Diet-induced changes in the gut's bacterial ecosystem can alter susceptibility to an autoinflammatory bone disease by modifying the immune response, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists reported. The findings appeared in an advanced online publication of the scientific journal Nature.  The research provides insight into how the thousands of bacteria and other microorganisms that live in the intestines affect health. The microbes make up the intestinal microbiome, a diverse evolving ecosystem that aids digestion and helps to educate the immune cells that guard against infection. Growing evidence suggests that changes in the microbiome composition may contribute to development of diseases ranging from cancer to chronic inflammatory disorders such as multiple sclerosis. The mechanisms involved, however, were poorly understood. "These results are exciting because they help to explain how environmental factors like diet can influence susceptibility to autoinflammatory diseases," said the study's corresponding author Thirumala-Devi Kanneganti, PhD, a member of the St. Jude...

To complement the article “Fascia: The Matrix Reloaded,” in the July 2014 issue of MASSAGE Magazine. New studies of the microstructure of bone reveals about 2 percent of bone is fluid; a citrate goo that interfaces between the collagen mesh and the nano-platelets of mineral salts. “Surely, by now we know all about bone,” you might think. Actually, one more crack in the old model of biomechanics has just emerged in a study of bone. We know that our skeleton is mostly calcium salts, the stiff mineral apatite we all associate with bone. We know that each individual bone is held in an envelope of collagen, with the periosteum on the outside, the endosteum on the inside, and a very leathery mesh of collagen—the same tensile fiber that makes up your tendons and ligaments—all the way through even the compact part of bone, to tie into the cartilage at either end. The...

Osteoporosis: Risk Factors, Vertebral Compression Fractures, and Prevention About 52 million Americans1 have osteoporosis and low bone mass. Osteoporosis, which means porous bone, is a serious disease that causes you to lose too much bone, make too little bone, or both. As your bones lose density, they become weaker and more likely to break. If you are 50 and older and have broken a bone, you should talk to your doctor who will most likely recommend a bone density test. Although osteoporosis affects both women and men, studies suggest that approximately one in two women — as compared to up to one in four men age 50 and older — will break a bone due to osteoporosis. Twenty percent of senior citizens who break a hip will die within one year from problems related to the broken bone itself or surgery to repair it. Many of those who survive need long-term nursing...