Madam Lichtenstein's Cosmic World

Can Vitamin D Or Tumeric Spice Help Fight Alzheimers?

Sometimes the solution to our health ills can be found in the use of everyday products. Our ancestors knew this. Now it is time for us to revisit these useful applications.

 

It is now thought that vitamin D can help remove the protein Amyloid Beta from the Brain. This protein is one of the causes of alzheimers. 

A team of academic researchers has identified the intracellular mechanisms regulated by vitamin D3 that may help the body clear the brain of amyloid beta, the main component of plaques associated with Alzheimer's disease.

Published in the March 6 issue of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, the early findings show that vitamin D3 may activate key genes and cellular signaling networks to help stimulate the immune system to clear the amyloid-beta protein.

Previous laboratory work by the team demonstrated that specific types of immune cells in Alzheimer's patients may respond to therapy with vitamin D3 and curcumin, a chemical found in turmeric spice, by stimulating the innate immune system to clear amyloid beta. But the researchers didn't know how it worked.

"This new study helped clarify the key mechanisms involved, which will help us better understand the usefulness of vitamin D3 and curcumin as possible therapies for Alzheimer's disease," said study author Dr. Milan Fiala, a researcher at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and the Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System.

If you need a technical reason to take vitamin D here it is:

Researchers found that in both Type I and Type II macrophages, the added 1a,25–dihydroxyvitamin D3 played a key role in opening a specific chloride channel called "chloride channel 3 (CLC3)," which is important in supporting the uptake of amyloid beta through the process known as phagocytosis. Curcuminoids activated this chloride channel only in Type I macrophages.

The scientists also found that 1a,25–dihydroxyvitamin D3 strongly helped trigger the genetic transcription of the chloride channel and the receptor for 1a,25–dihydroxyvitamin D3 in Type II macrophages. Transcription is the first step leading to gene expression.

Immune system rejuvenation could cut death from flu and pneumonia in the aged. Also, the potential to cut the incidence of cancer with better immune systems is very real. Rare people have exceptional immune systems for fighting cancer and aged immune systems with shorter telomeres are associated with higher cancer risk.

 

Related articles

Boosting Immunity with Vitamin D3 and Omega-3 To Fight Alzheimer' s

Cause of Alzheimer's amyloid damage found: Scripps study

Vitamin D May Help Prevent Alzheimer's

Google Nose

Is this a joke? It appeared on April Fools Day! Google Nose says that it can connect scent to search. If true, I think this has amazing aromatherapy applications. So let's say that you feel a little tired, why not search for the scent of citris via Google Nose, take a whiff and get a lift on the go?

Here is a short video on this amazing (?) capability. And check to see what scents can be used for which needs and emotive states in the Aromatherapy section of my blog.

 

Related articles

Using Aromatherapy to Make You Buy More Stuff

Aromatherapy Art?

Using Aromatherapy to Make You Buy More Stuff

I suppose we should not be surprised but there is a company that is in the business of developing scents that they then infuse into the air of stores and shopping places.

The scents they create are designed to impel you to do things like buy more products and heighten your attention to items for sale.

One company is called SmartFrangrances and it is based in Ramsey, New Jersey.

Aromatherapy, when used for non-mercenary purposes has great personal benficial impact. By the use of carefully crafted oil essences, one can reduce their stress, or feel uplifted or relax or maybe even recuperate from ailments. Aromatherapy when used for mercenary purposes uses the tenets of aroma characteristics to encourage you to spend money on things that you may not really need or want. It is a perversion of the craft ... and it happens every day!

How often do you wander by a bakery and catch a whiff of delicious baked goods that draw you into the store? Or the lovely scent of brewing coffee that compells you to have a cup? That is a type of aromatherapy at work.

But SmartFragrances does it one step "better".Dan Offerman of SmartFragrances was interviewed by BusinessWeek and was asked questions like:

Can scent control behavior?
Offerman answer: In general, you want to improve the customer experience: Either to get them to stay longer or to buy more. And now it’s another way of branding, tapping an additional sense to help you promote the company or a product.

And it seems impossible for a shopper to avoid these created scents....

So once you figure out the scent, how do you get it into the environment?
Offerman answer: Nanodiffusion. A machine is tapped into the HVAC system of a building, which sends fragrance oil floating in the air, and takes a dozen minutes before it dissipates. A typical machine goes through about a kilo of oil a month.

If you want to learn more about aromatherapy and do it yourself, try this Aromatherapy starter set

 

 

 

Scent Sculptures and Christophe Laudamiel

The power of aroma, such as in aromatherapy extends into perfumes. But also art?

According to coolnews.com, Christophe Laudamiel is well-known for his work designing high-end fragrances for Ralph Lauren, Estee Lauder and Tom Ford and has also include designing scents inspired by a 1985 Patrick Suskind novel-turned-movie (trailer) "which included the stench of gutters in 18th century Paris."

Christophe was also involved in a "scent opera ... pairing an original musical score with a sequence of more than 20 scents delivered through an odor-releasing device." His latest venture "tests the commercial possibilities of scent art" via "seven scent sculptures on display" at Dillon Gallery in New York City. Among them is a scent called "Fear," in which "sniffers will encounter the sweet, musty, cold smell of a damp cave." Christophe achieved this through "metallic notes found in geranium and musty elements found in rhubarb and roots."

On the lighter side is "The Banana and the Monkey," which pairs the smell of "sweet, ripe banana ... with a hairy, sweaty, feral monkey odor." Christophe used amyl acetate for the banana and civet, "which smells vaguely fecal," among other elements. The sculptures are experienced in tents set up around the gallery, which isolate and concentrate the aromas. The commercial potential remains questionable, in part because of the challenges of displaying or advertising aromas (scratch 'n' sniff?). And then there's the price: Chrisophe's scent sculptures "range from $15,000 to "$20,000 depending on the complexity of the formula."

 

Aromatherapy Art?

I am not sure whether this is a good idea or not, but it does make use of aromatherapy to bring people closer together.  Scents have amazing impact on our moods, psyche and motivations. Do you ever notice how the alluring scent of coffee wafts out on the street from coffeee bars? Or fresh baked bread smells from bakeries? They lure us in. So why not the smell of an artist to bring you closer to her art... or not!

According to Cool News of the Day, Artist Martynka Wawrzyniak should be classified as a scent artist because her artwork is based on her body aromas. She got the idea to create her own scent after two previous works, one of which involved her getting doused with ketchup and the other with chocolate. She noticed that the aromas lingered on her body for days afterward. She was also intrigued by the smell of her newborn nephew's head, an aroma she says "is known for having an incredibly powerful effect on women." So, she contacted Donna McGregor, a chemistry professor at Hunter College, who figured out how to extract Martynka's aromas from her "sweat, tears and hair"and then used perfumers who stabilized the scents.

The result - a scent chamber for the exhibit. Martynka thinks this brings art to "the next level of intimacy," noting: "We reserve smelling each other's bodies for the most intimate human encounters." Or as, Donna McGregor observes: "It's not like you can close your eyes and not see the art. You have to breathe. And so you are forced to inhale a part of the artist."

Of course if you don't like the smell, you can always do a bit of aromatherapy