MCQ 3: What is the normal average life span of red blood cells in our body?

3. What is the normal average life span of red blood cells in our body?

a. 10 days

b. 120 days

c. 240 days

d. 360 days

Correct answer link: Click here

Cholesterol: Types, Treatments, and Lifestyle Changes

Source: Healthline Networks

What Do You Want to Know About High Cholesterol?

Cholesterol is a substance that your liver produces naturally. It’s vital for the formation of cell membranes, vitamin D, and certain hormones.

Cholesterol is a waxy, fat-like substance. It doesn’t dissolve in water and therefore can't travel through the blood by itself. Lipoproteins are other particles formed in the liver that help transport cholesterol through the bloodstream. There are several major forms of lipoproteins that are important to your health.

Read more: What Do You Want to Know About High Cholesterol?

Source: quickanddirtytips

Medical Video: How to Perform Endotracheal Intubation.

Prepare for emergency and watch this fascinating animated video to learn how to perform neonatal endotracheal incubation.

Source: MedicalVideos

Medical Video: How does insulin work in the body

Take a trip inside the body in this fascinating animated video to find out how insulin works in the body.

Source: MedicalVideos

New Gene Associated With Familial High Cholesterol

The gene that explains one quarter of all familial hypercholesterolemia with very high blood cholesterol has been revealed. Familial hypercholesterolemia is the most common genetic disorder leading to premature death, found in 1 in 200 people.

The reason why lipoprotein(a) concentrations are raised in individuals with clinical familial hypercholesterolemia is unclear. The hypotheses that high lipoprotein(a) cholesterol and LPA risk genotypes are a possible cause of clinical familial hypercholesterolemia, and that individuals with both high lipoprotein(a) concentrations and clinical familial hypercholesterolemia have the highest risk of myocardial infarction.

Read more: New Gene Associated With Familial High Cholesterol

Clinical manifestation of Homozygous Familial Hypercholesterolemia, interdigital xanthoma

Source: labmedica

Rising Liquid Biopsy Tide Lifts Cancer Dx

Traditional Tissue Biopsies Are Not Providing the Type of Real-Time Monitoring Necessary for Effectively Catching Relapse

As molecular diagnostics for oncology shifts into clinical practice, efforts have not only focused on genotyping patient-specific tumors to initiate targeted therapies, but on early detection, availability, improved quality control, and refined workflow.

One major push, that exemplifies the concomitance of these trends, has been the rise of the less-invasive and more cost-effective liquid sampling for cancer diagnosis; sometimes called a liquid biopsy.

Read more: Rising Liquid Biopsy Tide Lifts Cancer Dx

The FDA recently approved Hologic’s prostate cancer test, which improves upon the less sensitive
and less specific standard PSA tests via examination of the PCA3 gene in urine.

Source: genengnews

RNAi Is Working on Tactics to Avoid siRNA Degradation and Improve Targeting and Delivery

Initially observed in plants and the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, and subsequently in all major eukaryotic species, RNA interference (RNAi) has been recognized as a post-translational mechanism for the silencing of specific genes. RNAi is instigated by double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) molecules, and it exploits the base sequences of dsRNA, or rather the base sequences of the molecules derived from dsRNA, to silence genes in a sequence-specific manner.

RNAi evolved as a way to protect host genomes from parasitic nucleotide sequences, such as those arising from viral infections. But RNAi is not just a natural mechanism. It is also a contrivance, a research tool or, potentially, a therapeutic modality. The RNAi pathway provides a new framework to artificially introduce dsRNA into organisms to silence specific genes based on sequence complementarity.

Read more: Your Lifespan can be Reduced by Mood and Stress.

Researchers from The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston have developed a post-exposure
treatment that is effective against the Makona strain of Ebola. The treatment, which has been tested
in nonhuman primates, is being evaluated for use in infected patients in Sierra Leone. It uses a
sequence-specific short interfering RNAs (siRNAs) to target and interfere with the Ebola virus.
The siRNAs are encapsulated in lipid nanoparticles to potentiate cellular delivery.

Source: genengnews

Your Lifespan can be Reduced by Mood and Stress.

A study, published this week in Molecular Psychiatry, finds the genetic basis of a poorly understood phenomenon. Mood and stress are known to contribute to shortened lifespans, and researchers may now have identified the genes that are involved.

A team from Indiana University School of Medicine and the Scripps Research Institute, CA, conducted a multifaceted project investigating the genetic basis of premature aging in response to stress and psychiatric illness.

Using human participants and Caenorhabditis elegans, one of planet Earth's most-studied worms, the researchers delved into this intractable question.

They managed to identify a raft of genes that seem to control the impact of mood and stress responses on the longevity of an organism.

Read more: Your Lifespan can be Reduced by Mood and Stress.

An in-depth study charts the genetics involved in the shortening of life in

response to mood and stress.

Source: medicalnewstoday

Putting A Q-Tip Inside Your Ear Is A BIG Mistake! This Is How You Should Clean Your Ears

The earwax inside the ears has a purpose, which is protecting the ear canal. It actually helps the ear clean itself and stay lubricated, protecting it thus from bacteria, water, insects, fungi, etc. the earwax is also called cerumen, which is the medical term.

The cerumen represents a protective barrier which saves the delicate and the sensitive skin inside the external auditory canal from harm.

From time to time, the earwax accumulates in the ear in greater quantities. The majority of people do not know how to use the Q-tips and put them inside their ears in order to clean them. Even though it sounds weird, the ear wax is actually good for you. Placing a Q-tip anywhere with the exception of the outermost parts of the ear can cause a lot of harm to your health.

It is recommended that when there is some earwax in your ears, you just leave it alone. The ear has a magically, wonderfully working system which works in the following way: the skin grows outward gradually and it almost forms a little conveyor belt that carries the earwax out.

Read more: Putting A Q-Tip Inside Your Ear Is A BIG Mistake! This Is How You Should Clean Your Ears

Source: non-stophealthy