Friday, November 15
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How to Choose the Right Protein Characterization System

How to Choose the Right Protein Characterization System

Articles
Proteins perform a vast array of functions. Their structure and their role in the different metabolic networks has always been a popular subject of study for scientists. The most widespread techniques that must be explored in order to understand protein behavior are their characterization and purification methods. Protein analysis instruments are utilized to measure biomolecular interactions, enzyme kinetics, affinity characterization, among other biological events. DNA sequencing techniques are among the most useful when describing the primary conformation of a protein. However, to fully describe complex protein behavior, it is necessary to analyze protein structure after foldage. This occurs when the biomolecule acquires its three-dimensional conformation. This configuration defi...

The Importance Of Drinking Clean Filtered Water

Articles
Without water, life would simply not exist. All animals, plants, and humans need water to survive on earth. Water is the very source of life, not only in nature but within yourself. Your body is made up of almost 70% of water, each cell in your body needs water to function. Water is a natural resource but due to overpopulation, climate change, pollution, and various other outside factors, freshwater is fast becoming a precious resource. Some may argue that the next world war will be fought because of water. Considering how precious water really is, it is not only vitally important to drink water daily but to drink clean water. Pure filtered water tastes as refreshing as it sounds. Why Pure Filtered Water? Considering your body weight is approximately 60% water, it is no wonde...

Why Are Prescription Drugs Addictive?

Drug Counterfeiting
While care should be taken with any medications that prescribed, opioids, or drugs based on opiates, are typically considered to be the market’s most addictive drugs. Many people from all walks of life abuse these drugs prescribed by doctors when they take them for things other than relief from pain – like their mind-altering effects. The sad thing is that even those who take them to help them cope with legitimate chronic or severe pain can easily find themselves addicted. When It Turns into Addiction Medications can alter the way the brain works, especially when they need to be taken in escalating doses or for extended periods of time. They can actually change the brain’s reward system by making it more difficult for the user to feel good without having the drug(s) in question. This...
Working With a Genetic Counselor for Prenatal Care

Working With a Genetic Counselor for Prenatal Care

Articles
Genetic counselors are healthcare professionals who work with couples and individuals for a variety of reasons, including: Prenatal care: Helping women and/or couples who are planning a pregnancy, or who are pregnant, learn more about their pregnancy. Pediatric care: Diagnosing a child who shows physical signs of a genetic condition. Adult risk assessment of inherited genetic disease: Helping individuals understand if they are at risk of passing on a gene associated with a certain genetic condition to their children. Cancer risk assessment: Helping individuals understand whether they have inherited a gene that may increase their risk of developing a certain type of cancer. This article will explore the reasons why women and couples may seek help from a genetic counselor ...
Would Virtual Clinical Trials Work?

Would Virtual Clinical Trials Work?

Clinical Trials
Further into the future, clinical trials to test the efficacy of new drugs would not require the test subject physically traveling to a clinical research facility or hospital. Mobile devices – smart phones, watches or glasses with inbuilt wearable sensors – would be enough to connect one to the clinical research study and report general information and adverse events. These sensors would record data such as body temperature and blood glucose levels, which would be sent to the Electronic Data Capture (EDC) record. The clinician would then visit the subject at home for drug administration and follow-up. One could even postpone or pre-pone the visit using automated reminders in their devices but within a time frame permitted by the study protocol. The future of pharmaceutic...
Issues with Detecting Counterfeit Drugs

Issues with Detecting Counterfeit Drugs

Drug Counterfeiting
Counterfeit medicines have been pervading the pharmaceutical industry, with a sharp increase by 51% between the years 2011 and 2015 as per the Pharmaceutical Security Institute in Vienna. The high reimbursement costs of medicines due to the higher R&D risks have attracted a massive chain of drug racketeers that sell spurious medicines at prices too good to believe. Even legitimate pharmaceutical supply chains, including community and online pharmacies, haven’t been spared by adulterine medicines. Counterfeit drugs pose a serious health threat to the public and cause serious financial damages to pharmaceutical companies. Fake medicines are of two kinds – contaminated, contain the wrong or no active ingredient; or could contain the right active ingredient at the wrong dos...

The Future of Pharmaceuticals

Biotechnology, Pharmaceutical Research and Development
The inter linking of medicine and technology is paving way for newer opportunities in pharmaceutical medication, surgery, and health monitoring. Medicine is increasingly being interspersed with fields such as computer science, nanotechnology and biotechnology to give hybrid fields that are slowly taking over traditional pharmaceuticals. Some of these fields are set to redefine the future of pharmaceuticals. Precision Medicine Precision medicine is a field that attempts at discovering the biological basis of disease using clinical and molecular information of a patient, obtained by converting DNA into data through genome sequencing. This data is used for identifying specific gene abnormalities that help understand which types of patients a drug would be most effective on, an...

Dealing With Vaccine Allergies

Cure & Prevention, Pharma Treatment, Vaccinations and Antidotes
According to a research conducted by the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI), allergic reactions to vaccines are extremely rare among people. The most dangerous form of reaction to vaccine components is anaphylaxis shock. However, the redeeming quality of a vaccine-triggered allergy is that it is temporary, which means most patients outgrow it within a matter of two to five But these allergies and the myths surrounding them are often used to avoiding immunization altogether, which can have severe consequences for the patient and their progeny. As per experts in the field, the most common symptom of an allergic reaction to vaccines is fever, which shouldn’t contraindicate future doses. However, any other serious symptom must be reported to concerned au...

Gene Therapy For Disease-Free Society

Biotechnology, Cure & Prevention, Medicine
As per several genome research organizations, a sizeable percentage of diseases acquired by newborns are genetic, which means the diseases were acquired through hereditary or mutations. In simpler terms, when the egg and the sperm (genetic material) fuse, the embryo formed will acquire some hereditary traits that may carry diseases. A random mutation, although rare, may cause an extremely rare genetic condition. Rather than making futile attempts at discovering newer drugs for genetic disorders, in May 1989, scientists made the first successful attempt at modifying human DNA by injecting favourable genes into the nucleus of the cell. This method, called gene therapy, ever since has been advancing by leaps and bounds. Coupled with the latest genetic editing tool called CRISPR/C...

Edwards’ Sapien 3 Artificial Heart Valve For High Risk Patients

Articles
Repeated failure of the bio-prosthetic aortic valve or Mitral valve, which raises the chances of fatality or severe complications in patients of symptomatic heart disease, has lead to a new breakthrough in artificial valve technology. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved the use of Edward Lifescience LLC’s Sapien 3 Transcatheter Heart Valve, which will replace the Aortic or Mitral valve in case of failure. The use of the new valve has also been expanded to high-risk patients by the FDA, giving a new lease on life for patients of symptomatic heart disease. As per experts in cardiovascular devices at the FDA, this is the first time any regulatory agency was approving a transcatheter heart valve as a valve-in-valve treatment to replace the bio-prosthetic mitra...