A pregnant woman lowers the allergy risk for child when eating peanuts

Allergic reactions to peanuts and tree nuts can range from mild to life-threatening. But new research suggests that pregnant women who are not allergic to the nuts/legumes and who eat more of them during pregnancy lower the risk of their child developing an allergy to the food.

Children whose mothers did not have an allergy and who consumed the highest amount of peanuts or tree nuts - which was five times a week or more - had the lowest risk of developing an allergy to the food.

However, the researchers note that this lower risk of peanut or tree nut (P/TN) allergies was not found in children whose mothers had the allergy.

Most pregnant women 'should not restrict diets'

The investigators say their study is in line with the theory that exposure to early allergens "increases the likelihood of tolerance," lowering risks of developing food allergies during childhood.
Though they say subsequent studies are needed to confirm their findings, they add that their "data support the recent decisions to rescind recommendations that all mothers avoid P/TN during pregnancy and breastfeeding."

Dr. Ruchi Gupta, agrees that women "should not restrict their diets during pregnancy." Though he warns that women who are allergic to nuts should not consume them, he acknowledges the benefits of women eating a diverse range of foods during pregnancy.

Dr. Gupta continues:
     "For now though, guidelines stand: pregnant women should not eliminate nuts from their diet as peanuts are a good source of protein and also provide folic acid, which could potentially prevent both neural tube defects and nut sensitization."

Girls who eat more peanut butter during their high school years are less likely to develop benign breast disease by the age of 30 than girls who do not.

Infection

FluMist, Fluenz (influenza virus vaccine live, intranasal)

FluMist/Fluenz (influenza vaccine live,intra-nasal) is an intra-nasal live, attenuated,trivalent influenza vaccine.

 

Merrem/Meronem (meropenem)

Merrem/Meronem (meropenem) is a carbapenem anti-bacterial used for the treatment of serious infections in hospitalised patients.
Licensed from Dainippon Sumitomo.

Synagis (palivizumab)

Synagis (palivizumab) is a humanised MAb used for the prevention of serious lower respiratory tract disease caused by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in paediatric patients at high risk of acquiring RSV disease.

 

Cubicin (daptomycin)

Cubicin (daptomycin) is a cyclic lipopeptide anti-bacterial used for the treatment of serious infections in hospitalised patients.
Licensed from Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Scientists find aggressive new strain of HIV

Patients infected with new HIV strain develop AIDS over two years faster than those with other versions of the virus

An estimated 35.5 million people around the world live with HIV [EPA]

A new and more aggressive strain of HIV discovered in West Africa causes significantly faster progression to AIDS, researchers at Sweden's Lund University have found.
The strain, called A3/02, was discovered in 2011 and is part of ongoing HIV/AIDS research.
So far, it has only been identified in the West African country of Guinea-Bissau and forms when two of the most common strains in the region fuse together.

"The good news is that as far as we know the medicines that are available today are equally functional on all different subtypes of variants".  Angelica Palm,  Lund University

"Individuals who are infected with the new recombinant form develop AIDS within five years," Angelica Palm, one of the scientists involved in the study, said on Thursday.
"That's about two to two-and-a-half years faster than one of the parent [strains].
Research shows that recombinant strains, those created when different DNA combines, are a cause for concern.
"There have been some studies that indicate that whenever there is a so-called recombinant, it seems to be more competent or aggressive than the parental strains," Palm said.
There are two main types of the HIV virus: HIV-1 and HIV-2 with HIV-1 being the most common. But within those two categories, there are numerous subtypes.
The HIV virus can even mutate inside an infected person, according to the World Health Organisation.
But the scientists reassured patients that existing drugs will still effectively treat the new strain regardless of the speed at which it develops into AIDS.
"The good news is that as far as we know the medicines that are available today are equally functional on all different subtypes of variants," Palm said.

Other strains
A person goes from having HIV to AIDS when his or her white CD4 cell count, a white bloodcell that helps fight infection, drops below 200, according to the Mayo Clinic.
An estimated 35.5 million people around the world live with HIV, a virus that destroys the immune system and often leads to complications like pneumonia, tuberculosis,diarrhoea and tumours, according to the WHO.
But while the study only found the new strain in West Africa, scientists warn that other rapidly developing strains probably exist in regions like Europe and the US, where there are high levels of immigration.
"It is highly likely that there are a large number of circulating recombinants of which we know little or nothing," Patrik Medstrand, professor of clinical virology at Lund University, said.

