When bacteria are stressed, they stop living their lives singly, the way plankton do. Their adaptation is to find co-locate with other bacteria and build a type of fortress. That fortress is called biofilm. Biofilm is an organized structure made of sugars (polysaccharides), proteins and DNA and of course, bacteria. In some cases other microbes like fungi,...
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On January 19, in the online news website MedPage Today, two prominent scientists debated if people should be able to go without masks 14 days after they have received their second dose of COVID-19 vaccine. The January 24, Sunday New York Times just published, Why Vaccines Alone Won’t Stop the Pandemic . The January 19 debate was between Vinay Prasad,...
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Columnists are writing to warn us about vaccine euphoria. Perhaps it is something to keep in mind as we wearily say farewell to 2020 and put our hopes in COVID-19 treatment and prevention for 2021. At the end of each year, Medivizor has published some music that our readers have shared with us. This year, we will publish some music that helps us....
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Immunotherapy – the “new” treatment for cancers – actually began in 1891 with William B. Coley, a bone sarcoma surgeon. As a young doctor, Coley watched as a 17-year old girl (who had had her forearm amputated because of bone cancer) died of metastatic sarcoma ten weeks after her surgery. This tragedy started Coley on a quest to...
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On March 28, 1970, speaking over video of his team diving in a vast Sargasso seaweed field Jacques Cousteau stated, “There is a fresh sense of urgency in our work, observing and reporting on the ocean alchemy of the sea; for we could well be the first witnesses to the death of life.” Fifty years later, a new comprehensive report, funded by the Prince...
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You may not realize it but some people have glass in their bodies. Created to replace damaged body parts, bioactive glass does that and more. Being biologically and biochemically inert when adjacent to body fluids was a prerequisite of biomaterials. But bioactive glass is different – it is biocompatible allowing for a bond to form between the...
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As of November 29, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused almost 1.5 million deaths worldwide just from the disease itself. That number doesn’t take into account the deaths that have occurred because people have delayed care or avoided hospitals and physicians due to the pandemic. Because of social distancing, normal interactions – like being with...
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In May, the Journal of Clinical Medicine published an article titled “Hypertension, Thrombosis, Kidney Failure, and Diabetes: Is COVID-19 an Endothelial Disease? A Comprehensive Evaluation of Clinical and Basic Evidence.” The authors put forward a hypothesis that SARS-CoV-2 infects the lining of the body’s blood vessels. The lining...
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I’ve been trying to figure out the difference between heirloom plants and hybrid plants because I came across a story of a special tomato plant from West Virginia on public radio called the Mortgage Lifter. The creator of this plant was a man with the last name of Estler: William Estler. The funny thing is, the last name of one of my...
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The Human Genome Project has been the catalyst for thousands of research studies and exciting discoveries. One study in 2011 found a gene variant in a small group of French Canadians that researchers called a “fountain of youth” gene. This gene is called PCSK9Q152 — the superscript describes it as a variant of the gene PCSK9. In 2011,...
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Peggy Zuckerman has been trying to help others diagnosed with cancer but it’s not easy. “One of the hardest things is when patients get information that is old or might be incorrect. Things look far more grim than they need to be. It is important to get people to the right place quickly before they essentially despair.” When people...
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Last month, I mentioned in the Medivizor newsletter that I had lost a family member. This loved one feared seeking medical attention for a serious condition because of the risk of catching COVID-19 at a hospital or doctor’s office. Now, a dear friend’s parents received notification that they were exposed to the SARS-2 coronavirus by a...
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