Vitamin D Shows Early Promise Against Lupus

Preliminary Research Suggests Vitamin D Is Safe, Affects Immune Response

Nov. 8, 2011 (Chicago) -- In the first study of its kind, high doses of vitamin D were safe and appeared to temper some of the destructive immune system responses believed to cause lupus.

The small, preliminary study did not look at whether skin rashes, fatigue, fever, and other symptoms of lupus actually improved.

It's too soon to draw any conclusions about vitamin D's long-term safety and effectiveness in treating lupus, says Sam Lin, MD, a rheumatologist at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta who was involved with the work.

Still, vitamin D is one of a number of experimental treatments targeting the disease process that shows promise, he says.

"More and more research is pointing to an immune-regulating role for vitamin D," Lin tells WebMD.

The findings were presented here at the American College of Rheumatology annual meeting.

About 1.5 million Americans have lupus, a disease in which the immune system attacks healthy tissues, wreaking havoc on the joints, skin, and other organs.

In March, the FDA approved Benlysta, the first new lupus treatment in 50 years. But it only helped about 30% of people in the clinical trials that led to its approval. Benlysta comes with reports of serious side effects, including serious infections.

In people with frequent flare-ups, relatively safe antimalarial drugs or steroids, which can also have serious side effects, are often prescribed. But none of the drugs help everyone.

As a result, the race is on to find new treatments that target specific immune cells involved in causing lupus without harming the rest of the immune system.

The new study involved 20 people with no or mild disease activity and low levels of vitamin D.

They were given an injection of 100,000 international units (IU) of vitamin D3 once a week for four weeks. Following that, they received a monthly shot of the same dose of vitamin D for six more months.

The primary goal of the study was to show safety, and that goal was met, says researcher Benjamin Terrier, MD, of the Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital in Paris. The shots were well tolerated, and no one developed too much calcium in their blood or kidney stones, side effects associated with too much vitamin D.

Blood vitamin D levels increased, reaching normal values after two months.

Importantly, vitamin D boosted the number and activity of protective immune cells, he says. And it dampened some abnormal immune cells, calming down the immune system.

Terrier says he believes that if supplementation is stopped, vitamin D levels may drop again, with harm to the immune system.

"We see an initial [immune] signal that looks good for a short period of time. But it's too short and small a study to draw any conclusions about safety and effectiveness," Lin says.

He's particularly concerned about the long-term safety of such high doses of vitamin D. The recommended dietary allowance (RDA) of vitamin D is only 600 IU a day until age 70, he notes.

No one with lupus should try taking high-dose supplements on their own as a way of controlling their disease, Lin stresses.

The next step, Terrier says, will be a larger, longer study comparing vitamin D supplements to a placebo.

These findings were presented at a medical conference. They should be considered preliminary as they have not yet undergone the "peer review" process, in which outside experts scrutinize the data prior to publication in a medical journal.

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Stopping Violence Against Women: Find a Town Hall Event Near You

Vice President Joe Biden’s commitment to ending violence against women has been unwavering. The?Violence Against Women Act?(VAWA) that he authored has reshaped the way the United States responds to domestic violence and sexual assault by enhancing law enforcement practices, improving the criminal justice system, and creating a network of services for victims.

In response to the Vice President’s call to action and?youth initiative, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Education, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development are collaborating to hold ten regional town hall events throughout the country during the last week of October 2011 on the topic of?Engaging Men in Ending Violence Against Women.

Find an event near you:

Region 1: Boston, MARegion 2: New York, NYRegion 3: Philadelphia, PARegion 4: Atlanta, GARegion 5: Chicago, ILRegion 6: Dallas, TXRegion 7: Kansas City, MORegion 8: Denver, CORegion 9: Oakland, CARegion 10: Seattle, WA

As Vice President Biden reminded us on the?17th Anniversary?of the passage of the VAWA, “We can fight violence again women. But it can’t happen without all of you speaking up and acting; it can’t end until we make it completely clear that sexual assault and violence against women cannot, will not be tolerated anywhere, anytime for any reason, period.”

Cross-posted from womenshealth.gov.

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Judge Rules Against Union on City Plan to Close Schools

In a defeat for the city’s teachers’ union, a judge ruled on Thursday that the Education Department could proceed with plans to close 22 schools because of poor performance and place 15 charter schools in the buildings of traditional schools in September.

In his ruling in a lawsuit brought by the union, the United Federation of Teachers, Justice Paul G. Feinman of State Supreme Court wrote that the suit had not met the standard that would be required for the court to immediately stop the city from moving forward. The union failed to clearly prove that the city had acted improperly in its treatment of the closing schools, the judge said, and the city’s plans to locate the charter schools had enough detail to challenge claims that the planning was deficient.

“Because plaintiffs have failed to show a likelihood of success on the merits of their claims,” the judge ruled, “their motion must be denied.”

But Justice Feinman did not dismiss the case entirely, and the union said on Thursday that it planned to move forward with other aspects of the lawsuit. Practically speaking, that means that all the schools will open and close as scheduled in September, even as the court battle continues.

“While Judge Feinman has declined our request for an injunction, his decision does not affect the underlying issues of fairness and due process” that are part of the lawsuit, said Dick Riley, a spokesman for the teachers’ union.

