The envelope is a protective outer layer that surrounds some viruses, and its main job is to help the virus get into and out of host cells. It is made of a lipid membrane — essentially a piece of the host cell’s own membrane — studded with viral proteins. Those proteins let the virus attach … Read more
Your elbow is swollen, feels tight, and looks puffy. The most common reason is inflammation inside one of the bursa sacs that sit over the bony point of the elbow. This is called olecranon bursitis, and the fluid is your body’s inflammatory response. Less often, the same swelling comes from joint fluid inside the elbow … Read more
The Girdlestone procedure is a surgery that removes the top of the thigh bone and leaves the hip without a joint. It is used most often to clear a serious infection after a hip replacement, or to remove an infected or failed artificial hip. The result is a hip that no longer has a ball-and-socket … Read more
Most babies spit up. It looks alarming and is almost always normal. Reflux in infants is the backward flow of stomach contents into the esophagus, and in most healthy babies it needs no cure at all — it resolves on its own as the digestive system matures. The steps that actually help are simple: feed … Read more
Yes, alcohol can cause blood in stool, but usually indirectly. Alcohol itself does not typically damage the colon lining enough to make it bleed. Instead, heavy drinking causes bleeding through irritated stomach lining, liver damage that leads to swollen veins in the esophagus and rectum, or by triggering diarrhea that irritates tissue. The amount and … Read more
You can prevent neck wrinkles better than most people realize, because the neck is not doomed to age faster than your face. The core strategy dermatologists rely on is simple: protect the neck from ultraviolet light every single day, extend your facial skincare down past the jawline, and stop assuming the neck takes care of … Read more
RNA sequencing measures gene activity by counting short fragments of RNA. The counting is never perfectly even. Some samples yield more RNA than others, some steps in the lab capture RNA more efficiently than others, and some genes are simply easier to detect than others. External RNA Controls Consortium (ERCC) spike-ins are a set of … Read more
Yes, Covid-19 can cause low blood pressure, though it is far less common than the well-known respiratory symptoms. When it happens, it usually falls into two groups: a drop during the acute infection itself, or a lingering drop that some people notice weeks to months later. The first is well documented in hospital settings. The … Read more
Yes. Sweating is a recognized side effect of Zoloft (sertraline). It is one of the more common ones people notice, and it shows up across the entire SSRI class, not just Zoloft. For most people it is annoying rather than dangerous. For some it is bothersome enough to affect daily life and, occasionally, to make … Read more
At six months, a baby’s main source of nutrition is still breast milk or formula. Solid foods are a supplement, not a replacement. A typical starting amount is about 1 to 2 tablespoons of a single-ingredient puree once or twice a day, gradually increasing as your baby gets used to eating. That small amount surprises … Read more