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Showing posts from January, 2023

Thyroid health- Quality of Life

  Let's get a TSH blood test for our family and friends Normal serum TSH ranges are higher in the  people age 70 to 80 years ; based on this, higher serum TSH goals may be needed as a patient ages.  The American Thyroid Association (ATA) suggests raising the target serum TSH to 4-6 m IU/L for 70 years-old and up The thyroid is a small, butterfly-shaped hormone-producing gland located at the front of the neck. The thyroid gland secretes two main hormones:  thyroxine (T-4) and triiodothyronine (T-3).   These hormones regulate energy levels, metabolism of fats, proteins and carbohydrates, body temperature, heart rate.  Hypothyroidism happens when the underactive thyroid gland doesn't make enough hormones. Hypothyroidism affects up to 10% of the general population (5% undiagnosed) . A n autoimmune disease called Hashimoto's diseas e where our body  makes antibodies that attack healthy thyroid tissues  is the most common cause of hypothyroidism in soc...

Vaccines, XBB.1.5 variant and antibody evasion

Corona virus XBB and XBB.1 were first identified in India in mid-August and quickly became predominant in India.  The spike protein of the predominant XBB subvariant has 14 mutations in addition to those found in BA.2, including 5 in the N-terminal domain (NTD) and 9 in the receptor-binding domain (RBD), whereas XBB.1 has an additional G252V mutation. Single and combination therapies with monoclonal antibodies have received emergency use authorization for COVID-19.  Using  COVID-19 pseudovirus, which enables the study of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in cell culture,   XBB, and XBB.1 subvariants were found to have far greater antibody resistance than earlier variants. XBB sublineages are completely resistant to bebtelovimab, leaving us with no authorized antibody for treatment use. The combination of mAbs known as Evusheld that is authorized for the prevention of COVID-19 is also completely inactive against the new subvariants. This poses a serious problem for millions of im...