Published September 27, 2017

Researchers at the University of Calgary found that minocycline can slow the progression of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS) in people who are beginning to develop symptoms of the disease. After six months of treatment, the participants who received 100 mg of minocycline twice a day experienced a 27.6% reduction in their chances of developing full-blown MS. Some even saw their symptoms disappear altogether with the medication.

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Published September 25, 2017

Euphorbia peplus is the botanical name of a plant commonly called petty spurge, radium weed, cancer weed, or milkweed. Researchers investigated the efficacy and safety of a substance called ingenol mebutate found in the sap of euphorbia peplus as a treatment for actinic keratosis. Almost half of the actinic keratoses lesions completely disappeared with the ingenol mebutate gel. And the level of skin irritation was nowhere near what patients see with Efudex. 

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Published September 22, 2017

Researchers at Washing University School of Medicine in St. Louis have been investigating the delicate balance between a robust immune system and inflammation in the body. Immune cells use inflammation to do their jobs properly, but can’t promote inflammation unnecessarily. The body has special cells that encourage tolerance and teach the immune cells when they’ve gone too far. The researchers found that mice who have a wealth of these tolerance-promoting cells also contain a specific bacterium, called Lactobacillus reuteri. They also found that the L. reuteri require the amino acid tryptophan to trigger the appearance of the tolerance cells. The more tryptophan the mice consumed, the more cells they produced.

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