Doctor Column

At times, medical breakthroughs happen by sheer accident, and keen observation. Such accidental discoveries have changed the course of medicine. Consider the accidental discovery of penicillin. “In 1928 Dr. Alexander Fleming returned from a holiday to find mold growing on a Petri dish of Staphylococcus bacteria. He noticed the mold seemed to be preventing the bacteria around it from growing. He named the chemical that could kill bacteria, Penicillin. Before antibiotics, Science Museum continues, “Everything from paper cuts to childbirth had the potential to kill through bacterial infection.”

Exosomes are microscopic, round, or oval sac-like structures that contain proteins, lipids, RNA, and DNA. They’re produced inside the cell by almost all cell types, and are released into the extracellular space, the space outside the cell. They’re about one 100th the size of a human cell and are also known as Extracellular Vesicles (EVs). A vesicle is a small sac-like structure.

Aside from water, green tea ranks as the world’s second most popular beverage. People have been drinking green tea for thousands of years and in almost the same fashion. It all started, according to one legend, when the Chinese Emperor Shennong in 2737 BC was sitting under a tea tree.

Mouth sores are tender or painful lesions that appear on the inside of your mouth. They can appear on the tongue, gums, inner cheeks, roof of the mouth, or be found on the inside of the lip. The lesions damage the mucous membrane, a delicate tissue that lines the inside of the mouth making it difficult to swallow, eat, and talk.

I was saddened when a close friend and colleague informed me that he was diagnosed with lung cancer. He was advised of the treatment choices, and opted for a combination of radiation treatment and chemotherapy. After four months of treatment, I received another call from Daniel letting me know that his kidneys completely shut down due to the chemotherapy drugs. What’s remarkable is how he dealt with these two crushing blows.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD causes a gradual loss of kidney function over time. CKD happens when the kidneys are unable to remove waste products and excess fluid from the blood causing a buildup of toxic material in the bloodstream. You may have ongoing kidney damage for many months to years without symptoms until the kidneys are almost ninety percent non-functional. Besides kidney disease, this condition can lead to hypertension, coronary artery disease. stroke and other problems.

Springtime is “allergytime” for millions of Americans. But inhaling substances like pollens is not the only way to provoke an allergic reaction. Breathing in animal dander, dust, mold and mildew can cause an allergic response. The list of allergic “provocateurs” is a long one.

Glaucoma is a chronic eye disease that progresses slowly over time causing loss of eyesight. There is a buildup of pressure within the eye, because the eye’s drainage system is malfunctioning. A narrowing or complete blockage of the drainage system prevents fluid from flowing out of the eye in a normal fashion. This causes an excessive buildup of pressure within the eye that damages the optic nerve resulting in vision loss. It takes months to years before you notice eye problems, and the vision that has been lost cannot be restored.

Several years ago, I spoke with a parent and his son, Adrian, who excelled in the classroom and was a star football athlete. In his junior year of high school, he was on top of the world sifting through scholarship offers from first-rate universities. He was upbeat and confident about the future. That all changed in his senior year at school.

In vitro fertilization (IVF) is a medical procedure used to help couples have a baby who are dealing with fertility issues. It is the most common form of assisted reproductive technology (ART) which involves combining an egg and sperm outside the body in a laboratory. Couples are evaluated to understand the reason(s) for the infertility and treatment strategies using IVF