In 2011, Madeline Puckette was a 20-something sommelier serving wine across the bar when the idea popped into her head: “I should start a blog to help people learn about wine!”

Testing for inflammation

False positive results may occur when abnormal test results suggest inflammation even when none is present.

Jone Mark

It’s frustrating to be standing in a wine shop, and you find a bottle that excites you with a QR code on the label, so you pull out your phone, and get a dead end.

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.

Are tests for inflammation useful?

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.

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. 

 But when the time comes for treatment, up to a third of men still decide against it. Now, a new study finds that for some of these men, treatment can be safely delayed.

Reliable Wine Information on Mobile

80% of the men in the early-surgery group were still cancer-free three years later, compared to 87% of the men who put the surgery off for up to five years.

Jone Mark

Researchers from the University of California, San Francisco identified 531 men whose cancers progressed while they were on active surveillance. All the men were diagnosed initially with Grade Group 1 prostate cancer, which is the bottom rung on a classification scheme that ranks cancers from low to high risk of aggressive spread.

Outcomes and observations

When the researchers compared long-term outcomes among the men who got surgery within six months and those who waited longer for their operation, they found little difference between them. Forty-five men from both groups combined had their cancer return within three years after surgery.

Furthermore, prostate tissues observed by a pathologist immediately after surgery showed similar rates of adverse biological features that predict worse outcomes later. Tumors from about half the men from either group had this type of adverse pathology.

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

• Jewish Fried Artichoke & Grechetto
• Carbonara & Lazio Bianco
• Garganelli alla Coda & Cesanese

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.