Faculty Bibliography

OBJECTIVES: Curcumin (diferuloylmethane) is the principal biochemical component of the spice turmeric and has been shown to possess potent anti-catabolic, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant, properties. This article aims to provide a summary of the actions of curcumin on articular chondrocytes from the available literature with the use of a text-mining tool. We highlight both the potential benefits and drawbacks of using this chemopreventive agent for treating osteoarthritis (OA). We also explore the recent literature on the molecular mechanisms of curcumin mediated alterations in gene expression mediated via activator protein 1 (AP-1)/nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kappaB) signalling in chondrocytes, osteoblasts and synovial fibroblasts. METHODS: A computer-aided search of the PubMed/Medline database aided by a text-mining tool to interrogate the ResNet Mammalian database 6.0. RESULTS: Recent work has shown that curcumin protects human chondrocytes from the catabolic actions of interleukin-1 beta (IL-1beta) including matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-3 up-regulation, inhibition of collagen type II and down-regulation of beta1-integrin expression. Curcumin blocks IL-1beta-induced proteoglycan degradation, AP-1/NF-kappaB signalling, chondrocyte apoptosis and activation of caspase-3. CONCLUSIONS: The available data from published in vitro and in vivo studies suggest that curcumin may be a beneficial complementary treatment for OA in humans and companion animals. Nevertheless, before initiating extensive clinical trials, more basic research is required to improve its solubility, absorption and bioavailability and gain additional information about its safety and efficacy in different species. Once these obstacles have been overcome, curcumin and structurally related biochemicals may become safer and more suitable nutraceutical alternatives to the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs that are currently used for the treatment of OA.

House [Television Program] -- [...] antibiotics or steroids are often used in life-threatening conditions even before diagnoses are confirmed, especially when waiting would imperil the patient's life

Scrubs [Television Program] -- If so, how long would a doctor have to wait after stopping a patient's heparin before performing an invasive test such as a bronchoscopy, in which a tissue biopsy may be taken? (A biopsy could cause excessive bleeding if the platelets don't clot properly.) Would a bronchoscopy be a routine test to evaluate breathing problems?

The authors point out that Turner Catledge, then a Washington correspondent for The New York Times and later its executive editor, did not report how awful Mr. Roosevelt looked during an interview at the White House in 1944, months before his nomination to an unprecedented fourth term. The speculation about a melanoma cannot be verified because there was no autopsy and no known biopsy, and most of Mr. Roosevelt's medical records disappeared shortly after his death from a safe in the U.S. Naval Hospital in Bethesda, Md. In their public accounts and the few surviving medical records, his doctors never suggested that they performed a biopsy to determine whether he had any form of cancer.

In July 1944, Dr. Frank H. Lahey, a nationally prominent surgeon in Boston, consulted in [Franklin D. Roosevelt]'s case. In a memorandum to the record that was made public largely through [Harry S. Goldsmith]'s efforts, Lahey said he told Roosevelt's White House physician, Admiral Ross T. McIntire, he doubted Roosevelt's capacity to survive another term. But the memorandum did not mention cancer: It focused on the president's failing heart. After McIntire's death in 1959, [Steven Lomazow] said, 'it fell upon' [Howard G. Bruenn] to protect Roosevelt's wishes to keep his health problems secret. A British physician, Dr. Hugh L'Etang, was about to publish a paper suggesting Roosevelt might have had melanoma, Lomazow said. The authors say that, though it is unclear whether Roosevelt's doctors fully understood the nature of this postulated deficit, 'they certainly knew that the president's lesion was malignant and had metastasized.' The book says the abdominal pains Roosevelt experienced in his last year were 'caused by the cancer that had metastasized to his bowel.'

In July 1944, Frank H. Lahey, a surgeon in Boston, consulted in [Franklin D. Roosevelt]'s case. In a memorandum to the record that was made public largely through Dr. [Harry S. Goldsmith]'s efforts, Lahey said he told Roosevelt's White House physician, Adm. Ross T. McIntire, that he doubted Roosevelt's capacity to survive another term. But the memorandum did not mention cancer: It focused on the president's failing heart. After McIntire's death in 1959, Dr. [Steven Lomazow] said, 'it fell upon' [Howard G. Bruenn] to protect Roosevelt's wishes to keep his health problems secret. A British physician, Hugh L'Etang, was about to publish a paper suggesting that Roosevelt might have had melanoma, Dr. Lomazow said. Also, he said, the Roosevelt family wanted Bruenn's cooperation in documenting that the president had been mentally capable during the Allies' end-of-war conference at Yalta in February 1945. During the Cold War, detractors had taken to calling him 'the sick man at Yalta' and said that Stalin had taken advantage of him

The authors point out that Turner Catledge, then a Washington correspondent for The New York Times and later its executive editor, did not report how awful Roosevelt looked during an interview at the White House in 1944, months before his nomination to an unprecedented fourth term. The speculation about a melanoma cannot be verified because there was no autopsy and no known biopsy, and most of Roosevelt's medical records disappeared shortly after his death from a safe in the United States Naval Hospital in Bethesda, Md