It suppresses a chemical in the body which affects inflammation and offers the patient the possibility of reduced stiffness and less pain.

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Inflammation is also caused by chemical signalling.

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Garret A. FitzGerald, a pharmacologist at the University of Pennsylvania, raised the first red flags about pharmaceuticals like Vioxx, Celebrex and Bextra after he saw chemical reasons that the drugs, which all inhibit inflammation by blocking the same enzyme, might cause heart attacks.

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Longevity genes appear to slow down the aging process by making cells and tissues more stress-resistant, better able to withstand the inevitable environmental insults that accumulate over a lifetime from bad diet, inflammation, radiation, genetic mutations and toxic chemical by-products called free radicals.

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In particular, low-status individuals showed high levels of activity in genes associated with the production of various immune-related cells and chemical signalling factors, as well as those to do with inflammation (a general immune response that involves tissue swelling and increased immune-cell activity in the affected area).

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