johntafel-blog

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Amazing

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Yellowstone aka the land of rainbow water

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John Tafel - Operating as a Private Membership Association

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John Tafel - Medical Professional From Texas

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Dr John Tafel From Plano, Texas

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Dr John Tafel - Founder, New Health Options

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Beneficial Skin Bacteria Protect Against Skin Cancer

Science continues to peel away layers of the skin microbiome to reveal its protective properties. In a study published in Science Advances on February 28, University of California San Diego School of Medicine researchers report a potential new role for some bacteria on the skin: protecting against cancer.

“We have identified a strain of Staphylococcus epidermidis, common on healthy human skin, that exerts a selective ability to inhibit the growth of some cancers,” said Richard Gallo, MD, PhD, Distinguished Professor and chair of the Department of Dermatology at UC San Diego School of Medicine. “This unique strain of skin bacteria produces a chemical that kills several types of cancer cells but does not appear to be toxic to normal cells.”

The team discovered the S. epidermidis strain produces the chemical compound 6-N-hydroxyaminopurine (6-HAP). Mice with S. epidermidis on their skin that did not make 6-HAP had many skin tumors after being exposed to cancer-causing ultraviolet rays (UV), but mice with the S. epidermidis strain producing 6-HAP did not.

6-HAP is a molecule that impairs the creation of DNA, known as DNA synthesis, and prevents the spread of transformed tumor cells as well as the potential to suppress development of UV-induced skin tumors.

Mice that received intravenous injections of 6-HAP every 48 hours over a two-week period experienced no apparent toxic effects, but when transplanted with melanoma cells, their tumor size was suppressed by more than 50 percent compared to controls.

Read more here

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Breakthrough Opens Door to Lifelong, Universal Flu Vaccine

A universal vaccine is on the horizon that could stem influenza’s deadly human toll regardless of what strain of the virus happens to be circulating each year. The breakthrough is being reported today in two influential science journals by a pair of international research teams in the U.S., Japan and Europe.

“The ultimate goal of influenza vaccinology is the development of a universal vaccine that protects against a wide range of strains and subtypes, thereby eliminating the need for seasonal reformulation of vaccines and providing an effective defense against viruses with pandemic potential,” write the authors of one of the studies that appears today in the journal Science. 

To produce proof-of-concept immunizations, the researchers focused on hemagglutinin (HA), one of the proteins that stud the surface of influenza particles. This protein acts like a grasper that allows influenza to latch onto a host’s cells, like the red blood cells moving through the upper respiratory tract of vertebrates. One part of this protein is the same throughout a range of influenza types, which makes it a promising target for a universal vaccine. 

Keep reading

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@wordsnquotes

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One breath into this device could diagnose one of 17 different disease.

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“Hope is the only thing stronger than fear.”

This was me. 2 days before my last exams in medical school. In this moment I felt so empty. Stupid. Hated myself for procrastinating too much. Doubting myself. Thinking that all the others are better. Know more. Are more badass.

Yes medical school pushes you to your limits. 

I felt like this way so many times before. At dissection class. Or at the admission exam. Or all the other finals I’ve passed. 

Med school probably cost me a bunch of Kleenex tissues. Be it with finals or histo(love)gy boy. 

Those last 5 years (I am in a 6y program) taught me so much. Mostly about myself. And whenever situations seemed hopeless, somehow I made it through them.. 

So tomorrow I’ll write my final exam. in med school. And yes I am scared. And I still feel like I know nothing. But I’ll give it a try. 

Dear future me, please tell me everything went well. Believe in me. Because “hope is the only thing stronger than fear.”