The lawsuit, filed in May, had threatened to alter arrangements for thousands of students at the opening of the school year and to set the stage for a logistical nightmare.

The N.A.A.C.P. had joined with the union in the suit, which among its other claims, said that the city had discriminated against traditional district schools by giving charter schools more time in common spaces like auditoriums and gymnasiums than the traditional schools whose buildings they will share.

Last year, the union and the N.A.A.C.P. prevailed in a similar lawsuit that focused only on school closings, and those schools remained open. The city was then ordered to take steps to improve the process by which it closed schools, and the union argued that those steps had not been taken.

The lawsuit rose to national attention over the last two months, largely because of the N.A.A.C.P.’s involvement. Critics charged that the civil rights organization was on the wrong side of the charter school issue because in New York City, many high-performing charter schools serve mostly black students.

But Hazel N. Dukes, the leader of the New York branch of the N.A.A.C.P., stood her ground, even after she was criticized for accusing a charter school mother of “doing the business of slave masters” by defending the school her daughter attended.

While the lawsuit will continue, the charter school operators and the schools chancellor, Dennis M. Walcott, hailed the decision as a victory. The judge’s reasoning, they said, largely favored the city.

“I am incredibly heartened by the court’s decision tonight,” Mr. Walcott said. “I know this decision will come as great comfort and relief to the thousands of children who have been in limbo, wondering what the outcome of this case would be.”

View the original article here

Room For Debate: The Case Against Law School

Mark Graham for The New York Times Is law school really necessary for the bar exam?

Law school tuition is rising four times as fast as the cost of an undergraduate degree, which itself is soaring. Despite the high price, students are still flocking to law schools, even if it means going into heavy debt to enter a tight job market with few top-paying openings.

Should the standard three-year model of legal education, followed by taking and passing the bar exam, be the only path toward becoming a lawyer? Could law school be shortened, or should those three years of classes have a different focus?

?Read the Discussion ?

David Van Zandt

George Leef

Kevin Noble Maillard

Rose Cuison Villazor

David Lat

Geoffrey R. Stone

Linda Greene

Bryan A. Garner

View the original article here

Judge Rules Against Union on City Plan to Close Schools

In a defeat for the city’s teachers’ union, a judge ruled on Thursday that the Education Department could proceed with plans to close 22 schools because of poor performance and place 15 charter schools in the buildings of traditional schools in September.

In his ruling in a lawsuit brought by the union, the United Federation of Teachers, Justice Paul G. Feinman of State Supreme Court wrote that the suit had not met the standard that would be required for the court to immediately stop the city from moving forward. The union failed to clearly prove that the city had acted improperly in its treatment of the closing schools, the judge said, and the city’s plans to locate the charter schools had enough detail to challenge claims that the planning was deficient.

“Because plaintiffs have failed to show a likelihood of success on the merits of their claims,” the judge ruled, “their motion must be denied.”

But Justice Feinman did not dismiss the case entirely, and the union said on Thursday that it planned to move forward with other aspects of the lawsuit. Practically speaking, that means that all the schools will open and close as scheduled in September, even as the court battle continues.

“While Judge Feinman has declined our request for an injunction, his decision does not affect the underlying issues of fairness and due process” that are part of the lawsuit, said Dick Riley, a spokesman for the teachers’ union.

The lawsuit, filed in May, had threatened to alter arrangements for thousands of students at the opening of the school year and to set the stage for a logistical nightmare.

The N.A.A.C.P. had joined with the union in the suit, which among its other claims, said that the city had discriminated against traditional district schools by giving charter schools more time in common spaces like auditoriums and gymnasiums than the traditional schools whose buildings they will share.

Last year, the union and the N.A.A.C.P. prevailed in a similar lawsuit that focused only on school closings, and those schools remained open. The city was then ordered to take steps to improve the process by which it closed schools, and the union argued that those steps had not been taken.

The lawsuit rose to national attention over the last two months, largely because of the N.A.A.C.P.’s involvement. Critics charged that the civil rights organization was on the wrong side of the charter school issue because in New York City, many high-performing charter schools serve mostly black students.

But Hazel N. Dukes, the leader of the New York branch of the N.A.A.C.P., stood her ground, even after she was criticized for accusing a charter school mother of “doing the business of slave masters” by defending the school her daughter attended.

While the lawsuit will continue, the charter school operators and the schools chancellor, Dennis M. Walcott, hailed the decision as a victory. The judge’s reasoning, they said, largely favored the city.

“I am incredibly heartened by the court’s decision tonight,” Mr. Walcott said. “I know this decision will come as great comfort and relief to the thousands of children who have been in limbo, wondering what the outcome of this case would be.”

View the original article here

Room For Debate: The Case Against Law School

Mark Graham for The New York Times Is law school really necessary for the bar exam?

Law school tuition is rising four times as fast as the cost of an undergraduate degree, which itself is soaring. Despite the high price, students are still flocking to law schools, even if it means going into heavy debt to enter a tight job market with few top-paying openings.

Should the standard three-year model of legal education, followed by taking and passing the bar exam, be the only path toward becoming a lawyer? Could law school be shortened, or should those three years of classes have a different focus?

?Read the Discussion ?

David Van Zandt

George Leef

Kevin Noble Maillard

Rose Cuison Villazor

David Lat

Geoffrey R. Stone

Linda Greene

Bryan A. Garner

View the original article here