Can a beer a day keep the doctor away? That's what new research from Portugal suggests. In a pilot study in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry, men who drank one can of alcoholic or nonalcoholic lager a day for four weeks improved the diversity of their gut microbiome, the collection of microbes that live in the intestinal tract. A more diverse gut microbiome is linked to a lower risk of heart disease, diabetes, and severe COVID. So by promoting bacterial diversity, beer may help prevent these outcomes, the study suggests. The findings stand out amid increasing evidence that no level of alcohol, even in small or moderate amounts, is good for you. This study indicates that a once-daily beer may benefit the gut microbiome regardless of its alcohol content, though nonalcoholic beer may still be the healthier choice.

@aman Unlike subtophi, which represent long-term subcutaneous MSU [monosodium urate] deposition over many years, US-detected tophi represent the early stage of tophi in both intra- and extra-articular settings. This cross-sectional study in China included 554 patients with gout who had joint ultrasound and physical exams through the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University. Physicians gathered medical histories using the Biobank Information Management System.

Those moles, skin tags, and liver spots should stay on your skin until you see a doctor, according to a new alert from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The alert warns against the use of over-the-counter products for removing moles, seborrheic keratoses (wart-like growths that are often brown), or skin tags, emphasizing that none are approved by the FDA for at-home use.

Periodontitis is a major inflammatory disease of the oral mucosa that progressively affects the integrity of the tissues supporting the teeth. It is associated epidemiologically with several chronic inflammatory disorders, such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes (T2D), rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, Alzheimer's disease, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, and certain cancers. From a medical and therapeutic standpoint, it is imperative to understand the link between periodontitis and associated comorbidities. A multifactorial chronic inflammatory disease, periodontitis is an exemplar of an imbalanced interaction between the local microbiome and the inflammatory response of the host (dysbiosis). This imbalance contributes to periodontal tissue destruction, leading to bone loss. The main risk factors for the condition are smoking and diabetes.

In children, the rare disorder cold urticaria (coldU) tends to persist for years and carry an elevated risk for anaphylaxis, a study from Canada reports. ColdU often affects young adults but can occur at any age. "Data on coldU in children are sparse," the authors write in Pediatric Allergy and Immunology. For people with coldU, exposure to cold can trigger a red, itchy, allergic skin rash, swelling, and possibly anaphylaxis.

Adipose tissue is an underappreciated and misunderstood organ. As obesity rates steadily rise, the riskiest approach to human adipose tissue is to dismiss its importance. People think of fat cells and that's it. However, adipose tissue (fat) has multiple cell types, and they each matter. There are adipocytes (fat cells) — which can be white, brown, beige, or pink — as well as immune cells, fibroblasts, blood vessels, and parts of nerve cells. The main function of white adipose tissue is to store energy in the form of triglycerides. Brown adipose tissue consumes glucose and triglycerides, generating heat. Brown fat cells within depots of white fat are termed brite cells (a portmanteau of brown and white) or beige cells. Pink fat cells have been found in breast tissue in mice.

@leena Initial treatment should include medically stabilizing the patient's condition by assessing his or her respiratory, circulatory, and neurologic systems. The offending substance may be eliminated by means of gastric lavage and acidification of the urine. Psychotropic medication can be used to stabilize an agitated patient with psychosis. Because most cases of amphetamine-related psychiatric disorders are self-limiting, removal of the amphetamines should suffice.
Induced emesis, lavage, or charcoal may be helpful in the event of overdose.
The excretion of amphetamines can be accelerated by the use of ammonium chloride, given either IV or orally (PO).
Amphetamine intoxication can be treated with ammonium chloride, often found in OTC expectorants, such as ammonium chloride (Quelidrine), baby cough syrup, Romilar, and P-V-Tussin.
The recommended dose to acidify the urine is ammonium chloride 500 mg every 2-3 hours.
The ingredients in OTC cough syrups vary, and the clinician should become familiar with 1 or 2 stock items for use in the emergency department.

It's a matter of quality, not quantity. That's the gist of a new Israeli study that shows that unvaccinated people with a prior SARS-CoV-2 infection create antibodies that are more effective in the long run compared with others who were vaccinated but never infected. While the quantity of antibodies decreases with time in both COVID-19 recovered patients and vaccinated individuals, the quality of antibodies performance increases following infection but not after vaccination

Many people believe that the longer you wear spectacles the worse your eyesight becomes. But are they right? I am a myopic, please suggest me which is better to use between spectacles and lens?

Many people experience hip pain at some point in their life. It’s a condition that can be caused by a variety of issues. I am also suffering from this pain. My pain is on the inside of hip or groin region. What should I do? Do I need to see a doctor?