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- Ben Fuchs
The universe is filled with a lot really cool things, from neutron stars that are so dense that they are capable of crushing all known matter into one homogenous mass, to quantum substances that flash in and out of existence in nanoseconds, to the cell, the fundamental unit of biology, that can produce over 100,000 different molecules a second, all in the space of 1/00th the size of head of a pin. But nothing, absolutely nothing is more interesting, intriguing or more fascinating than a virus.
Viruses are the most abundant biological entity on earth. They’re about a hundred times smaller than a typical human cell. While viruses are mysterious, what most of us do know about these enigmatic entities is that we don’t like them. The dictionary uses terms to define word “virulent” (virus-like) such as severe, harmful, poisonous, toxic, lethal and fatal, among other awful descriptors of doom. Many of the scariest health challenges anyone can have to deal with, from polio to AIDS to smallpox to cancer to Covid-19, have been associated with these mysterious entities. But what exactly is this enigmatic entity that is the cause of so much consternation and concern?
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- Ben Fuchs
As it turns out, potheads may be keeping themselves healthy and high at the same time. That’s because marijuana is loaded with active medicinal plant compounds. Generically called cannabinoids, (THC, the stuff in pot that causes cannabis’s characteristic intoxication is most well-known of these molecules) they are responsible for many of the effects associated with smoking or eating the evil weed and desired by dopers. These phytochemicals are little chunks of protein (peptides) that mimic a family of substances called endocannabinoids that are naturally found in the human nervous system and they have become the latest darlings in the world of brain biochemistry.
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- Ben Fuchs
Albumin, which is derived from the Greek word for white (as in albino or even album, which was originally a book with a bunch of white pages), is a multi-functional Swiss army knife type protein, with a chemical structure that allows it to perform many different biological roles. It’s primarily produced in the liver and measuring its levels is one of the ways physicians determine hepatic health. Deficiencies can be indicative of cirrhosis or liver disease.
Albumin’s most well-recognized function involves its ability to act as a water trapping or water attracting “sponge” in the blood. Albumin has an ability to pull water. It’s technically called osmosis, but you can just think of a sponge. Dip a sponge in water and the water gets sucked up automatically. That’s called osmosis and that’s exactly how albumin works in the blood. Sponges are made of long chain sugars that trap water and while albumin is more like a magnet than a trap, the water pulling or absorbing effect is the same. One of the most obvious consequences of an albumin deficiency is swelling and edema. That’s because without albumin trapping fluid it tends to leak out of the blood and into the tissues. Albumin can also be thought of as a fluid expander for the blood, without it blood can become thick and sludgy and more prone to clot. Albumin levels can drop significantly in with burns or blood loss. This loss of albumin can be serious and if it’s severe it can even be life threatening and doctors will inject a pharmaceutical version of albumin into the blood as a replacement.
