gracelive

AUTHOR: SEOK WOO YANG, MD & PhD.

CONTACT: Email: soplab@outlook.kr

DATE: 2020.04.07

CONTENT:

 As of 7th April, in a small city with approximately 160,000 citizens, the confirmed COVID-19 + cases are 50. The mortality rate is 0.

 The patients in my clinic were mainly those with respiratory diseases. There have been no confirmed COVID-19 cases.

 Some patients had fevers. With the therapeutic strategy in line with several previous posts, there have been no confirmed cases of COVID-19 yet. Even several patients with fevers and bronchitis who dropped out of screening hospitals concerning COVID-19 without testing recovered without the aggravation of respiratory diseases. About the reason why they were dropped out of COVID-19 test even with fevers, has not it known.

 The therapeutic drugs administered did NOT include hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin.

 The taken home message is that primary care in the early phase of respiratory diseases amid COVID-19 contagion is a key factor to a key factor to prevent the patients from being vulnerable to COVID-19.

 Early diagnosis, Early treatment!

P.S.

 In some patients with neurologic signs, including headache, alteration of smell and taste and oral mucosa, acyclovir was prescribed simultaneously as I posted.

AUTHOR: SEOK WOO YANG, MD & PhD

CONTACT: E.mail; soplab@outlook.kr

DATE: 2020.03.17

CONTENT:

 About the usefulness of megadose vitamin C in common colds or flu-like symptoms, there have been many debates.

 With the high potency of the antioxidant effect in vitamin C, vitamin C seems to be a healthful nutrient to suppress the inflammatory reaction in cancer or infection, including viral respiratory diseases.

 Gorton & Jarvis reported that vitamin C use in the early phase of virus-induced respiratory infections can be helpful to prevent further disease progression or to relieve symptoms of common colds or flu-like symptoms.[1]   

 In contrast, Douglas et al analyzed that vitamin C plays some role in respiratory defense mechanisms, but vitamin C at the onset of common colds did not show clinically significant benefit.[2] 

 In summary, the beneficial role of vitamin C in common colds or virus-induced respiratory infections has not been clearly established.

 But Oudemans-van Straaten et al commented that vitamin C can restore vascular responsiveness to vasoconstrictors, preserve endothelial barrier by maintaining cyclic guanylate phosphatase and occludin phosphorylation and preventing apoptosis. Furthermore, they mentioned the role of high-dose vitamin C in augmenting antibacterial defense. With this context, they argued that vitamin C can be applied for ischemia/reperfusion injury and sepsis.[3] 

 Although there are many conflicting reports on the beneficial role of vitamin C in common colds, at least vitamin C can be used as an antioxidant to maintain vascular integrity and plausibly to prevent aggravation of secondary bacterial infection.

REFERENCE:

1. Gorton HC, Jarvis K. The effectiveness of vitamin C in preventing and
relieving the symptoms of virus-induced respiratory infections. J Manipulative
Physiol Ther. 1999 Oct;22(8):530-3. 

2. Douglas RM, Hemila H, D'Souza R, Chalker EB, Treacy B. Vitamin C for preventing and treating the common cold. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2004 Oct
18;(4):CD000980. 

3. Oudemans-van Straaten HM, Spoelstra-de Man AM, de Waard MC. Vitamin C
revisited. Crit Care. 2014 Aug 6;18(4):460.

Passover and Blood on the doorframe

Author: SEOK WOO YANG, M.D. & Ph.D. 

Contact: E.mail: soplab@outlook.kr

Chapter 12 of Exodus in Bible reports on Passover day. Here God ordered the Israelite to avoid disaster on Passover day.

Chapter 12: verse 12th and 13th of Exodus, Bible says, "12 on that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn - both men and animals - and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD. 13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt" (Figure 1).

The Passover means the disaster skipped the Israelite who kept the orders of God.

God orders the Israelite to paint the blood of lamb or goat on the sides and tops of the doorframe.

Why did God order this?

I interpreted this question medically. In terms of pathology, my opinion on these two problems is as follows;

Blood color varies from red to dark purple according to oxygen saturation. The main component of blood hue is caused by RBC (Red Blood Cell). When oxygen is rich in blood, blood color is red by binding O2 to iron in hemoglobin. Conversely, when oxygen is deficient, blood hue is dark purple. When we have cut wound in the skin, the blood coagulates slightly sticky. This occurs mainly by the fibrin component. The fibrin particles are interlocked and form chains of fibrin, a structure of meshwork (Fig.2.). This meshwork structure filters blood cells, especially platelets and RBCs. All this process leads to blood coagulation. The characteristics of the fibrin component endow the blood glutinous.

Sticking nature of blood by fibrin and blood other components, namely viscous force, makes blood to acquire the filtering power to capture fine dust of air including microorganisms (bacteria and virus particles).

 This may dilute the density of microbial pathogen particles.

As a principle of vaccine, the diluted amount of microbial pathogens may work as an immune-boosting effect rather than causing disease.

In this situation, I infer the people who did not paint blood on the doorframe may inhale contaminated air and be exposed to the infectious state. In contrast, people, namely the Israelites who paint blood on the doorframe, may inhale the air of diluted infectious microbial particles, which worked as a vaccine effect.

Furthermore, God designates that doorframe painting with blood should be done at night (Exodus, chapter 12; verse 6th:  Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the people of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight). To keep the viscosity of blood, the blood should preserve the liquidness. The liquid state may most be maintained at the cool state. The cool state in a day may be kept at the night time after sunset.

For the above reason, I infer God ordered blood paint on the doorframe at night in a day.

Copyright (C-2013-017025) PASSOVER DAY – Medical Interpretation by a Pathologist – (English) 

Facial Mask in the year 2020:

 As of March. 2020, novel coronavirus infection is pandemic. As a primary preventive method, the importance of the facial mask is raised. The author thinks that the facial mask may play a role in decreasing the number of viral droplets in inflowing air like the doorframe painted with blood in Passover.