CONGRATULATIONS!
EMILY PAPAPIETRO
of San Francisco was picked the winner in LFNC's Charity Car Drawing for a 2012 Honda Civic Sedan held July 3, 2012.
|
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Lupus Patient Education Day: Lupus Self Management | Holistic Nutrition for Lupus
FREE EVENT Presented by the San Francisco Lupus Support Group
Saturday, July 21, 2012
11am to 3pm
San Francisco Kaiser Medical Center, 2238 Geary Blvd @ Divisadero, 3rd Floor-Diamond Room, SF, CA 94115
To register call (415) 694-9145 or email egrate@comcast.net with name, number of guests and phone number. Light breakfast/lunch provided. For detailed information, please visit the SF Subchapter Website.
Benlysta Webcast/Teleconference Series
Presented by Human Genome Sciences/GlaxoSmithKline
Jul 25 | Aug 22 | Sep 26 | Oct 24 | Nov 28
8pm ET
Tune in from home!
A different lupus-related topic will be addressed each month such as Benlysta and the infusion process, how to strengthen communications with your doctors, tips for managing lupus, and information about financial assistance.
To register for these free events, call 1-877-423-6597
Education Class for Newly and Recently Diagnosed Lupus Patients
Presented by the Lupus Foundation of Northern California
Saturday, July 28, 2012
11:30 am to 2:00pm
Santa Clara Kaiser Permanente Medical Office Building.
710 Lawrence Expressway, Santa Clara, CA 95051
REGISTRATION REQUIRED. Click HERE to register
|
Information contained in this e-Newsletter should not be considered a substitute for professional diagnosis, treatment or management of S.L.E. and symptoms by a physician.
Missed a previous issue of this e-Newsletter?
You can now view our ARCHIVES.
Editor: Rene Astudillo
Editorial Assistant: Spandan Chakrabarti |
|
Connect with us on
via "Lupus Online"
|
LFNC's Social Media Program is funded through a generous grant from THE HENRY L. GUENTHER FOUNDATION GEORGE H. SANDY FOUNDATION GLAXOSMITHKLINE |
|
|
|
You are receiving this newsletter because you have subscribed or have participated in our programs or events. We respect your time and privacy. If you prefer not to continue receiving the newsletter, you can click on the "safe unsubscribe" button below. We hope, however, that you will opt to remain on our newsletter list for important information and life-saving tips that you or someone you know may benefit from now or in the future.
|
Pregnancy Loss for Women with Lupus
 Why is pregnancy loss more common for women with lupus? The answer may come from a seemingly unrelated finding started 10 years ago by noted researcher Betty Diamond, MD at The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research. Dr. Diamond is applying her initial LRI-funded discovery of an autoantibody that attacks the brain to provide a new biological explanation of pregnancy loss in lupus.
The groundwork for Dr. Diamond's latest study, which is funded by the National Institutes of Health, was laid by an innovative research finding sponsored almost 10 years ago by the Lupus Research Institute. In the original LRI-funded project, Dr. Diamond discovered that certain auto-antibodies, which trigger the kidney and related physical complications of lupus, are likely also responsible for lupus patients' neurological, or brain, changes, which range from headaches and memory problems to seizures and stroke.
Continuing to build on her findings, Dr. Diamond went on to show that these auto-antibodies can cross the placenta and harm the brain of the fetus. According to Dr. Diamond, this subset of auto-antibodies which cause miscarriage in mouse experiments occurs in about 40% of patients with lupus. Her latest study with pregnant lab mice with a lupus-like disease, revealed that these auto-antibodies triggered the loss of more female than male fetuses.
These findings, reported in the May 2012 issue of the Journal of Experimental Medicine, may help explain reports of births of more boys than girls to women with lupus, she said. The reason for this gender bias could not be determined but the study provides clues for further exploration.
Read MORE.
|
Client Question:
Tumor Necrosis Factor and Autoimmune Disease
We received the following questions from one of our clients/readers:
"Is it true that TNF (Tumor Necrosis Factor) is elevated in people with autoimmune diseases like lupus? What is the effect of elevated TNF on lupus and other autoimmune diseases? Does it promote inflammation? I've read about TNF inhibitors, but some information I got seem to point to the fact that TNF inhibitors may actually cause severe side effects on people with autoimmune diseases."
 R. Elaine Lambert, MD, Rheumatologist in Redwood City, provides the following response:
"Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) is a cytokine that is elevated in many autoimmune inflammatory diseases particularly rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis (inflammatory bowel disease), psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis. TNF does promote inflammation when it is in high levels in these diseases. Inhibitors of TNF such as Enbrel, Remicade, Humira, Cimzia and Simponi do reduce excessive levels of TNF and have the potential for side effects. However, this class of drugs have been extremely helpful to many patients with the above diseases, if they are monitored carefully for side effects.
Lupus is a related disease to the above group of diseases and elevated levels of TNF can be present in lupus patients. We do not typically use TNF inhibitors in patients with lupus, because the TNF inhibitors can cause an exacerbation of lupus or even a drug-induced form of lupus. You should ask your own doctor for advice regarding whether your case warrants consideration of a TNF inhibitor."
|
RACE RESULTS OVERALL & BY AGE CATEGORY now available on the LFNC WEBSITE.
|
|
LFNC is an active partner in
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
