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Induction of ovarian cancer cell apoptosis by 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 through the down-regulation of telomerase. Jiang F, Bao J, Li P, Nicosia SV, Bai W. J Biol Chem. 2004 Dec 17;279(51):53213-21. Epub 2004 Oct 12. PMID: 15485861 doi: 10.1074/jbc.M410395200 Overall, the study suggests that the down-regulation of telomerase activity by 1,25(OH)2VD3 and the resulting cell death are important components of the response of OCa cells to 1,25(OH)2VD3-induced growth suppression. Progressive shortening of telomere associated with cell divisions limits the life span of normal cells and eventually leads to senescence. To become immortal, human cancers including OCa are invariably associated with activation of mechanism that maintains telomere length. Approximately 85-90% of cancers show reactivation of telomerase. The present study shows that telomerase in OCa cells is down-regulated by 1,25(OH)2VD3. Down-regulation of telomerase is due to decreased stability of hTERT mRNA rather than VDRE-mediated transcriptional repression through the putative VDRE present in the regulatory region of the hTERT gene. It is known that the inhibition of telomerase may lead to a phenotypic lag during which cells would continue to divide until the point at which the telomeres became critically short. This phenomenon may explain why the apoptotic induction by 1,25(OH)2VD3 needs the treatment for more than 6 days. As mentioned in the results, no detectable shortening of telomeric repeats was observed in parental OVCAR3 cells after 9 days of treatment with 1,25(OH)2VD3 (Fig. 4D). This is likely due to the fact that the short telomere (about 3 kb) in OVCAR3 cells is very close to the minimal length required for survival and that cells with detectably shorter telomere may have been selected against apoptosis. It has been shown that transformed human cells enter crisis once the terminal restriction fragment of the telomere reaches a length of about 4 kb. This is insufficient to protect chro

Conclusion: Vitamin D3 at doses equivalent to 2000 IU/d for 1 yr is safe in adolescents and results in desirable vitamin D levels. Short- and long-term safety of weekly high-dose vitamin D3 supplementation in school children. Maalouf J, Nabulsi M, Vieth R, Kimball S, El-Rassi R, Mahfoud Z, El-Hajj Fuleihan G. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2008 Jul;93(7):2693-701. Epub 2008 Apr 29. PMID: 18445674 doi:10.1210/jc.2007-2530

Conclusion We demonstrated that the VDRE in the CAMP gene originated from the exaptation of an AluSx SINE in the lineage leading to humans, apes, OWMs and NWMs and remained under purifying selection for the last 55-60 million years. We present convincing evidence of an evolutionarily fixed, Alu-mediated divergence in steroid hormone nuclear receptor gene regulation between humans/primates and other mammals. Evolutionary selection to place the primate CAMP gene under regulation of the vitamin D pathway potentiates the innate immune response and may counter the anti-inflammatory properties of vitamin D. Exaptation of an ancient Alu short interspersed element provides a highly conserved vitamin D-mediated innate immune response in humans and primates. Gombart AF, Saito T, Koeffler HP. BMC Genomics. 2009 Jul 16;10:321. PMID: 19607716 doi:10.1186/1471-2164-10-321

Effects of vitamin D and calcium supplementation on falls: a randomized controlled trial. Bischoff HA, Stähelin HB, Dick W, Akos R, Knecht M, Salis C, Nebiker M, Theiler R, Pfeifer M, Begerow B, Lew RA, Conzelmann M. J Bone Miner Res. 2003 Feb;18(2):343-51. PMID: 12568412 A single intervention with vitamin D plus calcium over a 3-month period reduced the risk of falling by 49% compared with calcium alone. Over this short-term intervention, recurrent fallers seem to benefit most by the treatment. The impact of vitamin D on falls might be explained by the observed improvement in musculoskeletal function.

Clinical Responses to a Mega-dose of Vitamin D3 in Infants and Toddlers With Vitamin D Deficiency Rickets. Soliman AT, El-Dabbagh M, Adel A, Ali MA, Aziz Bedair EM, Elalaily RK. J Trop Pediatr. 2009 Jun 8. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 19506025 doi:10.1093/tropej/fmp040 Conclusion: An IM injection of a mega dose of cholecalciferol is a safe and effective therapy for treatment of VDD rickets in infants and toddlers with normalization of all the biochemical parameters and healing of radiological manifestations. Measurement of serum 25(OH)D level is highly recommended in all short children with a clear need for a general vitamin D supplementation for all infants and young children in Qatar.

Are sunlight deprivation and influenza epidemics associated with the onset of acute leukemia? Timonen T, Näyhä S, Koskela T, Pukkala E. Haematologica. 2007 Nov;92(11):1553-6. PMID: 18024404 doi:10.3324/haematol.10799 Month of diagnosis of 7,423 cases of acute leukemia (AL) in Finland during 1964-2003 were linked with data on influenza and solar radiation. Acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML) showed the highest risk in the dark season. During the light season, the incidence decreased by 58% (95% confidence interval, 16-79%) per 1,000 kJ/m2/d increase of solar radiation. Independent of solar radiation, AML increased by 9% (95% confidence interval, 0-19%) during influenza epidemics. Reoccurring at the same time annually, darkness-related vitamin D deficiency and influenza could cause successive and co-operative mutations leading to AL with a short latency.

