Author: sh ytlk

What are viruses anyway, and why do they make us so sick?

You may sometimes have felt like you “have come down with a virus,” meaning that you became sick from being exposed to something that could have been a virus. In fact, you have a virus—actually, many—all the time. Some viruses cause the common cold, and some are crucial to human survival. New viruses can also emerge, and they typically create illness in humans when they have very recently jumped from another species to humans. As world health leaders try to determine how to respond to the new coronavirus, virus expert Marilyn J. Roossinck answers a few questions:
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Boomers have a drug problem, but not the kind you might think

Baby boomers – that’s anyone born in the U.S. between 1946 and 1964—are 20% of the population, more than 70 million Americans. Decades ago, many in that generation experimented with drugs that were both recreational and illegal. Although boomers may not be using those same drugs today, many are taking medications, often several of them. And even if those drugs are legal, there are still risks of interactions and side effects.
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A nutraceutical formulation to fight hypertension

Adding a combination of three natural extracts to standard pharmacological treatments could help to fight hypertension, improving cardiovascular function, especially in those patients whose blood pressure is not well controlled. These are the conclusions of a study conducted by the Vascular Pathophysiology Laboratory of I.R.C.C.S. Neuromed in Pozzilli, in collaboration with the Medical University of Salerno, Federico II University in Naples, I.R.C.C.S. Multimedica in Milan, and Sapienza University of Rome. The findings were published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
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Study finds that lack of oxygen during pregnancy can cause schizophrenia

Lack of oxygen during the period anticipating child birth, a condition that may affect children of pregnant women subjected to a high blood pressure disorder called pre-eclampsia, has been found to be a cause of schizophrenia. In an article published in Scientific Reports, researchers at Santa Casa de São Paulo Medical School (FCM-SCSP) in Brazil described how this phenomenon, called hypoxia, affects astrocytes, one of the most abundant types of brain cell.
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