Category Archives: International And Concierge Medicine
Is Particulate Matter of Air Pollution a Vector of Covid-19 Pandemic?
Summary
The COVID-19 pandemic is a severe respiratory disease caused by the emergence of a new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, that very quickly spread in the human population. Fine particulate matter (PM) generated from combustion engines have been described as toxic to human health. Recent events stressed that high concentrations of PM of air pollution might favor the spread of SARS-CoV-2. Autumn approaches, air pollution will be accentuated because of weather condition. The risk of a second outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic is highly probable. Elucidating the role of PM of air pollution in the spread of the virus is thus urgent and crucial. Continue reading
Feeling dead tired? Scientists may finally be on the verge of learning why too little sleep is inevitably fatal.
Inside a series of tubes in a bright, warm room at Harvard Medical School, hundreds of fruit flies are staying up late. It has been days since any of them have slept: The constant vibrations that shake their homes preclude rest, cling as they might to the caps of the tubes for respite. Not too far away in their own tubes live other sleepless flies, animated with the calm persistence of those consigned to eternal day. A genetic tweak to certain neurons in their brains keeps them awake for as long as they live. Continue reading
Tremella polysaccharide: The molecular mechanisms of its drug action
Review Prog Mol Biol Transl Sci . 2019;163:383-421. doi: 10.1016/bs.pmbts.2019.03.002.Epub 2019 Apr 1. Tremella polysaccharide: The molecular mechanisms of its drug action Dandan Yang 1, Yong Liu 2, Lijuan Zhang 3 Affiliations expand PMID: 31030755 DOI: 10.1016/bs.pmbts.2019.03.002 Abstract Tremella fuciformis is an edible medicinal … Continue reading
Finally some good news. Snow (white) mushroom soup (Tremella fuciformis)
Tremella fuciformis is an important edible mushroom that has been widely cultivated and used as food and medicinal ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine. In the past decades, many researchers have reported that T. fuciformis polysaccharides (TPS) possess various bioactivities, including anti-tumor, immunomodulatory, anti-oxidation, anti-aging, repairing brain memory impairment, anti-inflammatory, hypoglycemic and hypocholesterolemic. The structural characteristic of TPS has also been extensively investigated using advanced modern analytical technologies such as NMR, GC-MS, LC-MS and FT-IR to dissect the structure-activity relationship (SAR) of the TPS biomacromolecule. This article reviews the recent progress in the extraction, purification, structural characterization and applications of TPS. Continue reading