I have known many people, including my own mother, who suffered from heartburn or gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD). Frequently, they complain of pain at night and have wondered why they would have pain at night when they are not eating. The simple answer is that there is a surge of acid production by the stomach … Read more
Extracellular signaling molecules mediate the communication between cells or tissues. These can be small proteins (peptides), large proteins, lipids, protein and lipid complexes, carbohydrates, gases, amino acids, nucleic acids, amino acids, and various small organic molecules. These signals can function locally, affecting cells that are near the cells producing the signal, or can function systemically … Read more
A recent conversation inspired me to start the series: “In case you were wondering.” This is the first post in the series. We were discussing how people can exhibit different sensitivities to medicines, either the desired effect or side effects. The example that my relative used was the difference in children’s responses to local anesthetics, … Read more
Overcoming side effects and toxicity of currently FDA-approved is possible. Sometimes combining multiple drugs with different mechanisms of action lets doctors use less of each drug to achieve the desired effect and limit or avoid off-target or dose-limiting effects. This is a common strategy used for anesthesia. Doctors give a “cocktail” of drugs with different … Read more
Ferrochelatase in heme biosynthesis Ferrochelatase (FECH) is an enzyme found in mitochondria that adds iron ions (Fe2+) into protoporphyrin to produce heme (Figure 1). This biochemical reaction is critical for cell health. The process is tightly controlled so that cells produce the amount of heme needed and do not accumulate too much of the heme … Read more