Long called Jewish penicillin, chicken soup's power to heal has mainly been viewed as folklore but recent scientific studies have proven that it has genuine health benefits, so much so that research doctors in Israel have asked the World Health Organization to add it to the List of Essential Drugs for Infections.
Forget pills, sprays and prescriptions. What you really need is hot chicken soup.
Around the 12th century, healers started to prescribe " the broth of fowl" for their ill patients. Egyptian Jewish physician and philosopher Rabbi Moses Maimonides started to write extensively about the benefits of chicken soup. He used this fowl brew to treat such things as constipation, hemorrhoids and even leprosy but he especially praised its healing power for respiratory illnesses.
In the 1990s, Dr. Stephen Renard at the University of Nebraska wanted to test his mother-in-law's theory that chicken soup is good for colds.
He conducted many tests, using a recipe he titled "Grandma's Soup." The results demonstrated that chicken soup is a good anti-inflammatory. Current researchers agree that chicken soup breaks up congestion and eases the flow of nasal secretions. And many say it inhibits the white blood cells that trigger the inflammatory response causing sore throats and the production of phlegm. Chicken soup also contains a sulfur compound called cystine, which protects against infections of the throat, sinuses and chest.
Here are two recipes, one Eastern, and one Western, for this magic elixir.
Remember, no matter its provenance, it must be served hot. Soup from cans, boxes or packets has been proven to be less beneficial. So, if you are starting to feel ill, quickly run out to the market and grab yourself a chicken or call your nearest and dearest, then whine and moan and, hopefully, they'll bring over the soup.
2012年2月1日星期三
2011年12月4日星期日
Oh (fake) Christmas tree
I’ve decided there are two kinds of people in this world – pro-artificial Christmas trees and anti-fake trees. For the first part of my life, I was pro, then I turned and joined the ranks of the anti. Now, I’m back with the pro.
When I was growing up, the Kehoe family, as far as I knew, was the only family in town that had an artificial tree. My mother made the great decision to go “green” before it was popular. She always was cutting edge.
My mom’s decision was not out of concern for the environment, or to save a tree. It was out of necessity.
See, she still had visions of my dad nailing a Christmas tree to our living room wall (which, by the way, is plaster).
She had just gotten home from the hospital after giving birth to her fourth child. She spent her days washing diapers (no disposable), sterilizing bottles, and chasing after 3 older children who were barely out of diapers themselves. Yet, on this particular day leading up to Christmas, she found herself abandoning diapers, bottles and children to hold the tree while my dad nailed it to the wall.
My dad was a great man in many, many ways. He was not a great handyman. So, that fateful year, when he picked out a tree with a “crooked spine,” as my mom says, it had nightmare written all over it.
He first tried securing the tree by putting it in a bucket of cement. And to think that didn’t work. Then came out the hammer and nails. When my mom saw my dad’s friend coming up the walk, she thought she was saved from this Christmas nightmare. She was wrong. He came to our house to tell my dad about his hemorrhoids. This is not a lie. He also brought along one of those donut things people suffering from hemorrhoids sit on. And there he sat, watching this Christmas magic unfold.
The real miracle of this day is not that the tree finally found an upright spot in the corner of the living room – after hours and hours of my mom holding it steady while my dad hammered the needles off of it. No, the real miracle is that my mom didn’t shove that donut thing down my dad’s friend’s throat.
That was more than 50 years ago, yet my mother tells this story like it happened yesterday – with much of the anger she felt that very day.
After my dad died, my mother did everything she could to protect her children from the hurts and frustrations that this world can sometimes bring. The best way to shield her three boys, come Christmas time, was to buy an artificial tree. She figured they were too young to be exposed to such a losing endeavor as to put up a real tree.
So, off we went to Sears Garden Center. We bought the tree that would stand in our living room for more than 20 years. I was pretty young, so it’s the only tree I remember. Artificial meant nothing to me. It’s just what I knew to symbolize Christmas.
When I got married, my husband was a staunch anti. I just assumed we would get a fake tree. No way. In fact, he got the biggest tree he could find. If I recall, it took up most of the living room floor space, and required approximately 50 strands of light to adequately light it. It was obscene.
