HerbBriefs

18/03/2025

Methods in predictive toxicology 2023

Advancements in omics technologies and computational methods offer deeper mechanistic insights into toxicological processes. Two studies in this collection l...

21/02/2025

When scientists lie it requires a scientist to ferret out the gap. Non-scientists lack the training and vocabulary for this, so it's little surprise they get caught in a tangle and loose trust in all science.

Today I came upon a published claim "CYCLOTIDES from the trypsin inhibitor subfamily are also not toxic to mammalian cells in vitro up to concentrations of 100 µM" that you can see for yourself at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bmcl.2017.10.051

Since I know there are a thousand cyclotides to test I was skeptical and followed the reference 12 that actually only tested a single (not even plural) artificial engineered cyclotide, which you can see for yourself at https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3767463

A reviewer should have caught this error. Repetition might seem wasteful but that is a general science principle that limits propagation of errors like this.

02/01/2025

50 years ago I would have been happy with a report of berberine for diabetes. Science has advanced so much that now a typical report shows multistep mechanisms, like:

Diabetic induced Advanced glycation end products (AGE) induced Ferroptosis inhibited by berberine in mice, via upregulated Nrf2, glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4), ferritin light chain (FTL), decreased ROS, iron.

Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) have adverse effects on the development of diabetic complications. Berberine (BBR), a natural alkaloid, has demonstrat...

29/10/2024

https://www.wired.com/story/prepare-to-get-manipulated-by-emotionally-expressive-chatbots/

The emotional mimicry of OpenAI’s new version of ChatGPT could lead AI assistants in some strange—even dangerous—directions.

27/10/2024

1,8-cineole (eucalyptol) restored pancreas islet βeta cells

24/10/2024

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jmedchem.4c02179?utm_source=SendGrid_ealert&utm_medium=ealert&utm_campaign=TOC_jmcmar_v67_i20

Download Hi-Res ImageDownload to MS-PowerPointCite This:J. Med. Chem. 2024, 67, 20, 17935-17939 ADVERTISEMENT InfoMetricsFiguresRef. Journal of Medicinal ChemistryVol 67/Issue 20Article This publication is free to access through this site. Learn More CiteCitationCitation and abstractCitation and ref...

19/10/2024

To all who told me in 2020 they would wait a year for a vaccine rather than upgrade their diet

Some studies have identified influencing factors of COVID-19 illness in elderly, such as underlying diseases, but research on the effect of nutritional status is still lacking. This study retrospectively examined the influence of nutritional status on the outcome of elderly COVID-19 inpatients. A re...

19/10/2024

Immunology course I took 1990 provided me with strong foundation to update with intensive study starting Jan 2020. In a week Vitamin D defense was obvious from massive data and I started promoting that in Jan 2020. Now, after the pandemic is over, there are two thousand reports verifying Vit D in covid.

One molecular aspect of Vit D is promoting Th2 but direct evidence for Th2-covid relationship has taken until now to be proved in mice.

SARS-CoV-2 Delta and Omicron BA.1 infection, disease course, and CD8 T cell response are influenced by the host genetic background. These humanized mice hold promise as important tools for investigating the mechanisms underlying the heterogeneity of SARS-CoV-2-induced pathogenesis and immune respons...