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Physiology & Medicine / Re: Is suffocation a horrible experience, despite the absence of obvious pain?

« on: 06/01/2022 10:10:17 »

Being nailed to a cross by the Romans was a torture which cause the victim to die of suffocation after 8 hours, alternating between suffocation from the arms raised and breathing from standing up.
May be this can be argued that suffocation is worse than being nailed to the cross?

In what way that it's worse? Is it more painful? or induce pain in longer duration?

Needless to say. Someone nailed to a cross would want a quick death. So one would try to endure the position of having the arms stretched hence extra painful together with the inability to breath in that position.
It would be an act of great suffering also to use the legs to push the body up to breath.
The choice is to suffer both can't breath + arms extended, or all three can't breath, arms extended + pain of pushing on leg.
So arguably, the can't breath is the motivator to choose to push on the legs, and hence can't breath is the greater suffering.

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Physiology & Medicine / Re: Is suffocation a horrible experience, despite the absence of obvious pain?

« on: 31/12/2021 16:21:46 »

Being nailed to a cross by the Romans was a torture which cause the victim to die of suffocation after 8 hours, alternating between suffocation from the arms raised and breathing from standing up.
May be this can be argued that suffocation is worse than being nailed to the cross?

3

Physiology & Medicine / Re: What is the evidence for scar-healing treatments?

« on: 24/04/2021 11:28:06 »

Interestingly, silicone tape is used for skin cosmetic treatment. It gives a watery shine on the skin after wearing for a while.

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Physiology & Medicine / Re: What is the evidence for scar-healing treatments?

« on: 23/04/2021 06:55:12 »

2021-04-23. It has been 14 months & 4 days since the silicon tape was applied to the scar 24x7 on 2020-06-27.

Disappointingly, there has been no  clear noticeable improvement.
However, the tape gives protection against pain caused by clothes rubbing against it. So I persevere hoping one day it may show significant improvement.

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Complementary Medicine / Re: Chinese herbal medicines against Corona virus

« on: 13/04/2021 12:21:49 »

So Zero,  you have no information about the use of TCM in treating covid-19.
Why did you bother talking about it then? It's a waste of time!

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COVID-19 / Re: Does a high prevalence of virus in the community lead to a higher mutation rate?

« on: 28/01/2021 08:27:59 »

The smaller the infected population is, the less chance we will get a nastier mutation.
Who knows how much nastier this can get?
Can we eliminate the virus? I still hold out hope.

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COVID-19 / Re: Does a high prevalence of virus in the community lead to a higher mutation rate?

« on: 15/01/2021 06:23:24 »

- Does allowing the virus to roam freely increase the chance that mutations will create a new strain that needs a different vaccine?

The harder we make it for the virus to spread, the greater the evolutionary pressure in favour a more transmissable variant.

Can't be true. This is like saying if we seal a virus in a jar, then the virus is more likely to jump out of the jar because it adapts. Nope, the virus does not have an intention.  Rather, it is a statistical consequence that the more viruses there are, the higher chances of variants produced.

The active virus pool will consist of all the variants which are left alive.
Those that can hide in our bodies and show no symptoms but reactivated now and then will be most disturbing to us.

I am starting to accept that this will be our future.
 

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COVID-19 / Re: Does a high prevalence of virus in the community lead to a higher mutation rate?

« on: 15/01/2021 05:25:17 »

There has been an extensive "family tree" of SARS-COV2 RNA sequences created since the Wuhan RNA sequence was leaked to scientists outside China.

The RNA sequence was shared to Australia. Not leaked.

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Physiology & Medicine / Re: Are stem cell therapies for arthritis safe and effective?

« on: 06/01/2021 08:09:57 »

Some stem cell therapy clinics are already treating the knee with stem cells.

I guess NHS Consultants could be the port of call about these stem cell treatments.

For example:-
https://www.theregenerativeclinic.co.uk/body-areas/knee/

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Physiology & Medicine / Re: Are stem cell therapies for arthritis safe and effective?

« on: 06/01/2021 07:50:53 »

Hmmm going back to 2017 University of Hong Kong.

Researcher Barbara Pui Chan
https://www.ke.hku.hk/story/innovation/new-cartilage-regeneration-technology

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Physiology & Medicine / Re: Are stem cell therapies for arthritis safe and effective?

« on: 06/01/2021 07:43:03 »

Hopefully, this stem cell discovery to regenerate cartilage will become a widely available treatment one day
2020-08-17 https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2020/08/Researchers-find-method-to-regrow-cartilage-in-the-joints.html

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Physiology & Medicine / Re: Can cartilage re-grow in the human body?