During the early years of our family life, when Kaitlyn and Tommy were very young, getting a tree was a fun adventure. When my kids were old enough to realize they couldn’t stand each other, getting a tree was something I absolutely dreaded. Finally, with the arrival of Matthew, I had an excuse to stay home while my husband and older kids argued over which tree to bring home.
But the frustrations of a real tree didn’t end with the purchase, of course. My husband was experienced enough to check “the spine” before purchasing, so putting the tree up usually wasn’t a problem. Except the year, when Tommy was just a few months old, the tree fell -- right after I had picked him up from the blanket he was playing on – right under the tree. Talk about divine intervention. There was no intervention, however, when my sister and I got stuck in the doorway trying to get the tree out to the porch. Lucy and Ethel could have learned a thing or two from that scenario.
When I was growing up, the Kehoe family, as far as I knew, was the only family in town that had an artificial tree. My mother made the great decision to go “green” before it was popular. She always was cutting edge.
My mom’s decision was not out of concern for the environment, or to save a tree. It was out of necessity.
See, she still had visions of my dad nailing a Christmas tree to our living room wall (which, by the way, is plaster).
She had just gotten home from the hospital after giving birth to her fourth child. She spent her days washing diapers (no disposable), sterilizing bottles, and chasing after 3 older children who were barely out of diapers themselves. Yet, on this particular day leading up to Christmas, she found herself abandoning diapers, bottles and children to hold the tree while my dad nailed it to the wall.
My dad was a great man in many, many ways. He was not a great handyman. So, that fateful year, when he picked out a tree with a “crooked spine,” as my mom says, it had nightmare written all over it.
He first tried securing the tree by putting it in a bucket of cement. And to think that didn’t work. Then came out the hammer and nails. When my mom saw my dad’s friend coming up the walk, she thought she was saved from this Christmas nightmare. She was wrong. He came to our house to tell my dad about his hemorrhoids. This is not a lie. He also brought along one of those donut things people suffering from hemorrhoids sit on. And there he sat, watching this Christmas magic unfold.
The real miracle of this day is not that the tree finally found an upright spot in the corner of the living room – after hours and hours of my mom holding it steady while my dad hammered the needles off of it. No, the real miracle is that my mom didn’t shove that donut thing down my dad’s friend’s throat.
That was more than 50 years ago, yet my mother tells this story like it happened yesterday – with much of the anger she felt that very day.
After my dad died, my mother did everything she could to protect her children from the hurts and frustrations that this world can sometimes bring. The best way to shield her three boys, come Christmas time, was to buy an artificial tree. She figured they were too young to be exposed to such a losing endeavor as to put up a real tree.
So, off we went to Sears Garden Center. We bought the tree that would stand in our living room for more than 20 years. I was pretty young, so it’s the only tree I remember. Artificial meant nothing to me. It’s just what I knew to symbolize Christmas.
When I got married, my husband was a staunch anti. I just assumed we would get a fake tree. No way. In fact, he got the biggest tree he could find. If I recall, it took up most of the living room floor space, and required approximately 50 strands of light to adequately light it. It was obscene.
During the early years of our family life, when Kaitlyn and Tommy were very young, getting a tree was a fun adventure. When my kids were old enough to realize they couldn’t stand each other, getting a tree was something I absolutely dreaded. Finally, with the arrival of Matthew, I had an excuse to stay home while my husband and older kids argued over which tree to bring home.
But the frustrations of a real tree didn’t end with the purchase, of course. My husband was experienced enough to check “the spine” before purchasing, so putting the tree up usually wasn’t a problem. Except the year, when Tommy was just a few months old, the tree fell -- right after I had picked him up from the blanket he was playing on – right under the tree. Talk about divine intervention. There was no intervention, however, when my sister and I got stuck in the doorway trying to get the tree out to the porch. Lucy and Ethel could have learned a thing or two from that scenario.
2011年6月19日星期日
Alumni talk, recipes and hound's tongue
The highlight of this week was the annual Argyle Central School Alumni Association banquet. Elevating it to this status was not done for the typical reasons, because few of the typical things occurred.
