52
votes
Accepted
How does a Coronavirus "test kit" work?
The CDC has made available online its nCoV test kit. Briefly,the kit contains primers and probes for real-time reverse-transcriptase PCR, as well as instructions for appropriate use and (critically) ...
- 14.2k
51
votes
Why haven't we cured the common cold yet?
There is one simple reason: Contrary to the viruses you named in your question, which are all caused by one virus (or from the same family), there is nothing like "the" cold virus. This ...
- 51.5k
38
votes
Accepted
Why are scientists saying that the Omicron COVID-19 variant is a reason to get a booster?
(note: I'm simplifying things a bit here by only talking about antibodies; I don't mean to downplay other aspects of the immune response, just to keep it focused for a lay audience)
Natural antibody ...
- 44k
29
votes
Why have a placebo control group when testing a new drug if existing drugs can be used?
You are correct. For serious diseases, it would be unethical to withhold the existing treatment (Treatment A) for a placebo. Treatment A is called "standard of care", and new treatments are compared ...
- 7,637
25
votes
How does a Coronavirus "test kit" work?
There are actually 3+ types of test kits widely used to diagnose diseases caused by viruses. We can check for the nucleic acid of the virus, the antigen of the virus that would cause an immune ...
- 351
25
votes
Accepted
Why are drug dosages so high in some mice studies?
Mice are simply different from humans; they have different metabolism, different lifespan, different body size.
Generally, for a first order approximation, one might scale simply by body weight to ...
- 44k
25
votes
Can simultaneous double pathogen infections happen, or are they prevented?
You can absolutely have two infections occurring together.
One term which is used is 'co-infection'. Also 'secondary infection', in case where either the first infection or the treatment made it more ...
- 373
18
votes
Why have a placebo control group when testing a new drug if existing drugs can be used?
It's worth pointing out that the purpose of the placebo isn't really to test against no treatment, it's to test against the belief of receiving an effective treatment, for both the subject and the ...
- 281
14
votes
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Inability of vultures to digest diclofenac
Via: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1618889/
Post-mortem examination revealed extensive visceral gout in all diclofenac-treated birds (see electronic supplementary material). ...
- 5,568
14
votes
Why are scientists saying that the Omicron COVID-19 variant is a reason to get a booster?
Some Clarification:
Scientist were not opposed to a third dose, they were opposed to the rich country getting a third dose before we vaccinated the rest of the world. The WHO is right to call a ...
- 251
13
votes
Accepted
Why is insulin given in type 2 diabetes?
Isn't it illogical to give more of insulin for a deficit amount of receptors?
Seems like there is some confusion in the definition of type-2 DM itself. According ...
- 14.1k
11
votes
How does a Coronavirus "test kit" work?
There are several proposed tests for 2019-2020 novel coronavirus responsible for the Wuhan outbreak. The main techniques these are based on are:
PCR or qPCR targeted amplification
CRISPR-Cas9 genome ...
- 420
9
votes
Why is insulin given in type 2 diabetes?
This is true for the beginning of the disease. As a reaction to the reduced sensitivity of the cells in the body to insulin (and thus less uptake of glucose from the blood and a resulting ...
- 51.5k
9
votes
Accepted
Why do doctors use a new thread for each stitch?
Using a single thread for a suture also known as continuous stitching has a major con that it has higher risk of failing if the suture is cut in just one place. So it is generally avoided eventhough ...
- 4,786
9
votes
What are the consequences of inbreeding?
You are right. Inbreeding strongly increases overall homozygosity which subjects inbred individuals to diseases caused by rare recessive alleles. In non-inbred individuals the chance is quite low to ...
- 2,868
9
votes
Accepted
Why is methanol poisonous?
Methanol is highly toxic in humans. As little as 10 ml of pure methanol can destroy the optic nerve and cause permanent blindness, while 30 ml dose is fatal (Vale et al, 2007). However, its toxic ...
- 14.1k
9
votes
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How harmful is aluminium?
Here is a link to the Public Health Statement for Aluminum produced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States. There is much more information on the web page but ...
- 2,733
9
votes
Accepted
Why are only few cigarette smokers prone to cancer?
Cigarette smokers are most certainly prone to cancer. See Cecil Medicine, Chapter 183, on the epidemiology of cancer, exposure to tobacco is the most important environmental risk factor for cancer ...
- 8,751
8
votes
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Why can't we find a broad spectrum antiviral drug to viruses like antibiotics to bacteria?
One of the main issues with nucleotide analogs is that they can also affect the host replication and transcription (though they have a higher affinity to the viral polymerase), and can therefore have ...
- 35.2k
8
votes
Does avoiding medication that alleviates symptoms shorten the length of a cold?
It is plausible but by no means established that antipyretics (fever suppressors) in particular could increase the duration of infection/symptoms, because fever is part of a functional immune response....
- 5,324
8
votes
What was the biological mechanism that allowed Tarrare to eat so much?
Tarrare
Tarrare was a showman who was renowned for his insatiable appetite including eating cats, dogs, and snakes sometimes raw.
He is also said to have eaten many inedible items.
At the time, he ...
- 11.3k
7
votes
Accepted
Can/Have cancer cells be/been used in stem cell culture lines?
Cancer cells can be and are used in cell culture. HeLa cells were the first human cell line to be grown in culture and they were derived from a cervical tumor.
That being said, Cancer cell lines ...
- 4,985
7
votes
How do we know that mild forms of rabies are nonexistent?
There are many people worldwide who are exposed to rabies and don't die (they get treatment), but there are very few of these cases where people don't die after rabies has entered the central nervous ...
- 8,751
7
votes
Accepted
Narcan nasal spray
Q: The report indicated the patient was awake seconds after the spray was administered to both nostrils. If this is true, how does it work so fast?
This is possibly an exaggeration, although ...
7
votes
Why are scientists saying that the Omicron COVID-19 variant is a reason to get a booster?
(Update Dec 15: See update in my 2nd answer below, describing new study based on actual patient data, published in just the last few days, relevant to the current question.)
This answer is a ...
- 291
6
votes
Can/Have cancer cells be/been used in stem cell culture lines?
Adding onto AMR's answer, cancer cell lines are used extensively for research. They are typically fast to grow. HeLa Long grow to capacity of a 10cm dish within about 48hours, depending how you split ...
- 509
6
votes
Why is insulin given in type 2 diabetes?
Insulin is a "last resort" treatment for people with Type 2 diabetes—partly due to the unpleasantness of injections, but partly due to the fact that high insulin levels can worsen insulin ...
- 191
6
votes
Is p53 a cyclin dependent kinase?
No, p53 and other tumor suppressor proteins do not belong to Cyclin dependent kinase(CDK)family. p53 blocks the cell cycle by promoting the synthesis of Cyclin dependent kinase inhibitors (CKI ...
- 1,307
6
votes
Why is Ibuprofen contraindicated in asthma patients?
Ibuprofen is an NSAID. So it acts by inhibiting COX (Cyclooxygenase) enzyme. What it signifies is that, if COX enzyme has been blocked, the PUFA (say arachidonic acid, here) will be converted to ...
- 617
6
votes
Accepted
Why is there no herd immunity against common cold coronaviruses?
The following review has extensive answers to the complex of this question. They also include MERS and SARS-Cov-1 in their discussion, as there is good data on them.
Huang et al., A systematic review ...
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