Worth a Closer Look: May 2019

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A list of papers published in May 2019 that piqued my interest

Soluble Amyloid Precursor Protein Signals to Neural Stem Cells

Amyloid precursor protein (APP) is best known as the protein that is cleaved to form the plaque-associated protein in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients. The APP gene encodes multiple alternatively spliced mRNA forms. The form that encodes a protein of 695 amino acids (APP695) is expressed in neurons. The transcript that encodes a 770 amino … Read more

Why put epinephrine in local anesthetics?

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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

Drug Repurposing: Preventing Blindness with an Antifungal

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Benefits of Off-Target Effects There are many FDA-approved medicines. Most have some “off-target” effects, meaning effects that are not those intended for the drug. Sometimes these off-target effects limit the dose of a drug that can be used to treat the intended disease or symptom.  Sometimes these off-target effects are unwanted side effects that the … Read more