Interlude

I know I haven't posted anything in the last two weeks, and I apologize.

Between Labor Day weekend and fighting off some super mutant cold strain, I haven’t been able to get back to my blog. I’ve still been busy working on other projects and thought I would share some of them:

Winter cherry extract from traditional Indian medicine may combat cancer

In my last post, I wrote about turmeric and its potential for exciting new treatments for disease. It’s hard to overstate the interest medical researchers have in traditional Indian and Chinese medicines, and I wrote an article highlighting that interest published this week on UKNow, the news site for the University of Kentucky. I also just found out today that Lane Report, an economic and business news publication for the state of Kentucky, is going to reprint the article.

Here is the link to the original article I wrote for the university:

http://uknow.uky.edu/content/plant-extract-traditional-indian-medicine-may-fight-blood-cancer

Dormant toxoplasmosis isn’t dormant

Around 30% of all Americans have been infected at some point with the Toxoplasma gondii parasite. Domestic cats can carry the parasite, and we get it by coming into contact with cat feces. The vast majority of us never show any symptoms of the disease because our immune systems can wall it off in cysts in our body. For decades, veterinarians and physicians thought the parasite was inactive inside these cysts.

Last week, a researcher at the University of Kentucky published a very nice article showing the parasite is actually active and biding its time until the immune system weakens. Because the number of Americans with suppressed immune systems (e.g. HIV/AIDS patients, organ transplant recipients, and other patients taking immunosuppressive drugs) is increasing, we can expect symptomatic toxoplasmosis to become more common. Hopefully, this study will provide a road map for making new drugs to target the parasite to clear it from the body once and for all.

The link to the press release I wrote is here:

http://uknow.uky.edu/content/uk-researchers-find-%E2%80%9Cdormant%E2%80%9D-parasite-cysts-are-actually-quite-active

Babies born addicted to heroin

Doctors give out opioid painkillers (e.g. morphine, codeine, oxycodone, etc.) like candy, and babies are now paying the price for it. Painkiller addiction skyrocketed in the last few years, particularly in rural areas.

Unfortunately, Kentucky is no exception.

Patients addicted to painkillers often turn to heroin because it’s much cheaper than black market prescription pills, and because heroin is so addictive, more pregnant women than ever use the drug.

Babies born addicted to heroin have what physicians call neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS). Without proper medical treatment, these babies face poor prospects. Fortunately, with timely intervention, many of these babies recover and grow to be normal, healthy children.

I was originally going to post about NAS this week but recently found out part of a health journalism workshop sponsored by Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky will focus on the state’s heroin epidemic. I’m very excited about attending this session and will most likely put up the NAS post after attending the workshop so I can provide the best available information on the topic.

I have a link to a CDC article describing the heroin crisis in the American South below:

http://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2014/p0701-opioid-painkiller.html

Again, sorry for not posting, but I’ll have another full post ready to go for next week!