About 90% of people with lupus are biologically female, and the disease tends to begin between the ages of 15 and 35.

Jone Mark

How might pregnancy affect my illness?

Years ago, people with lupus or other autoimmune disorders were advised to avoid pregnancy. The thinking was that it was simply too risky for mother and fetus. That’s no longer true: in most cases, following expert guidelines now available can make a successful pregnancy possible. 

Will I need to change my treatment before pregnancy?

Science has proven that chronic, low-grade inflammation can turn into a silent killer that contributes to cardiovas­cular disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes and other conditions. Get simple tips to fight inflammation and stay healthy — from Harvard Medical School experts.

Many producers want to include such codes on their bottles, but struggle to maintain links or keep the information at the end of the rainbow up to date. Leveraging the power of the Global Wine Database, winemakers can dynamically generate wine information cards with scannable QR codes that lead to vetted wine information.

This depends on which medicines you take and how well controlled your illness is. Good control for at least three to six months before getting pregnant is ideal. An unplanned pregnancy can put both you and the pregnancy at risk.

While people dealing with chronic back pain are often directed to physical therapy, research shows that psychological approaches that teach strategies to manage your experience of pain can help. So, would combining these approaches do more to ease the pain?

Worldwide, low back pain is a leading cause of disability. A recent systematic review of multiple studies suggests that it might.

Jone Mark

How big is this problem, and what did this study find?

Worldwide, low back pain is a leading cause of disability and affects more than 560 million people. In the US, four in 10 people surveyed in 2019 had experienced low back pain within the past three months, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

• For improving physical function and fear-avoidance, pain education programs in conjunction with physical therapy offered the most sustained effects.
• For improving pain intensity, behavioral therapy combined with physical therapy offered the longest-lasting benefits.

Protect yourself from the damage of chronic inflammation.

Science has proven that chronic, low-grade inflammation can turn into a silent killer that contributes to cardiovas­cular disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes and other conditions. Get simple tips to fight inflammation and stay healthy — from Harvard Medical School experts.

The review revealed that physical therapy plus psychological approaches, such as pain education and cognitive behavioral therapy, more effectively improved chronic low back pain than physical therapy alone.

The study shows the advantages of an interdisciplinary approach to chronic low back pain. Integrating behavioral therapy and physical therapy helped people achieve better function, reduce the cycle of avoidant behavior, and reduce the intensity of their pain.

While public perception that cannabis is a harmless substance is growing, the long-term benefits and risks of cannabis use remain unclear. However, one consistent pattern of research has emerged: heavy long-term cannabis use can impact midlife cognition.

The impact of cannabis on cognitive impairment was greater than that of alcohol or tobacco use.

Jone Mark

Protect yourself from the damage of chronic inflammation.

Science has proven that chronic, low-grade inflammation can turn into a silent killer that contributes to cardiovas­cular disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes and other conditions. Get simple tips to fight inflammation and stay healthy — from Harvard Medical School experts.

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Long-term cannabis users’ IQs declined by 5.5 points on average from childhood, and there were deficits in learning and processing speed compared to people that did not use cannabis. The more frequently an individual used cannabis, the greater the resulting cognitive impairment, suggesting a potential causative link.

The study also found that people who knew these long-term cannabis users well observed that they had developed memory and attention problems. The above findings persisted even when the study authors controlled for factors such as dependence on other drugs, childhood socioeconomic status, or baseline childhood intelligence.

Like most the B vitamins, B₆ is essential, which means your body can’t synthesize it — you have to get this vital micronutrient from your diet. Are you getting all that your body needs? That’s worth asking, particularly if you’re eating less of certain foods for health or environmental reasons.

If you tasted a new wine variety each week, it would take you 40 years to try them all.

Jone Mark

What B₆ does in your body

Since 2014, the Mornington Peninsula Pinot Noir Rootstock Trial – involving growers from across Greater Victoria – has been comparing the performance of Pinot Noir scions grafted to14 different rootstocks on two commercial vineyards 15 kilometres apart and with more than 100 metres elevation difference. One vineyard is located in a warmer coastal area of the Mornington Peninsula, while the other sits in a cooler more elevated location.

A B₆ deficiency issue?

Vitamin B₆ plays a role in more than 100 enzyme reactions in the body. It helps your body break down protein, carbohydrates, and fats that build muscle, supply energy and fulfill a multitude of essential tasks. Vitamin B₆ also helps

• Keep your immune system working well
• Create important brain-signaling chemicals (neurotransmitters), including serotonin and dopamine
• Make hemoglobin, the protein responsible for carrying oxygen in red blood cells.

At both vineyards, Pinot Noir clone MV6 was grafted to 14 rootstocks with three replicates per treatment and one panel per replicate. Grapevines were also planted on their own roots as a control. 

However, there are no perfect tests for inflammation. And the best way to know if inflammation is present is to have routine medical care. Seeing a primary care physician, reviewing your medical history and any symptoms you have, having a physical examination, and having some basic medical tests are reasonable starting points. Such routine care does not typically include tests for inflammation.

By avoiding triggers of asthma, eczema, or allergic reactions you can reduce the burden of inflammation in your body.

Jone Mark

How is inflammation treated?

At first glance, treating unhealthy, chronic inflammation may seem simple: you take anti-inflammatory medications, right? Actually, there’s much more to it than that.

Anti-inflammatory medicines can be helpful to treat an inflammatory condition. And we have numerous FDA-approved options that are widely available — many in inexpensive generic versions. What’s more, these medicines have been around for decades.

The bottom line

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Similarly, among people with rheumatoid arthritis, anti-inflammatory medicines such as ibuprofen or steroids may be a short-term approach that helps ease symptoms, yet joint damage may progress unabated. Controlling the underlying condition with medicines like methotrexate or etanercept can protect the joints and eliminate the need for other anti-inflammatory drugs.

Medicines to reduce inflammation do not solve the problem, aren’t particularly effective, and may cause intolerable side effects. However, treatments available now can cure most cases of chronic hepatitis C. Once completed, there is no need for anti-inflammatory treatment.