PNEUMONIA BACTERIUM LEAVES TINY LESIONS IN THE HEART

The long-observed association between pneumonia and heart failure now has more physical evidence, thanks to research in the School of Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.

The researchers found proof that Streptococcus pneumoniae, the leading cause of community-acquired pneumonia, actually physically damages the heart. The bacterium leaves tiny lesions that researchers detected in mouse, rhesus macaque and human autopsy tissue samples.

"If you have had severe pneumonia, this finding suggests your heart might be permanently scarred," said study senior author Carlos Orihuela, Ph.D., associate professor of microbiology and immunology at the UT Health Science Center San Antonio.

It's not yet known whether the small lesions contribute to increased risk of death in humans or if the scarring that occurs afterward is permanent, ultimately diminishing cardiac function in individuals who have recovered from a severe infectious disease episode. The team will study the long-term ramifications in non-human primates at the Texas Biomedical Research Institute's Southwest National Primate Research Center.

Streptococcus pneumoniae in the blood invaded the heart and formed lesions in the myocardium, the muscular middle layer of the heart wall, the researchers showed. The team identified mechanisms by which the bacterium is able to spread across endothelial cells in cardiac blood vessels to travel to and infect the heart.

"Fortunately, we have a candidate vaccine that can protect against this," Dr. Orihuela said. The Health Science Center, St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., and the University of Oklahoma have claimed intellectual property protection on the vaccine project. The candidate vaccine acts to stop both the movement of the infection into the heart and the toxin that kills heart muscle cells called cardiomyocytes. The vaccine protected immunized animals against cardiac lesion formation, the study showed.

Study limitations included the small sample size of human tissues analyzed, the researchers noted. The American Heart Association and the National Institutes of Health funded the project. The journal PLoS Pathogen published the study online Sept. 18.

Juicing Cannabis Leaves To Treat Nerve Pain

Today's post is another article from naturalnews.com (see link below) and looks at the benefits of yet another part of the cannabis plant for pain relief (amongst others). This time, instead of having to smoke a joint, or other well-known cannabis uses, the juice from the crushed leaves can be used to produce CBD oil, which it's turning out, has many health benefits in itself. This article discusses how this can benefit pain sufferers and how the so-called cannabidiol (CBD) works. Further research on the internet or YouTube will unearth countless other articles along the same lines, plus tips on how to make it yourself (cheaper than buying it ready prepared). It would be wise to include your home doctor in this process, because it may become part of your overall treatment; however, that isn't always possible (or even wise, considering the law aspects) so doing your own thorough research is essential. Worth a read for neuropathy patients.

Learn about the amazing health benefits of juicing raw cannabis (marijuana) leaves
Friday, May 04, 2012 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer
 
(NaturalNews) Contrary to popular belief, the marijuana plant is a whole lot more than just a psychoactive drug that "stoners" use to get high. In raw form, marijuana leaves and buds are actually loaded with a non-psychoactive, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer nutrient compound known as cannabidiol (CBD) that is proving to be a miracle "superfood" capable of preventing and reversing a host of chronic illnesses.

Though you may not have heard much about it, the CBD found in the marijuana plant -- marijuana is technically just a vegetable, by the way -- is a highly medicinal substance with unique immune-regulating capabilities. Since the human body already contains a built-in endogenous cannabinoid system, complete with cannabinoid receptors, inputting CBD from marijuana can help normalize the body's functional systems, including cell communication and proper immune function.

The way CBDs work is that they bridge the gap of neurotransmission in the central nervous system, including in the brain, by providing a two-way system of communication that completes a positive "feedback loop," according to Dr. William Courtney, a medical marijuana expert and founder of Cannabis International. As opposed to a one-way transmission, which can promote chronic inflammation of healthy tissue, the unique two-way transmission system engaged by marijuana CBDs mimics the body's own natural two-way communications system.

So individuals whose systems are compromised by autoimmune disorders, cellular dysfunction, chronic inflammation, cancer cells, and various other illnesses can derive a wide range of health-promoting benefits simply by consuming CBDs. And one of the best ways to obtain CBDs is to juice raw marijuana leaves and buds, according to Dr. Courtney, who currently runs a clinic in Luxembourg that provides raw cannabis medicinal services to patients in need.

"CBD works on receptors, and as it turns out, we have cannabinoids in our bodies, endogenous cannabinoids, that turn out to be very effective at regulating immune functions, nerve functions, bone functions," says Dr. Ethan Russo, a Seattle, Wash.-area physician who is also a senior advisor to GW Pharmaceuticals, a British drug company that is utilizing CBDs in a new marijuana mouth spray known as Sativex.

"There's a tendency to discount claims when something appears to be good for everything, but there's a reason this is the case. The endogenous cannabinoid system acts as a modulator in fine-tuning a lot of these systems, and if something is deranged biochemically in a person's body, it may well be that a cannabinoid system can bring things back into balance."

Be sure to check out these amazing videos from Cannabis International that explain more about how raw cannabis, and specifically the CBDs found inside the plant, work to promote health and reverse disease:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qa0nLdVJiIg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJ4QR2NqgWU

http://www.naturalnews.com/035759_cannabis_juicing_health.html