What are Nonnutritive Sweeteners (NNSs)? Nonnutritive sweeteners (NNSs) are increasingly consumed as an alternative to nutritive sweeteners as a way to satisfy the desire for sweet taste while providing few or no calories. Although NNSs are now used by more than 40% of US adults, the health consequences of NNS consumption are still highly debated. […]
It is well documented that low back pain is a common and debilitating condition. Medical expenses and lost wages exceed $100-200 billion annually in the United States alone. The intervertebral disc has been identified as the single most common pain generator for low back pain. The interest in emerging bioregenerative therapies has increased over the […]
What is Peyronie’s Disease? Peyronie’s disease (PD) is an uncommon condition involving middle-aged men. It is caused by an inflammation in the tunica followed by scarring and penile curvature. It is considered a fibrotic disorder of the penis that is characterized by the formation of collagen plaques on the tunica albuginea that may cause penile […]
With the failure of the recent HIV-1 vaccine trial1 and ART inefficacies, such as treatment failure following drug resistance in up to 22%, poor compliance in up to 46%, adverse effects in up to 83% of people living with HIV-1, and poor central nervous system penetration, there is a need to re-evaluate the strategies to […]
What is Long-COVID? There is increasing concern and emerging evidence that some people who contract Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) do not make a rapid or full recovery, the so-called “long COVID” or “long-haulers.” This post-acute COVID-19 syndrome encompasses a range of features indicative of involvement of many organs affecting people weeks and months after infection. […]
What is Ankylosing Spondylitis? Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a chronic progressive spinal inflammatory arthritis and belongs to the spondyloarthropathies (SpA) group. The clinical manifestations usually emerge in the third decade of life. AS typically affects the sacroiliac joints, axial skeleton, entheses (tendon or ligament attachments to bone) and extra-skeletal sites such as the eye, bowel […]
Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are adult multipotent progenitor cells that participate in the inflammatory, proliferative, and remodeling phases of tissue repair. The primary mechanism contributing to tissue repair occurs via paracrine signaling and, therefore, MSC-secreted factors are considered a promising therapeutic approach in regenerative medicine. It has been demonstrated that MSC secretome, containing all secreted […]
What is Heart Failure? Heart failure, sometimes known as congestive heart failure, occurs when the heart muscle doesn’t pump blood as well as it should. When this happens, blood often backs up and fluid can build up in the lungs, causing shortness of breath. Certain heart conditions, such as narrowed arteries in the heart (coronary […]
What are the Sleep Cycle Stages? When we sleep our body cycles between REM and non-REM sleep. REM stands for rapid eye movement. During REM sleep our eyes move around rapidly in a range of directions, but don’t send any visual information to our brains. That doesn’t happen during non-REM sleep. First comes non-REM sleep, […]
What is Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD)? Chronic kidney disease, also called chronic kidney failure, involves a gradual loss of kidney function. Your kidneys filter wastes and excess fluids from your blood, which are then removed in your urine. Advanced chronic kidney disease can cause dangerous levels of fluid, electrolytes and wastes to build up in […]