My perceptions remained accurate for the evening because when I went to get a glass of wine for a couple of ladies, including Dr. Wifey, instead of goblets, it was presented in water glasses, rendering my dear spouse incapable of designated driver duty. I, therefore, remained adult and responsible throughout the evening. Thus the women that were interesting in school were all still interesting and the men were all balder.
I was not accosted by any crazed horse ladies, I did not get elected to any offices, I remembered both verses of alma mater and my singing voice did not improve. No, the fact it was a highlight came the next day when someone from the class of 1961, who all gathered at the Attitude Cafe for breakfast, left me a couple of pages copied from a book. I cannot give appropriate credit because the identity of my benefactor was garbled, so if anyone can help out with that, it would be appreciated. The book was entitled the New England Farrier and Family Physician published in 1823 by Jacob Richardson in Exeter, New Hampshire. This Richardson is likely a relative of mine and his book is a compendium of what he calls “receipts,” but we would call recipes.
I am not sure just which receipt was being recommended to me, probably the one about fall ploughing, but some of the others were very enlightening. Did you know that if your butter goes rancid, you have only to toast four slices of bread, cover every exposed surface of the butter, and wait two minutes. “The butter will lose its disagreeable odour, but the bread will be found foetid.”
Similarly, if you have maggots in your bacon (I hate it when that happens) simply crush some elderberry leaves in a bit of water, apply it to the bacon, letting some run into all the crevices, and the maggots and skippers will soon quit their habitations leaving the bacon completely palatable.
Even better, I learned from the pages passed to me that a grain of flax seed would possess all the valuable properties of the eye stone. For those unfamiliar with the term, an eye stone is the operculum of a small marine snail (the hard flap that covers the hole in the shell when the snail closes up.) When you have something in your eye, this hard bit of snail shell is inserted under the lid at the inner point of the eye, then the sufferer blinks until the eye stone emerges at the outer part of the eye, supposedly bringing the offending debris along with it. I do not know what might do more damage to an eye, a hunk of snail shell or a hard, scratchy flax seed.
One of the “receipts” that might have had some efficacy had to do with driving rats and mice from barns, homes and granaries by placing a plant called dog’s tongue, smashed with a hammer, all around the building. This plant does seem to have an odor that repels rodents, for a short while when it is freshly crushed. Unfortunately for a New England publication, the dog’s tongue that has this property was native to China and the only place in the United States where it exists is in Florida and Hawaii, where it is classified as a noxious invasive.
The European dog’s tongue, more often called hound’s tongue, dog borage, or wild buckwheat, that was brought over by colonists and has spread widely in North America, seems to have none of these repellent properties. However, the European colonists were nothing if not prone to identify native plants in colonial areas with names of European species. Thus, we have over 75 species that are identified with the name “dog’s tongue” or “hound’s tongue.”
I became curious about hound’s tongue when I was fairly young. My grandmother told me it was named because the leaves looked like a dog’s tongue. It certainly did not appear thus to my eye. It was years later I discovered that putting a decoction of the leaves and stem on your shoes was supposed to keep neighborhood dogs from barking at you, i.e., giving tongue. By the way, that does not work.
The plant Gram identified as hound’s tongue got to be about 3 feet high with rough bristly leaves, reddish purple flowers, and small triangular seed pods covered with burrs. These are especially terrible in long-haired hunting dogs taking some really dramatic efforts to dislodge them from the coat. She said it was used to treat dog bites and hemorrhoids. Interestingly, it does have some interesting properties.
Hound’s tongue contains several active agents that depress central nervous system activity. It was once widely prescribed by herbalists for the treatment of tumors and cancers. Overdosing leads to a narcotic effect and hallucinations, so for a few years it was greatly touted by hippie culture herbalists. However, it has been found to also be carcinogenic, leading to some issues to those seeking a “natural high.” Guess I will leave off chasing away dogs and treating piles and go drive the worms out of my bacon.
