In Other Words: What Being Unionized Means for Molecules
Did you know that molecules can be unionized? But it doesn’t mean they form a labor union. In chemistry, unionized (pronounced “un-ionized”) is the opposite of ionized, which means “electrically charged.”
Credit: NIGMS.
Unionized molecules don’t have electrical charges because they have the same number of electrons and protons. Ionized molecules, also called ions, become charged by gaining or losing electrons. Ions with extra electrons, known as anions, have a negative charge. Ions with fewer electrons than normal, called cations, have a positive charge.
Unionization’s Impacts
A molecule’s c...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - April 3, 2024 Category: Research Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Chemistry, Biochemistry and Pharmacology Tools and Techniques In Other Words Source Type: blogs
How will you save this critically ill patient? A fundamental and lifesaving ECG interpretation that everyone must recognize instantly.
Written by Pendell MeyersA woman in her 30s called EMS for acute symptoms including near-syncope, nausea, diaphoresis, and abdominal pain. EMS arrived and found her to appear altered, critically ill, and hypotensive. An ECG was performed:What do you think?Extremely wide complex monomorphic rhythm just over 100 bpm. The QRS is so wide andsinusoidal that the only real possibilities left are hyperkalemia or Na channel blockade. Hyperkalemia is by far more common.Indeed, further history revealed two missed dialysis sessions. And of course on exam she has a dialysis fistula.EMS reportedly gave 4 grams of calcium (unknown w...
Source: Dr. Smith's ECG Blog - February 22, 2024 Category: Cardiology Authors: Pendell Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, December 18th 2023
In conclusion, given the relative safety and the favourable effects of aspirin, its use in cancer seems justified, and ethical implications of this imply that cancer patients should be informed of the present evidence and encouraged to raise the topic with their healthcare team.
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Aged Transplant Organs Cause Harm to Younger Recipients
https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2023/12/aged-transplant-organs-cause-harm-to-younger-recipients/
Old tissues are dysfunctional in ways that young tissues are not. This has always been known in the context of organ transplants, but absent me...
Source: Fight Aging! - December 17, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
Cellular Stress Signaling in the Development of Ventricular Fibrillation
Researchers here report on a mechanism by which increased cellular stress in heart tissue can disrupt the regulation of the heartbeat, thus leading to arrhythmia and potentially fibrillation. The accumulated molecular damage of aging, of course, provides increased contributions to cell stress, whether from inflammatory signaling, mitochondrial dysfunction, increased presence of molecular waste, or other causes. When researchers characterize more of the ways in which regulatory pathways in cells can produce maladaptive reactions to this damage, they tend to then search for means to alter the response, rather than means to r...
Source: Fight Aging! - December 11, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
A man in his 60s with syncope and ST depression. What does the ECG mean?
Written by Sean Trostel MD, peer reviewed by Meyers, Smith, Grauer, etc.A man in his 60s with a history of severe alcohol use disorder and epidural abscess on long-term ciprofloxacin presented to the emergency department after an episode of syncope while standing in line at a grocery store.He did not have chest pain.Here is his triage ECG: What do you think?My interpretation:Sinus rhythm, normal QRS, widespread wavy ST depression leading into late T/U-waves with very prolonged QT. No evidence of OMI. QTc/QUc is in the range of 630 msec.What is the most likely cause of the patient ’s ECG findings, and wha...
Source: Dr. Smith's ECG Blog - October 25, 2023 Category: Cardiology Authors: Pendell Source Type: blogs
Does this T wave pattern mean anything?
Written by Michael Doyle DO and Timothy Palmieri MD. Edited by Bracey, Meyers, Grauer, and SmithA 50-something-year-old female with a history of an unknown
personality disorder and alcohol use disorder arrived via EMS following cardiac arrest with return
of spontaneous circulation. The described rhythm was an irregular, wide complex
rhythm. By EMS report, open pill bottles were found nearby at the scene, including quetiapine, fluoxetine, hydroxyzine, and gabapentin. She was successfully revived
after several rounds of ACLS including defibrillation and amiodarone.On arrival to the ED the patient was intubated with normal vi...
Source: Dr. Smith's ECG Blog - October 23, 2023 Category: Cardiology Authors: Bracey Source Type: blogs
A Periodic Look at Elements
It’s National Chemistry Week! To celebrate, we’re looking back at a few recent blog posts highlighting elements important for human health and scientific research. Check out the posts and tell us what your favorite element is in the comments section!
Credit: Adapted from Compound Interest. CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
Got Calcium?
Calcium is the most abundant mineral in our bodies. It’s essential for lots of important functions—including keeping bones strong and allowing muscles to move. Even clicking on this post to learn more about its many roles requires calcium!
Credit: Adapted from Compound...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - October 18, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Chemistry, Biochemistry and Pharmacology Element Source Type: blogs
A 20-something woman with cardiac arrest.
The patient is a 20 something female. She is healthy with no known cardiac disease. She was admitted to the neurology department due to headache and vomiting. She was found to have a viral CNS infection. A few days into her hospital stay she developedchest discomfort and the following ECG was recorded. What do you think? Why such large T-waves? Are these hyperacute T-waves? Are these ECG changes related to the CNS infection perhaps? What disease processes would you put on your list of differential diagnoses?When I saw the ECG of this patient I saw that there was definitely something " off " . I didn ' t get...
