On DMX,...I'm only up a little Kayne, all on the long side...clearly you are the ultimate trader,..I bow to your superior skill.
As far as my theories on DMSO,...they are based on the physical properties of the DMSO molecule, and its known effects on the human body,...many of which I have gleaned from your posts collected by the great Dr. Jacobs. I welcome a discussion with biochemists, molecular biologists, cellular physiologists, membrane biologists,...or similar "ist's" with a better idea of what DMSO will do in concentration in epidermal cells. Clearly you lack that knowledge, but I have some.
I'd also welcome ideas on why our President Becky sold most of her shares and left most shareholders swinging in the wind (not you of course because you are impervious to shareprice declines, unlike the rest of us). Perhaps she needed the money because she has developed RA and needed to buy some potent drugs,...well if the Mary Jane didn't work she could opt for Remicade or Enbrel like Kathy Turner,...or did she use that "blue stuff" like James Colburn (gggggggggggg)
I did it for you Cal,....no that's Sylvester Stallone (ggggggggggggggggggg)
Marijuana Ingredient Helps Mice Overcome Arthritis (8/01)
Richard Saltus
c.2000 The Boston Globe
An extract of marijuana that does not make users ``high'' blunted the attack of rheumatoid arthritis in mice, scientists are reporting, suggesting a possible new weapon against the crippling disease that affects more than 2 million Americans.
The substance is called cannabidiol, one of about 80 ingredients of marijuana. But it doesn't have any mind-altering properties, making it potentially easier to develop as a drug in today's legal environment, the researchers said.
The compound apparently works much like Enbel and Remicade, new drugs for rheumatoid arthritis, but unlike them can be taken orally, said Dr. Marc Feldmann, a prominent arthritis researcher in London and senior author of the report.
The mouse experiments are described in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Scientists gave laboratory mice injections of collagen, a connective-tissue protein that sparked an abnormal immune system attack on the mice's tissues and joints.
Rheumatoid arthritis is characterized by such mistaken attacks by the body's own defense system, which leads to swelling, pain, inflammation and destruction of joints. Osteoarthritis, the other major type, is caused by wear and tear and is not usually as disabling.
The cannabidiol, purified from hashish, was injected into some rats and given orally to others, while control animals received a placebo.
Researchers evaluated the drug's effect by measuring swelling, inflammation and joint stiffness in the animals. Some of the rodents' hind feet were removed so they could be studied for physical damage by the renegade immune system attack.
Animals who got the drug had significantly fewer symptoms, and more of them escaped damage to their feet. Only a certain dose was effective, though, the scientists reported: a little higher or lower dose didn't work.
``We think the way forward now is to do a clinical trial'' in human patients, said Feldmann, who is a division chief at the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology in London, which he said is the largest institution in the world studying rheumatic diseases.
Feldmann and a colleague recently received a $500,000 prize from the Swedish Academy of Scientists for their work over a decade in showing that a particular immune system signaler, tumor necrosis factor, or TNF, is a major culprit in rheumatoid arthritis. Blocking TNF, they found, also squelched the activity of other molecules involved in the immune system's mistaken attack on the body's own tissues.
This paved the way for drugs like Enbrel and Remicade, which are TNF-blockers that entered wide use in the past year and a half.
Feldmann said he was interested in testing the marijuana compound because of findings over many years by Dr. Raffi Mechoulem in Israel, who he called the ``guru of cannabinoid chemistry.'' He said Mechoulem has made it his life's work to understand the medicinal properties of the many ingredients in the marijuana plant.
Dr. John Klippel, the medical director of the Arthritis Foundation in Atlanta, called the work ``interesting'' and said that because Feldmann is such an influential arthritis researcher it gives the marijuana findings credibility.
Klippel said that Enbrel and Remicade have brought dramatic relief to many rheumatoid arthritis sufferers. ``There's now unequivocal evidence that they slow down or even halt joint damage,'' he said.
The drawbacks are that the drugs have to be injected by the patient or someone else twice a week, and that they are expensive. A year's treatment costs about $10,000, he said.
In a commentary accompaying the report, Dr. Stephen E. Straus of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine noted that previous research has indicated that marijuana and its ingredients can block inflammation.
It's possible, he said, that the compounds in marijuana ``could alleviate arthritis as implied in the present report, yet remain well tolerated.''
Straus highlighted the puzzling finding that the cannabidiol compound was only effective at a narrow range of doses, and said for that reason ``it might be difficult to develop (the substance) into a useful anti-inflammatory or immunosuppressive drug.''
boston.com |
