Monkey Business
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Xylitol: sweetener and laxative from hell
Xylitol, a natural sugar alcohol, has gained popularity as a low-calorie sweetener and the peddlers have attributed numerous health benefits to their product. This post is going to focus on… Read more.
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Goa stone
A Goa stone or Lapis de Goa was a man-made bezoar that was considered to have medicinal and talismanic properties. Goa stones were made in Goa, India and exported to apothecaries in Europe from the mid-16th to 18th century. Goa stones were… Read more.
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Karl Landsteiner – discovered poliovirus, the rhesus factor, described as the father of transfusion medicine
Karl Landsteiner ForMemRS (14 June 1868 – 26 June 1943) was an Austrian-born American biologist, physician, and immunologist. He distinguished the main blood groups in 1900, having developed the modern system of classification of blood groups from… Read more.
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Nepenthesin (and the carnivorous plants it comes from)
Nepenthesin (also spelled nepenthacin or nepenthasin) is an aspartic protease of plant origin that has so far been identified in the pitcher secretions of Nepenthes and in the leaves of Drosera peltata. Discovery In the late 19th century, Sydney Howard Vines showed that… Read more.
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Tubulin alpha-1A chain
Tubulin alpha-1A chain is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TUBA1Agene.[5][6][7] Background Tubulin alpha-1A chain is an alpha-tubulin that participates in the formation of microtubules – structural proteins that participate in cytoskeletal structure.… Read more.
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Syncytin-2 also known as endogenous retrovirus group frd member 1
Syncytin-2 also known as endogenous retrovirus group FRD member 1 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ERVFRD-1 gene.[5] This protein plays a key role in the implantation of human embryos in… Read more.
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Syncytin-1 also known as enverin
Syncytin-1 also known as enverin is a protein found in humans and other primates that is encoded by the ERVW-1 gene (endogenous retrovirus group W envelope member 1). Syncytin-1 is a cell-cell fusion protein whose function is best characterized in placental… Read more.
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It is difficult to choose a few quotes from this halloweenish medical article from 1974
The ‘Bottleneck In Bodies’ Has Created The Agonizing Ethical Dilemma: Who Shall Live and Who Shall Die? By David Dempsey, Oct. 13, 1974 Read more.
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Calcitonin
Calcitonin is a 32 amino acid peptide hormone secreted by PARAFOLLICULAR CELLS (also known as C cells) of the thyroid (or endostyle) in humans and other chordates in the ultimopharyngeal body. It acts to reduce blood calcium (Ca2+), opposing the effects of PARATHYROID HORMONE (PTH).… Read more.