Source: Dr. Smith's ECG Blog - October 18, 2023 Category: Cardiology Authors: Magnus Nossen Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, October 9th 2023
Fight Aging! publishes news and commentary relevant to the goal of ending all age-related disease, to be achieved by bringing the mechanisms of aging under the control of modern medicine. This weekly newsletter is sent to thousands of interested subscribers. To subscribe or unsubscribe from the newsletter,
please visit:
https://www.fightaging.org/newsletter/
Longevity Industry Consulting Services
Reason, the founder of Fight Aging! and Repair Biotechnologies, offers strategic consulting services to investors, entrepreneurs, and others interested in the longevity industry and its complexities. To find out m...
Source: Fight Aging! - October 8, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
Should we activate the cath lab? A Quiz on 5 Cases.
Imagine you just started your ED shift. It ' s a busy Friday afternoon. Triage is backed up, and 10 minutes into your shift one of the ED nurses brings your several ECGs that has not been overread by a physician. All of the patients presented with chest pain, and they are all in triage.Which, if any, of these patients has OMI, with myocardium at risk and need for emergent PCI?ECG#1ECG#2ECG#3ECG#4ECG#5See outcomes of all 5 below, with the Queen of Hearts AI Bot interpretation.YOU TOO CAN HAVE THE PM Cardio AI BOT!! (THE PM CARDIO OMI AI APP)If you want this bot to help you make the early diagnosis of OMI and...
Source: Dr. Smith's ECG Blog - October 8, 2023 Category: Cardiology Authors: Magnus Nossen Source Type: blogs
KCC2 in Alzheimer's Disease
The challenge with most identified mechanisms of disease is that they are not close enough to root causes to be highly influential on the progression of the condition. Particularly in the case of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, the condition is very complex, and there is much to be discovered about how dysfunction progresses. That doesn't mean that any given aspect of that progression will prove to be useful enough to make the jump from improvements shown in animal models to a basis for therapy in humans. There are many discoveries in the history of Alzheimer's research that have appeared to be as i...
Source: Fight Aging! - October 6, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
Battery Charged by Tears for Smart Contact Lenses
Researchers at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore have developed a tiny, flexible battery that is intended for use in smart contact lenses. The device is as thin as the human cornea and can be charged by a saline solution, which is particularly useful in the eye, as it is full of salty tears. When the battery-equipped smart lens is not in use, such as at night, then it can be stored in a saline solution, helping to further recharge the battery. The device avoids materials that could cause damage to the eye, such as metal electrodes, and works through a glucose oxidase coating that generates current when it react...
Source: Medgadget - September 19, 2023 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Conn Hastings Tags: Materials Ophthalmology NTUsg Source Type: blogs
75 year old dialysis patient with nausea, vomiting and lightheadedness
Written by Jesse McLaren A 75 year-old patient with diabetes and end stage renal
disease was sent to the ED after dialysis for three days of nausea, vomiting,
loose stool, lightheadedness and fatigue. RR18 sat 99% HR 90 BP 90/60, afebrile. Below is the 15 lead ECG. What do you think? There ’s normal sinus rhythm, normal conduction, normal axis,
normal R wave progression and normal voltages. There’s subtle inferior ST
elevation with straightening of the ST segment, reciprocal ST depression and T
wave inversion in aVL, and ST depression in V2. This is diagnostic of
infero-posterior OMI, but it is falsely n...
Source: Dr. Smith's ECG Blog - August 19, 2023 Category: Cardiology Authors: Jesse McLaren Source Type: blogs
What does the ECG show in this patient with chest pain, hypotension, dyspnea, and hypoxemia?
Written by Pendell Meyers, with some edits by SmithA man in his 40s with many comorbidities presented to the ED with chest pain, hypotension, dyspnea, and hypoxemia.The bedside echo showed a large RV (Does this mean there is a pulmonary embolism as the etiology?)Here is his triage ECG:What do you think? Lots of info here.The rhythm is 2:1 atrial flutter. The flutter waves can conceal or mimic ischemic repolarization findings, but here I don ' t see any obvious findings of OMI or subendocardial ischemia.The QRS is around 100 msec wide (narrow), but with very abnormal morphology including a large R-wave in V1, dee...
Source: Dr. Smith's ECG Blog - August 14, 2023 Category: Cardiology Authors: Pendell Source Type: blogs
Why Am I So Tired?
Circadian rhythms control the timing of many daily changes in your body. Credit: iStock.
If you struggle to wake up in time for school or work or feel drowsy during a trip abroad, your circadian rhythms may be out of sync with your environment. Circadian rhythms are your internal timekeepers, and almost all organisms, from bacteria to plants and animals, have them. You can’t see them, but you can feel their effects—they control when you get sleepy, when you wake up in the morning, and when you feel hungry. Among other signals, the brain uses sunlight to keep time.
Changing Circadian Rhythms
Exposure to ligh...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - July 26, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Chemistry, Biochemistry and Pharmacology Biological Clocks Common questions Source Type: blogs
