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Severe gum disease has been linked to the progression of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, but an understanding remains unclear. Researchers report that bacteria associated with the gum disease promote COPD through the activation of two types of cells, γδ T cells and M2 macrophages, that are important to the immune system. "By enhancing periodontal therapy and targeting the inhibition of γδ T cells and M2 macrophages [we] may be able to help control the progression of COPD," said Boyu Tang, Ph.D. Periodontitis is a gum disease that results from the untreated buildup of plaque, a sticky film of...

A new method of controlling inflammation and sugar levels for oral and systemic disease prevention using a common diabetes drug has been discovered by a team of researchers. A team of researchers have found new ways of stopping periodontal (gum) disease and potentially reducing the incidence of diabetes and obesity. This new approach focuses on controlling inflammation and sugar levels in both the mouth and body with a common type 2 diabetes drug, Metformin. The only treatment strategy currently available to tackle gum disease is to deep clean the teeth to rid the mouth of bacteria, as well as prescribing...

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), which causes painful swelling of the joints, is a form of autoimmune disease where otherwise healthy tissue in a patient's joint gets mistaken for an intruder and is attacked by the immune system. Past observational studies have confirmed a correlation between patients with RA and higher levels of periodontal disease (gum disease). Anti-citrullinated protein antibodies (ACPAs) are found in the blood of most patients with RA. Gum disease is specifically more common in individuals with RA who also have ACPAs in their blood. In a study, researchers wanted to investigate whether these overlapping observations could be better...

Periodontitis, a gum disease, can lead to a litany of dental issues from bad breath to bleeding and lost teeth. Now, researchers have found that it could be connected to even more severe problems elsewhere in the body—the heart. The team found a significant correlation between periodontitis and fibrosis (which is scarring to an appendage of the heart's left atrium that can lead to an irregular heartbeat called atrial fibrillation) in a sample of 76 patients with cardiac disease. "Periodontitis is associated with a long-standing inflammation, and inflammation plays a key role in atrial fibrosis progression and atrial fibrillation pathogenesis,"...

Lung function declines with increasingly severe gum disease, according to research. "Our study indicates a link between periodontal disease and lung function meaning that good dental hygiene may benefit both oral and respiratory health," said study author Dr. Anders Røsland. The average age of those with severe periodontitis was 55 years and 59% were men. Smoking was significantly more common in people with moderate or severe periodontitis compared with the healthy/mild group. Lung function was assessed using spirometry, which measures the volume of air exhaled from the lungs and the flow rate of air. The researchers measured forced expiratory volume...

A large study has found that people with a prior heart attack or diabetes are more likely to have gum disease than their healthy counterparts. "This was an observational study and does not imply causal relationships," said study author Dr. Ida Stødle. "However, the findings raise awareness about the correlations between chronic illnesses which affect large numbers of people. This knowledge may help efforts to prevent these diseases." Non‐communicable diseases are becoming increasingly common as populations age and there is growing evidence that they are connected. Gum disease, also called periodontitis, affects up to half of all adults worldwide. This...

“There are huge strides being made in aging biology” that point to ways that we can potentially slow the aging process, says Steele, 35, whose research focuses on the ways that the body ages at a cellular level. “We have loads and loads of different ways in the lab to slow down and reverse this process.”

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden says "every American should be wearing a mask when they're outside for the next three months at a minimum. It will decrease the risk of getting the coronavirus expodentially. Of course in an ideal world everyone should be staying at home like I am. If you don't go anywhere you can't get infected. Staying home is what we should all do." "Trump's notion that we should open up the economy is insane," Biden contended. "The federal government has the power to create money. They can just mail everyone a government check. There is no...

AFTER decades of disappointment, we may have a new lead on fighting Alzheimer’s disease. Compelling evidence that the condition is caused by a bacterium involved in gum disease could prove a game-changer... Now researchers from Cortexyme and several universities have reported finding the two toxic enzymes that P. gingivalis uses to feed on human tissue in 99 and 96 per cent of 54 human Alzheimer’s brain samples taken from the hippocampus – a brain area important for memory (Science Advances, doi.org/gftvdt). These protein-degrading enzymes are called gingipains, and they were found in higher levels in brain tissue that also had...

If you bled when you brushed your teeth this morning, you might want to get that seen to. We may finally have found the long-elusive cause of Alzheimer’s disease: Porphyromonas gingivalis, the key bacteria in chronic gum disease. That’s bad, as gum disease affects around a third of all people. But the good news is that a drug that blocks the main toxins of P. gingivalis is entering major clinical trials this year, and research published today shows it might stop and even reverse Alzheimer’s. There could even be a vaccine. ....

Otzi the legendary “Iceman” wasn't alone when he was mummified on a glacier 5,300 years ago. With him were gut microbes known to cause some serious tummy trouble. These bacteria, Helicobacter pylori, are providing fresh evidence about Otzi's diet and poor health in the days leading up to his murder. Intriguingly, they could also help scientists better understand who his people were and how they came to live in the region. ... Discovered in the 1990s, Otzi lived in what are today the Eastern Italian Alps, where he was naturally mummified by ice after his violent death. The body is...

Alzheimer's disease - a neurospirochetosis. Analysis of the evidence following Koch's and Hill's criteria. Judith Miklossy Correspondence: Judith Miklossy judithmiklossy@bluewin.ch Journal of Neuroinflammation 2011, 8:90 doi:10.1186/1742-2094-8-90 Published: 4 August 2011 Abstract (provisional) It is established that chronic spirochetal infection can cause slowly progressive dementia, brain atrophy and amyloid deposition in late neurosyphilis. Recently it has been suggested that various types of spirochetes, in an analogous way to Treponema pallidum, could cause dementia and may be involved in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Here, we review all data available in the literature on the detection of spirochetes in AD and...

Professor Chrisopher Exley of Keele University claims that aluminium present in everyday items like cosmetics and food may be building up in the brain and causing Alzheimer's disease Aluminium poisoning may be fuelling Alzheimer’s disease, a leading professor has claimed.Professor Chrisopher Exley, of Keele University, said that exposure to the metal causes deposits in the human brain which can exacerbate other problems...Aluminium, he argues, is now added to or used in almost everything we eat, drink, inject or absorb. The metal is abundant in the Earth’s crust and is naturally absorbed from the soil by plants and foodstuffs. But aluminium...

Researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine in November surgically implanted a pacemaker-like device into the brain of a patient in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease, the first such operation in the United States. The device, which provides deep brain stimulation and has been used in thousands of people with Parkinson's disease, is seen as a possible means of boosting memory and reversing cognitive decline.*snip*The surgery involves drilling holes into the skull to implant wires into the fornix on either side of the brain. The fornix is a brain pathway instrumental in bringing information to the hippocampus, the portion of the...

A TREATMENT for balding men, women with stretchmarks and anyone who has gum disease may have been discovered by scientists. As cure-alls go, an injection of fibroblasts may be the ultimate. The new technology is being developing by Isolagen, a Texas-based biotech company, and 50 patients are to undergo clincial trials in London. Fibroblasts are tiny cells that control levels of the proteins collagen and elastin, which are found in skin, bones and other tissue. To treat burns, the scientists take cells from an undamaged area, extract the fibroblasts and multiply them in the laboratory before injecting them back into...