« on: 06/01/2021 05:26:32 »

Many people will start crying when cartilege regeneration becomes a widely available treatment.

Standford has made the most fundamental break through  : 2020-08-17

https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2020/08/Researchers-find-method-to-regrow-cartilage-in-the-joints.html

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Cells, Microbes & Viruses / Re: What are the best links for up to date COVID-19 statistics?

« on: 27/10/2020 11:27:06 »

Sweden is looking interesting, even though there are cases the mortality rate is persistently low. It may be a change in how they report deaths but if not they have worked a minor miracle considering that deaths have not been in double figures since mid July and the UK and other countries still have a higher overall mortality rate

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/sweden/

Sweden has a sparse, well educated, caring population. So when the herd immunity strategy at the beginning began to look wrong, they changed strategy, and the population trusted and followed the guidance of authority, which is basically very simple.

Not so with many other countries. So they suffered and are about to suffer a really bad winter ahead.

14

Physiology & Medicine / Re: How is traditional Chinese Medicine is getting recognition from the WHO?

« on: 06/10/2020 02:13:39 »

Whatever attitudes are, this is the factual report:-

Quote from the SCMP article: <<"The potential of TCM – and its contribution to medical knowledge – is also gaining international recognition. Last year, the World Health Organization (WHO) added TCM therapies to its global diagnostic compendium for the first time.">>

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Physiology & Medicine / Re: How is traditional Chinese Medicine is getting recognition from the WHO?

« on: 05/10/2020 18:09:42 »

Like the t shirt says: "will convert for evidence".

There is no suggestion nor invitation for you to convert.
Read what it says again:

Quote from the SCMP article: <<"The potential of TCM – and its contribution to medical knowledge – is also gaining international recognition. Last year, the World Health Organization (WHO) added TCM therapies to its global diagnostic compendium for the first time.">>

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Physiology & Medicine / Re: How is traditional Chinese Medicine is getting recognition from the WHO?

« on: 05/10/2020 12:36:49 »

Quote from the SCMP article: <<"The potential of TCM – and its contribution to medical knowledge – is also gaining international recognition. Last year, the World Health Organization (WHO) added TCM therapies to its global diagnostic compendium for the first time.">>

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Physiology & Medicine / Re: How is traditional Chinese Medicine is getting recognition from the WHO?

« on: 05/10/2020 12:34:16 »

So the failure of one western drug means that western medicine is rubbish?

I would say that Traditional Chinese Medicine was likely complicit in the coronavirus jump from bats into humans.

Traditional Chinese Medicine values pangolin scales as a medicinal, even though they are chemically equivalent to toenails.
- One possible route for the coronavirus jump from bats to humans was in the markets supporting the illegal trade in wildlife (including pangolins), which puts many species in close proximity that would normally be far apart in the wild.

See: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/group/pangolins/

If you read the SCMP article, you would have learnt that TCM & western medical practices are working together in Hong Kong and China. Each tradition has different emphasis and biases, and Hong Kong's life expectancy has exceeded Japan. 
The practice of medicine isn't a pure investigative science like chemistry or physics, but a blend of many physical, biological, psychological, managerial, resource utilisation, philosophical, life views, life strategy, .  .  .  So if you start out looking at TCM as "scientific heresy" then you have already gone down the route of those who will never discover something new:-

The WHO has recognised that TCM exists and that it has a system for the classification of diseases and has overseen the production of standardised English translations for the classifications.

It hasn't said that TCM works.

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Physiology & Medicine / Re: Which country's covid-19 vaccine would you prefer if several are available?

« on: 04/10/2020 16:24:26 »

The chinese vaccine based on neutralised viruses are probably the best as the company had a head start in developing the SARS vaccine, and from that experience, they discovered that neutralised viruses are more effective and easy to store with a 3 year expiry date without the need for refrigeration.A New York Times article said that a temperature of -70(F or C?) is required to store the synthetic vaccines for up to 1 month.
However it is labour intensive because egg injections are required to cultivate the vaccine. (I don't know why).

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Physiology & Medicine / How is traditional Chinese Medicine is getting recognition from the WHO?

« on: 04/10/2020 16:12:36 »

2020-09-24 How TCM is helping to fight covid-19
https://www.scmp.com/presented/news/hong-kong/health-environment/topics/worlds-lab/article/3100990/how-traditional

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COVID-19 / Re: Should you cover your face with a scarf if a facemask is unavailable?

« on: 20/09/2020 16:32:22 »

These doctors explain it very well:-  Masks and effect of quantity of inoculum
https://www.facebook.com/ZDoggMD/videos/2627826200866251/