A new technology for studying the human body's vast system for toggling genes on and off reveals that genes connected with the immune system switch …
Category: Autoimmune Conditions
Stanford doctors unraveling mysterious childhood psychiatric disease
A story in Sunday's Wall Street Journal highlights Stanford's leadership in treating a mystifying disease in which a child suddenly develops intense psychiatric problems, often …
Cause of 2009 swine-flu-vaccine association with narcolepsy revealed?
Back in 2001, in the wacko cinematic tour de farce "Rat Race," British actor Rowan Atkinson - a.k.a. the iconic "Mr. Bean" - put a humorous face …
Adult humans harbor lots of risky autoreactive immune cells, study finds
If a new study published in Immunity is on the mark, the question immunologists may start asking themselves will be not "Why do some people …
Getting to the good gut: how to go about it
In a blog post a few years ago I wrote, with misplaced parenthetical self-assuredness: Anybody who’s ever picked up an M&M off the sidewalk and …
Study clarifies link between dieting, exercise and reduced inflammation
If you've ever wondered how dieting and exercise reduce inflammation, read on. According to new research, a compound that our bodies crank out when energy supplies …
Chronic fatigue syndrome gets more respect (and a new name)
As has been widely reported, an Institute of Medicine (IOM) report released yesterday acknowledged that chronic fatigue syndrome is a real and serious disease and renamed the …
What happens when the immune system attacks the brain? Stanford doctors investigate
The first time he flew into a psychotic rage, Paul Michael Nelson was only 7 years old. He stabbed at a door in his family's …
Unbroken: A chronic fatigue syndrome patient’s long road to recovery
“Fatigue is what we experience, but it is what a match is to an atomic bomb,” said Laura Hillenbrand, the author of Unbroken, about how …
Tiny hitchhikers, big health impact: Studying the microbiome to learn about disease
I don't know about you, but I'm fascinated with the idea of the "microbiome." If you're unfamiliar with the term, it describes the millions upon …
Video game accessory may help multiple sclerosis patients reduce falls, boost brain connections
Nintendo's Wii Balance Board has helped get people off the couch and moving as they play aerobic video games like Super Hula Hoop or Dance …
Civilization and its dietary (dis)contents: Do modern diets starve our gut-microbial community?
Our genes have evolved a bit over the last 50,000 years of human evolution, but our diets have evolved a lot. That's because civilization has …
Empowered is as empowered does: Making a choice about living with lupus
We've partnered with Inspire, a company that builds and manages online support communities for patients and caregivers, to launch a patient-focused series here on Scope. …
Two decades with scleroderma: How I find answers to hard-to-solve questions
The day I was diagnosed with scleroderma 21 years ago was devastating for my parents and me, to say the least. I was 15 years …
A wake-up call from a young e-patient: "I need to be heard"
We've partnered with Inspire, a company that builds and manages online support communities for patients and caregivers, to launch a patient-focused series here on Scope. …
Join Ask Stanford Med for a live discussion about scleroderma on Wednesday
Although scleroderma is derived from the Greek words meaning "hardness" and "skin," its symptoms affect far more than patients' epidermis. The complex, rare disease can …