My perceptions remained accurate for the evening because when I went to get a glass of wine for a couple of ladies, including Dr. Wifey, instead of goblets, it was presented in water glasses, rendering my dear spouse incapable of designated driver duty. I, therefore, remained adult and responsible throughout the evening. Thus the women that were interesting in school were all still interesting and the men were all balder.
I was not accosted by any crazed horse ladies, I did not get elected to any offices, I remembered both verses of alma mater and my singing voice did not improve. No, the fact it was a highlight came the next day when someone from the class of 1961, who all gathered at the Attitude Cafe for breakfast, left me a couple of pages copied from a book. I cannot give appropriate credit because the identity of my benefactor was garbled, so if anyone can help out with that, it would be appreciated. The book was entitled the New England Farrier and Family Physician published in 1823 by Jacob Richardson in Exeter, New Hampshire. This Richardson is likely a relative of mine and his book is a compendium of what he calls “receipts,” but we would call recipes.
I am not sure just which receipt was being recommended to me, probably the one about fall ploughing, but some of the others were very enlightening. Did you know that if your butter goes rancid, you have only to toast four slices of bread, cover every exposed surface of the butter, and wait two minutes. “The butter will lose its disagreeable odour, but the bread will be found foetid.”
Similarly, if you have maggots in your bacon (I hate it when that happens) simply crush some elderberry leaves in a bit of water, apply it to the bacon, letting some run into all the crevices, and the maggots and skippers will soon quit their habitations leaving the bacon completely palatable.
Even better, I learned from the pages passed to me that a grain of flax seed would possess all the valuable properties of the eye stone. For those unfamiliar with the term, an eye stone is the operculum of a small marine snail (the hard flap that covers the hole in the shell when the snail closes up.) When you have something in your eye, this hard bit of snail shell is inserted under the lid at the inner point of the eye, then the sufferer blinks until the eye stone emerges at the outer part of the eye, supposedly bringing the offending debris along with it. I do not know what might do more damage to an eye, a hunk of snail shell or a hard, scratchy flax seed.
One of the “receipts” that might have had some efficacy had to do with driving rats and mice from barns, homes and granaries by placing a plant called dog’s tongue, smashed with a hammer, all around the building. This plant does seem to have an odor that repels rodents, for a short while when it is freshly crushed. Unfortunately for a New England publication, the dog’s tongue that has this property was native to China and the only place in the United States where it exists is in Florida and Hawaii, where it is classified as a noxious invasive.
The European dog’s tongue, more often called hound’s tongue, dog borage, or wild buckwheat, that was brought over by colonists and has spread widely in North America, seems to have none of these repellent properties. However, the European colonists were nothing if not prone to identify native plants in colonial areas with names of European species. Thus, we have over 75 species that are identified with the name “dog’s tongue” or “hound’s tongue.”
I became curious about hound’s tongue when I was fairly young. My grandmother told me it was named because the leaves looked like a dog’s tongue. It certainly did not appear thus to my eye. It was years later I discovered that putting a decoction of the leaves and stem on your shoes was supposed to keep neighborhood dogs from barking at you, i.e., giving tongue. By the way, that does not work.
The plant Gram identified as hound’s tongue got to be about 3 feet high with rough bristly leaves, reddish purple flowers, and small triangular seed pods covered with burrs. These are especially terrible in long-haired hunting dogs taking some really dramatic efforts to dislodge them from the coat. She said it was used to treat dog bites and hemorrhoids. Interestingly, it does have some interesting properties.
Hound’s tongue contains several active agents that depress central nervous system activity. It was once widely prescribed by herbalists for the treatment of tumors and cancers. Overdosing leads to a narcotic effect and hallucinations, so for a few years it was greatly touted by hippie culture herbalists. However, it has been found to also be carcinogenic, leading to some issues to those seeking a “natural high.” Guess I will leave off chasing away dogs and treating piles and go drive the worms out of my bacon.
2011年6月14日星期二
Is Laser Surgery For Hemorrhoids A Good Choice?
It is understandable how people will feel once people learn that they are suffering from hemorrhoids. Social stigma in the workplace, school and even at home can occur because of the prejudices and notion that people associate with hemorrhoids. But the sad truth is, even person who may look at you differently because you have hemorrhoids may also be suffering from the same condition, though not to his or her knowledge.