Sources of multivitamin and selenium supplements

Vitamins are natural substances that your body needs to grow, develop, and function normally. Vitamins are contained in food; a well-balanced diet usually provides all of the vitamins required. However, there are times, such as during pregnancy, childhood and when having HIV,  your body needs more vitamins than usual . During certain illnesses, your body either cannot get or cannot efficiently use all of the vitamins it needs

Multivitamins are prescribed for patients who need extra vitamins, who cannot eat enough food to obtain the required vitamins, or who cannot receive the full benefit of the vitamins contained in the food they eat

When should this medicine be used?

Multivitamins come in regular tablets, chewable tablets, capsules, and oral liquid. They are usually taken once a day.

Apart from medicines, multivitamins are availlable from food such as,

• Spinach and lettuce - source of Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Folate and Manganese
• Avocado - Vitamin E, Vitamin C, Folate, Pantothenic Acid, Magnesium, Potassium and Copper
• Salmon - Vitamin B6, Vitamin B12, Niacin, Potassium and Selenium
• Quinoa - Vitamin B6, Folate, Phosphorus, Magnesium, Iron and Zinc
• Omega 3 Eggs - Vitamin E, Vitamin B12, Vitamin D, Folate and Selenium
• Pumpkin Seeds - Vitamin K, Iron, Magnesium and Zinc

Selenium food and pills

It normalize the mood.Selenium is claimed to be useful for treating or preventing various medical conditions, such as HIV or AIDS, heart disease, and arthritis. 

 Rich vegetarian sources of selenium are garlic, onions, tomatoes and milk.

From university of Miami research suggest that taking daily selenium supplement may block the build up of HIV in a patient's blood.

Selenium deficiencies have been recorded in HIV patients, and evidence suggests the mineral can improve the function of the immune system

More immune cells
The two groups had similar selenium levels at the beginning of the study, but after nine months levels were higher in the group taking the capsules containing the mineral.
Those with higher selenium levels in their blood were more likely to have a lower HIV viral load, and higher numbers of CD4 cells, which play a key role in fighting off infection.

 Writing in the journal, the researchers said: "Given the challenges of using conventional pharmacotherapy to achieve and maintain virologic suppression in HIV-spectrum disease, our results support the use of selenium as a simple, inexpensive and safe adjunct therapy."
Yusef Azad, director of the National Aids Trust, described the research as valuable.
"However, in interpreting this new report, it must be remembered that antiretroviral therapy is the only currently effective treatment for HIV"

Multivitamins May Help Fight HIV Progression: Study

But supplements tested only on those who hadn't started medications

TUESDAY, Nov. 26, 2013 (HealthDay News) -- New research from Africa suggests that basic multivitamin and selenium supplements might greatly lower the risk that untreated people with the AIDS virus will get sicker over a two-year period.

It's not clear how patients who take the vitamins and mineral might fare over longer periods. And the impact of the study in the United States will be limited because many Americans diagnosed with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, immediately begin treatment with powerful medications known as anti-retroviral drugs. Those in the African study hadn't yet begun taking drugs to keep the virus at bay.

Still, "it is incredibly useful to find new strategies to delay the progression of HIV disease," said Dr. Jared Baeten, an associate professor of global health at the University of Washington in Seattle who's familiar with the findings. "Not every HIV-infected person is immediately willing, or able, to initiate anti-retroviral therapy. Inexpensive, proven treatments ahead of starting anti-retroviral therapy can fill an important role."

At issue: Do HIV-infected people benefit from nutritional supplements? Previous research has suggested that even well-fed people infected with HIV may not properly process nutrients in food, said study author Marianna Baum, a professor of dietetics and nutrition at Florida International University's Stempel School of Public Health.

The researchers wondered whether the immune system would get a boost if patients who hadn't yet begun anti-retroviral treatment took nutritional supplements. No study had looked at this before, Baum noted.

For the study, published in the Nov. 27 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, the researchers divided nearly 900 HIV-infected patients in the African country of Botswana into several groups. Some took a placebo, a sugar pill with no active ingredients. Others took a multivitamin including B, C and E vitamins. Another group took the multivitamin along with supplements of the mineral selenium, and still others took only selenium.

None of the treatments had a noticeable effect except the combination of multivitamin and selenium. After adjusting their statistics so they wouldn't be thrown off by various factors, the researchers reported that those who took the combination were about half as likely to show signs over two years that their infection had progressed toward AIDS as those who took the placebo.

Overall, the risk that the disease would progress over the two years of the study was fairly low: 32 of the 217 who took the placebo suffered progression of the disease, she said, compared to 17 of the 220 who took the vitamin/mineral combination.