Science Library
Researchers in Windsor, Ont., have received an additional $157,000 grant for a total of $217,000 to study how effective dandelion root extract is in fighting cancer.
Siyaram Pandey, a biochemist at the University of Windsor, has been studying the anti-cancer potential of dandelion root extract for almost two years.
His team’s first phase of research showed that dandelion root extract forced a very aggressive and drug-resistant type of blood cancer cell, known as chronic monocytic myeloid leukemia, to essentially commit suicide.
German researchers have determined that epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG)—a flavonoid found in green tea—inhibits the hepatitis C virus (HCV) from entering liver cells. Study findings available in the December issue of Hepatology, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, suggest that EGCG may offer an antiviral strategy to prevent HCV reinfection following liver transplantation.
| from Jules: many studies in the past few years conducted by Peter Ferenci have shown IV silibin to have significant antiviral efficacy against HCV (see link below). |
Hepatitis C is an infectious disease of the liver that can cause miserable symptoms including fatigue, lack of appetite, abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting. Caused by a virus, hepatitis C affects about 200 million people worldwide. In the U.S. alone, one to two percent of the population is infected. Not only can this infectious disease cause scarring of the liver, cirrhosis, and eventually liver failure, but a significant number of people with hepatitis C also develop sometimes fatal liver disease or cancer.
Executive Summary
The Hepatitis C Trust held a web-based survey from April 2006 to September 2007 that asked about people’s experience of anti-viral hepatitis C treatment and in particular how they felt up to 3 years after finishing the treatment. 500 respondents completed the questionnaire.
Key findings:
A group of Australian scientists have been able to cure HIV-like infections in mice by boosting their immune systems.Doctor
Marc Pellegrini from Melbourne's Walter and Eliza Hall Institute found a
hormone known as Interleukin 7 stimulates the body's response to an
infection, causing it to clear the virus.This process is called immune exhaustion."We
found that Interleukin 7 boosted the immune response in a pretty
profound fashion, such that animals were able to gradually clear the
virus without too much collateral tissue damage," Dr Pellegrini said.
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) can breach the blood-brain barrier
and infect support cells in the brain, triggering inflammatory
changes that ultimately result in damage to neurons,
suggests new research published in the open access online
journal PLoS One. Findings from this autopsy
study may help explain how HCV infection causes neurocognitive