It’s true—hemorrhoids can occur to anyone—any people, for that matter, of any age. Hemorrhoids are more common in the elderly and among women in the peak of their child-bearing age since delivery and labor can lead to hemorrhoids of varying degrees. Hemorrhoids affect many people and most of them are even undiagnosed by doctors.
Hemorrhoids Defined
Simply defined, a hemorrhoid is a swollen and inflamed part of the anal stricture due to pressure in the said area when the person strains in episodes of constipation, defecation, labor and delivery and other means. Also, people who engage themselves in non-conventional methods of sexual intercourse like anal sex are prone to developing hemorrhoids. There are two main forms of hemorrhoids—one is referred to as internal hemorrhoids, since these are located inside the anal cavity. Internal hemorrhoids most often do not give rise to any symptoms. The other form is external hemorrhoids, which is the usual type of hemorrhoid people are knowledgeable of.
There are many forms of treatment aimed at completely removing the hemorrhoid tissues to prevent discomfort and possible infection of the said area. One of the growing methods of dealing with hemorrhoids is through hemorrhoids laser surgery.
It’s true—hemorrhoids can occur to anyone—any people, for that matter, of any age. Hemorrhoids are more common in the elderly and among women in the peak of their child-bearing age since delivery and labor can lead to hemorrhoids of varying degrees. Hemorrhoids affect many people and most of them are even undiagnosed by doctors.
Hemorrhoids Defined
Simply defined, a hemorrhoid is a swollen and inflamed part of the anal stricture due to pressure in the said area when the person strains in episodes of constipation, defecation, labor and delivery and other means. Also, people who engage themselves in non-conventional methods of sexual intercourse like anal sex are prone to developing hemorrhoids. There are two main forms of hemorrhoids—one is referred to as internal hemorrhoids, since these are located inside the anal cavity. Internal hemorrhoids most often do not give rise to any symptoms. The other form is external hemorrhoids, which is the usual type of hemorrhoid people are knowledgeable of.
There are many forms of treatment aimed at completely removing the hemorrhoid tissues to prevent discomfort and possible infection of the said area. One of the growing methods of dealing with hemorrhoids is through hemorrhoids laser surgery.
2011年5月2日星期一
Ventrus Adds Third Treatment Arm of Shorter Treatment Duration to Its Phase III Study of Iferanserin in Hemorrhoids
Ventrus BioSciences, Inc. (Nasdaq:VTUS) announced today that it has added a third treatment arm to its first pivotal Phase III study of Iferanserin (VEN 309), the first prescription product candidate for the treatment of hemorrhoids. The treatment arm has been added based upon a request from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in their response to the company's March 16, 2011 submission of the protocol for the study, made under a Special Protocol Assessment (SPA), and upon a new analysis of a prior Phase IIB study.
In its response, the FDA proposed that the company include an additional one week treatment arm in the pivotal study to evaluate whether patients could be fully treated within 7 days.
"When we analyzed our Phase IIB German study that compared Iferanserin given twice daily for 14 days, with placebo, using these endpoints, we observed that the majority of Iferanserin treated patients started their response by Day 3. This raises the possibility that Iferanserin therapy may require a shorter duration of treatment to show adequate efficacy to stop the bleeding, itching and pain associated with hemorrhoids," said Russell H. Ellison MD, CEO of Ventrus Biosciences. "It's not only good development practice to explore the possibility of a shorter treatment period as proposed by FDA's feedback, but should this regimen prove to be effective, it could be even more acceptable to patients," Dr. Ellison noted.
Following the feedback from the FDA, the double-blinded randomized trial design of the three arms would consist of:
Arm 1: placebo ointment twice daily intra-anally for 2 weeks;
Arm 2: Iferanserin ointment twice daily for 2 weeks; and
Arm 3: Iferanserin ointment twice daily for 1 week followed by placebo ointment twice daily for 1 week.
In its response to the SPA submission the FDA agreed with the definition of the primary and secondary endpoints that had been proposed and with the basic design elements of the study. The primary endpoint for all three arms will therefore be the proportion of patients who have no bleeding from the beginning of the 7th day of treatment to the end of the 14th and last day of treatment as previously announced. The secondary endpoints of pain and itching are similarly defined.
