attachment_450" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Buy Meratol"][/caption] Biofactors. 2010 Sep;36(5):401-6 Authors: Kalantari H, Das DK Resveratrol is naturally present in certain fruits and vegetables including grape skins and especially in red wine. Similar to red wine, resveratrol possesses diverse biochemical and physiological properties including anti-inflammatory and immunomulatory activities as well as wide range of health benefits ranging from chemoprevention to cardioprotection. Recent studies implicated that resveratrol also possesses antiaging properties. The present review describes some of the important physiological properties of resveratrol that accounts for its diverse physiological actions. PMID: 20623511 [PubMed - in process]