Dermatoporosis 

Dermatoporosis 

Dermatoporosis is a newly minted word to describe the age-related decline of our largest organ: our skin. We have similar terms for other organs: congestive heart failure, COPD, macular degeneration and osteoporosis.   The value of a new term is that it directs patient/physician attention to the problem and ways to improve it. Other than advancing age, other risk factors include solar damage, topical or systemic steroids, renal disease, COPD, anticoagulant use and lack of exercise. A common (physiologic) denominator to all these risk factors is…

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MRNA Vaccine for Pancreatic Cancer 

MRNA Vaccine for Pancreatic Cancer 

The novel technology that allowed the development of the covid vaccines is now finding new applications.  Messenger RNA (mRNA) works in concert with DNA in almost all living organisms. With its single strand it carries genetic information from double stranded DNA to the ribosomes where new proteins are synthesized with the information coded in the RNA. This mechanism has been co-opted to produce vaccines. In the case of COVID vaccines, a small amount of the spike in protein from the corona virus in templated…

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Dear Dr. K – 

Dear Dr. K – 

Should I skip exercising on the day I get my allergy shot? Aerobic exercise? Weight/resistance exercise?  The simple answer is “No”, but you know I love to palaver, so here’s the long answer!   First off, Americans in general do not get any or adequate exercise so I don’t want to contribute to unhealthy behavior. By the way you posed your question I suspect you might have been a girl scout and learned field expediencies for snake bite. Part of that…

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CRISPR for HANE (HAE) 

CRISPR for HANE (HAE) 

OK, sorry for the acronyms but I just couldn’t resist. CRISPR stands for clustered regularly interspaces short palindromic repeats, so maybe you’ll forgive me. HANE is hereditary angioneurotic edema (commonly known as Hereditary Angioedema). The New England Journal of Medicine recently published research done at Amsterdam University using the CRISPR gene editing tool to treat/cure hereditary angioedema.   HAE is a genetic disorder that is autosomal dominant (only requires one defective gene) that affects one in 50,000 people, but it can…

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Broncho-Vaxom  

Broncho-Vaxom  

Broncho-vaxom is an extract of respiratory bacteria that is used outside the United States to treat and prevent bronchitis and sinusitis. It is a mixture of lipopolysaccharides from these bacteria: Hemophilus influenza, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes, Streptococcus sanguinis and Moraxella catarrhalis.   It has been evaluated using placebo controlled blinded studies in both children and adults. In adults with COPD, it reduced the frequency of infection by 29% and in smokers/ex-smokers by 40%. In children it reduced…

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Stress Sex and Illness 

Stress Sex and Illness 

Despite the headline, this is not an “R Rated” article, but rather a discussion of hormonal molecular physiology. Cortisol and testosterone might seem to be totally different compounds but they are actually very closely related. Cortisol’s formula is C21H30O5 while that of testosterone is C19H28O2, plus they share the identical five hydrocarbon ring structure. Another similarity is that they both can reduce immune function. This is one reason males are more prone to illness than females.   Our adrenal glands primarily…

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TIL:  Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocyte Therapy 

TIL:  Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocyte Therapy 

TIL is a recently FDA approved therapy for treating certain types of metastatic cancer.  It has been referred to as a “living drug” as it is made up of the individual patients T lymphocytes.  It does so by taking cancer-targeting T cells from the patient’s own tumor and then growing them into billions more of the same cells in the lab and then re-infusing them into the patient.   This massive influx of warrior T cells can destroy the tumor whereas…

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Leukocyte Activation and COVID-19 Vaccine Reactions 

Leukocyte Activation and COVID-19 Vaccine Reactions 

Luckily severe allergic reactions (anaphylaxis) to COVID-19 vaccines have been rare, averaging about 8 events per million vaccines.  However, since the Corona virus continues to circulate there will be an ongoing need for vaccination.  Based on current research it seems that most of these adverse events are reactions to polyethylene glycol (PEG).  However, attempts using traditional allergy testing techniques which look for IgE mediated sensitivity have led to poor discriminatory value in people who have had allergic reactions and poor…

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Dear Dr. K – 

Dear Dr. K – 

I read that there might be a new asthma controlling shot that is given just every six months.  Is that true?   Yes, it is true.  Researchers at Oxford University have just completed two phase 3A randomized placebo control trials that look very promising.  The new drug is depemokimab and it is a monoclonal antibody (note the “mab” at the end of its name) that binds to Interleukin 5.  In fact, it has an incredibly strong binding affinity for Interleukin 5…

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