Association between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D and depressive symptoms in Japanese: analysis by survey season A Nanri, T Mizoue, Y Matsushita, K Poudel-Tandukar, M Sato, M Ohta, N Mishima European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (19 August 2009) doi:10.1038/ejcn.2009.96 Short Communication

Vitamin D: the alternative hypothesis. Albert PJ, Proal AD, Marshall TG. Autoimmun Rev. 2009 Jul;8(8):639-44. Epub 2009 Feb 12. Review. PMID: 19393200 Emerging molecular evidence suggests that symptomatic improvements among those administered vitamin D is the result of 25-D's ability to temper bacterial-induced inflammation by slowing VDR activity. While this results in short-term palliation, persistent pathogens that may influence disease progression, proliferate over the long-term.

"So why is Dr Vieth so frustrated? You might think he'd have cause for celebration. But for him and other vitamin D researchers around the world, the good news comes with a bitter aftertaste. They believe they can prove vitamin D could help millions live longer and be healthier and yet they have not been able to convince their own governments. In the US and Canada, official vitamin D policy is set by the Institute of Medicine. And in the opinion of Vieth, the current recommendations - 200 International Units per day for people under 50, 400 for people aged 51-70, and 600 for those 71 and older - are outrageously low. Bruce Hollis, professor of paediatrics at the Medical University of South Carolina, calls 400 IU a day "a joke". That's because the best research suggests that to achieve the higher vitamin D blood levels associated with disease prevention, most adults in the US would need to take 1,000-2,000 IU a day: five to 10 times more than the current official recommendation for adult In 1999, Reinhold Vieth (pictured right) published a review of vitamin D research in response to the IOM conclusions. In it, he argued that there was no evidence that amounts lower than 20,000 IU a day could be toxic. "Throughout my preparation of this review, I was amazed at the lack of evidence supporting statements about the toxicity of moderate doses of vitamin D," Vieth wrote. Studies have since shown 10,000 IU a day of vitamin D to be safe. While any substance will become toxic in excess, vitamin D researchers today accept that the current vitamin D recommendations could be more than quadrupled with no fear of toxicity.!

Correlation of symptoms with vitamin D deficiency and symptom response to cholecalciferol treatment: a randomized controlled trial. Arvold DS, Odean MJ, Dornfeld MP, Regal RR, Arvold JG, Karwoski GC, Mast DJ, Sanford PB, Sjoberg RJ. Endocr Pract. 2009 May-Jun;15(3):203-12. PMID: 19364687 Conclusions: Compared with participants in the placebo group, patients in the treatment group showed mild short-term improvement in the overall fibromyalgia impact score, but did not show significant improvement in most musculoskeletal symptoms or in activities of daily living.

On 29th September, Dr Michael Holick appeared on the "Coast to Coast" radio show, hosted by George Noory: http://www.coasttocoastam.com/guest/holick-dr-michael/41323 As many of you can't afford a subscription to listen to the whole show, I have edited the broadcast into an MP3 file of short snippets, so that we can (intelligently) discuss what was said. There is a "beep tone" to separate each snippet of info. You can download it from: http://MarshallProtocol.com/video/Holick.mp3 First is the introduction, setting out Dr Holick's overview of Vit D.

Gain weight technique is standard, however gain height? Extraordinary! If you are one among the short individuals who eager to induce taller at least 2 Inch from your height currently, you're in the correct track. Getting taller means anything to everyone. You gain respects from others, no a lot of rejection from the alternative sex, and your boss can even promote you since you have a nice posture of turning into a manager. So what you thing..?

Association between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D level and upper respiratory tract infection in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Ginde AA, Mansbach JM, Camargo CA Jr. Arch Intern Med. 2009 Feb 23;169(4):384-90. PMID: 19237723 Conclusions Serum 25(OH)D levels are inversely associated with recent URTI. This association may be stronger in those with respiratory tract diseases. Randomized controlled trials are warranted to explore the effects of vitamin D supplementation on RTI.

Demographic differences and trends of vitamin D insufficiency in the US population, 1988-2004. Ginde AA, Liu MC, Camargo CA Jr. Arch Intern Med. 2009 Mar 23;169(6):626-32. PMID: 19307527 Conclusions National data demonstrate a marked decrease in serum 25(OH)D levels from the 1988-1994 to the 2001-2004 NHANES data collections. Racial/ethnic differences have persisted and may have important implications for known health disparities. Current recommendations for vitamin D supplementation are inadequate to address the growing epidemic of vitamin D insufficiency.

Prevention of nonvertebral fractures with oral vitamin D and dose dependency: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Bischoff-Ferrari HA, Willett WC, Wong JB, Stuck AE, Staehelin HB, Orav EJ, Thoma A, Kiel DP, Henschkowski J. Arch Intern Med. 2009 Mar 23;169(6):551-61. PMID: 19307517 Conclusion Nonvertebral fracture prevention with vitamin D is dose dependent, and a higher dose should reduce fractures by at least 20% for individuals aged 65 years or older.