Cancers are the second leading cause of death worldwide, after cardiovascular diseases.  Cancers are a collection of diseases in which abnormal cells can divide uncontrollably and spread to nearby tissue.  Cancers can arise in many parts of the body, which leads to a range of cancer types and can in some cases spread to other parts of the body through the blood and lymph systems. Presently, various treatment strategies have been used as conventional treatments for patients with cancer, such as surgical removal of tissue, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and immunotherapy.  Advanced stages of cancer have relatively unfavorable clinical outcomes due to factors such as toxicity, chemoresistance, and other detrimental side effects.  The past number of years there has been increased evidence

The hormone melatonin has traditionally been regarded as the hormone of darkness, because of the nightly surge in production that is associated with the sleep cycle.  It is also associated with seasonal cycles. Research over the past two decades found high levels of melatonin in the body during daytime, far too high levels to have come from the nightly production of melatonin by the tiny pineal gland in the brain.   Scientists also found more sources of melatonin in the body, with one of them linked to sunlight. What is melatonin? Melatonin is a neurohormone that is commonly known to prepare the body for sleep.  It plays a crucial role in regulating the body’s circadian rhythm, also known as the biological

From time to time, we all experience the feeling that one’s brain is unable to think clearly, especially when having a cold or flu, or one’s thinking became sluggish due to jetlag, or becomes fuzzy for a few hours after taking antihistamine or some other medication.  Normally this effect will wear off as you recover from illness, jetlag, or the effects of the medication.  But what if your thinking did not return to normal, or if for no apparent reason your thinking becomes fuzzy or sluggish as if a dense fog has descended on your brain? What is brain fog? This cloudy-headed feeling is referred to as mental fog or more commonly as brain fog.  Brain fog is characterized by

They say if an idea or a theory is repeated long enough, people will start to believe it and accept it as fact. This seems to be especially true of the hypothesis from the 1960’s that depression is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain, due to low levels of serotonin.  Doctors at the time used mood enhancing medications, which they believed worked by increasing serotonin levels in the brain.  This idea stuck as a simple explanation for depression. This consequently resulted in the widespread use of antidepressants, boosted in the 1990’s with the development of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) type of antidepressants, such as Prozac, Lexapro, and Zoloft.  Prescriptions for antidepressants have risen dramatically since the

Blood is essential to life. This constantly circulating fluid provides the body with nutrition, oxygen, and waste removal.  It is made up of four components, namely red and white blood cells, platelets, and plasma.  Plasma: Plasma is the light, amber colored liquid component, which makes up about 55% of the volume of blood, with the remaining 45 % made up of red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets, all suspended in the plasma.  Plasma makes the blood a fluid and consists of about 90-92% water.  It contains solutes which are critical for sustaining health and life, including electrolytes such as sodium, potassium, chloride, magnesium, calcium, and bicarbonate.  Within the plasma are about 7% vital proteins such as albumin, gamma

The human brain is regarded as the most sophisticated, complex system in the known universe.  It stands to reason that such a precious system, your internal mainframe computer, should be well protected.  To this end the brain is encased in the 7mm thick skull, surrounded by protective cerebrospinal fluid and a protective membrane, the meninges, to protect it from external physical injury. However, internal damage may occur when damaging substances, such as toxins or disease-causing pathogens, gets transported in the blood stream to the brain.  To protect the brain from internal damage, it has its own border control, consisting of a very sophisticated and tightly regulated barrier system that regulates which substances are allowed to enter the brain. This primary