"We will go forward with the FDA proposal and submit a revised protocol under the SPA with the additional treatment arm in a timely fashion. We do not expect that this modification will materially change the timing to report the top line data, which we still expect will occur in the first quarter of 2012, in accordance with previous guidance," said Dr. Ellison.
About Iferanserin (VEN 309)
Iferanserin (VEN 309) is a new chemical entity, or NCE, for the topical treatment of hemorrhoids, which targets a specific serotonin receptor (5HT2A) thought to be important in the disease. The first late phase clinical trial (Phase III) with Iferanserin is expected to start in the summer of 2011 and we expect data to be available in the first quarter of 2012.
About Ventrus
Ventrus is a development stage specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the development of late-stage prescription drugs for gastrointestinal disorders. Our lead product is Iferanserin (VEN 309) for the topical treatment of hemorrhoids. Our additional product candidate portfolio consists of two in-licensed late-stage drugs intended to treat anal fissures (VEN 307) and fecal incontinence (VEN 308). The first Phase III clinical trial with VEN 307 has begun in Europe and we expect data to be available in the second quarter of 2012. These candidates are two molecules that were previously approved and marketed for other indications and that have been formulated into our proprietary topical treatments for these new gastrointestinal indications.
In its response, the FDA proposed that the company include an additional one week treatment arm in the pivotal study to evaluate whether patients could be fully treated within 7 days.
"When we analyzed our Phase IIB German study that compared Iferanserin given twice daily for 14 days, with placebo, using these endpoints, we observed that the majority of Iferanserin treated patients started their response by Day 3. This raises the possibility that Iferanserin therapy may require a shorter duration of treatment to show adequate efficacy to stop the bleeding, itching and pain associated with hemorrhoids," said Russell H. Ellison MD, CEO of Ventrus Biosciences. "It's not only good development practice to explore the possibility of a shorter treatment period as proposed by FDA's feedback, but should this regimen prove to be effective, it could be even more acceptable to patients," Dr. Ellison noted.
Following the feedback from the FDA, the double-blinded randomized trial design of the three arms would consist of:
Arm 1: placebo ointment twice daily intra-anally for 2 weeks;
Arm 2: Iferanserin ointment twice daily for 2 weeks; and
Arm 3: Iferanserin ointment twice daily for 1 week followed by placebo ointment twice daily for 1 week.
In its response to the SPA submission the FDA agreed with the definition of the primary and secondary endpoints that had been proposed and with the basic design elements of the study. The primary endpoint for all three arms will therefore be the proportion of patients who have no bleeding from the beginning of the 7th day of treatment to the end of the 14th and last day of treatment as previously announced. The secondary endpoints of pain and itching are similarly defined.
"We will go forward with the FDA proposal and submit a revised protocol under the SPA with the additional treatment arm in a timely fashion. We do not expect that this modification will materially change the timing to report the top line data, which we still expect will occur in the first quarter of 2012, in accordance with previous guidance," said Dr. Ellison.
About Iferanserin (VEN 309)
Iferanserin (VEN 309) is a new chemical entity, or NCE, for the topical treatment of hemorrhoids, which targets a specific serotonin receptor (5HT2A) thought to be important in the disease. The first late phase clinical trial (Phase III) with Iferanserin is expected to start in the summer of 2011 and we expect data to be available in the first quarter of 2012.
About Ventrus
Ventrus is a development stage specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the development of late-stage prescription drugs for gastrointestinal disorders. Our lead product is Iferanserin (VEN 309) for the topical treatment of hemorrhoids. Our additional product candidate portfolio consists of two in-licensed late-stage drugs intended to treat anal fissures (VEN 307) and fecal incontinence (VEN 308). The first Phase III clinical trial with VEN 307 has begun in Europe and we expect data to be available in the second quarter of 2012. These candidates are two molecules that were previously approved and marketed for other indications and that have been formulated into our proprietary topical treatments for these new gastrointestinal indications.
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