Scientia Press

Acting in a coherent fashion, the red blood cells play a far more important role in life processes than is commonly known.

The red blood cells’ unique, remarkable role in oxygen and carbon dioxide transport sharply distinguishes them from the body’s other cells.  So do their anaerobic energy metabolism, peculiar biconcave shape, 120-day life cycle (with 2,000,000 new RBCs formed every second), iron content, and extremely high hemoglobin content (roughly 270 million hemoglobin molecules are packed into each one of 25 trillion RBCs). While their counterparts in many vertebrates and invertebrates retain the nuclei and organelles that mammalian RBCs eject in the course of maturation, the erythrocyte group in general exhibits certain “prokaryotoid” characteristics,

There are two sides to every story. Judges rightly admonish juries to check out both sides before coming to a conclusion. Our entire system of adversarial justice is built on this principle. But under surveillance by FBI in the 2001 anthrax mailings case, U.S. Army scientist Bruce Ivins committed suicide. So only one side got to tell its version of the story.

Upon closing the case on February 19, 2010, FBI issued an Amerithrax Investigative Summary that concludes that Ivins was the anthrax mailer. The Summary contains serious errors as well as minor ones. It also omits crucial information. So, to ensure a fair outcome, we need to look at it through the eyes of a defense attorney, to make sure that the American people can check out both sides of the story before coming to a conclusion.

Metatarsalgia, pain in the metatarsal/forefoot area, is a common foot problem.  In milder cases, it can be managed with pads, supportive footwear, adequate rest, NIAIDs, and other remedies.  However, some cases become more severe over time.  They cause considerable pain and undermine mobility.  Among the treatments that help manage the syndrome, prolotherapy has won a number of adherents.  It involves injections of dextrose, often mixed with an anesthetic.  The injections stimulate natural healing.  But prolotherapy is not necessarily the best option.

Halotherapy (HT, from Greek halos=salt) uses dry aerosol microparticles of salt and, in one version, minerals to treat respiratory diseases. HT seeks to replicate the conditions of speleotherapy (from Greek speleos=cave), a treatment that has been practiced in old salt mines of Eastern Europe since the early 19th Century.

Halotherapy belongs to the category of the physical therapies–non-drug treatments of diseases, many associated with the spa treatments of Eastern Europe. In the former Soviet Union, medical researchers engaged in a concerted effort to develop physical therapies in order to avoid the costs and side effects of drug therapy as well as microbial and tumor resistance. Russia has become a world leader in developing and testing new and increasingly effective physical therapies.

The Mediterranean Diet offers healthy, tasty fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, fish, and olive oil while sharply reducing intake of milk products, meat, processed foods, and sweets. It prevents cardiovascular disorders, reduces the incidence of cancer and diabetes, and curbs neurodegenerative processes. Yet, in spite of the pressing need to confront the global obesity epidemic, the MD has received relatively little attention in regard to its potential for weight loss.

After signing a consent form, a 70-year old semi-retired male engineer in good general health reported that he had had tremor in his hands, but nowhere else, for 25 years. He recalled his father having had the same tremor. A general practitioner had diagnosed this engineer’s case as familial tremor. He had also heard it termed “anticipatory tremor”—it occurred mainly when he moved his hands to undertake some action.

Over time the tremor had gained in amplitude. When he held a piece of paper, he had a hard time reading because his hands would shake. When he lifted up a briefcase, his hand would “go wild”, with jerks of a full inch back and forth. However, the tremor was not so bad as significantly to disrupt his manual activities at work. He is right-handed. The tremor was worse in his left hand than in his right at a ratio that he estimated as 3:2.