Once I invited some friends to my house for dinner. I prepared boiled crab legs, grilled racks of lamb, chilled asparagus, stewed tofu with mushrooms, and red bean slush for dessert. I have also stocked my refrigerator with various types of beers. Some bottled water was also there for those who refuse to indulge themselves. I anticipated that my friends would appreciate my warm hospitality; however, one gentleman about 50 years old, with a slightly plump figure, shook his head with an extremely bitter smile: “I don’t dare to consume anything that you prepared, except for the water.” I immediately realized that this friend must have experienced a gout flare recently, whereas all the food I prepared, including the beer, was purine-rich and will easily elevate his blood urate levels, potentially trigger another attack. Oh, my goodness, I certainly didn’t intend to harm him!

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“Which arm?” That is a common question when you get your first and second COVID 19 jabs. We usually take for granted that it doesn’t matter. Which arm to receive the 1 st and the 2 nd doses is totally a decision from personal habit and it will make no differences on the vaccination results. However, a group of prudent scientists from Germany showed that to receive the 2nd jab on the same arm as your 1 st one or on the different arm made big differences on the immune responses! The title of the research paper is “Differences in SARS-CoV-2 specific humoral and cellular immune responses after contralateral and ipsilateral COVID-19 vaccination”. It was published on eBioMedicine, August 11, 2023 (DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ebiom.2023.104743).

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You may need an iron will to face the roller-coaster-like stock prices of Twitter (now rebranded as X), which may give you the impression that Twitter will permanently close soon. However, most people still rely on Twitter to learn about breaking news, current events, and trends around the globe. Influencers still employ Twitter to exhibit their food, drink, stature, and sweethearts. Humor enthusiasts are still taking advantage of Twitter to share memes and jokes. Online socializers still use Twitter to interact with friends, share opinions, and argue with opponents. A plethora of corporations, celebrities, and public personalities continue to stuff Twitter full of ads for products, services, projects, and events. Recently, a newly developed pathological analysis AI tool might give you an even more positive indication: Twitter is still very useful, even in the scientific/medical field.

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Millions of years ago, when our ancestors hunted and roamed the jungle, vexed by a beast that got away so fast, moaned helplessly for the missed meal, they may never have imagined that their descendants would one day worry about consuming too much fat, burdening their livers. Fatty liver disease is one of the most common diseases in the world nowadays, affecting 30% of the adult population, roughly 25% non-alcoholic and 5% alcoholic. Fatty liver disease normally exhibits no symptoms at early stages and is often detected during routine physical examinations. However, without appropriate management and treatment, it can gradually progress to steatohepatitis (fatty liver with cell injury and inflammations), cirrhosis (liver fibrosis with built-up scars), and hepatocellular carcinoma (a form of liver cancer). Obese and diabetic populations are more susceptible to develop fatty liver disease, further exacerbating their metabolic dysfunctions and medical conditions.

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A week ago, a bloody event happened at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill shocked the whole overseas Chinese community: a 2 nd year Ph.D candidate, Tailei Qi, fatally shot his advisor, associate professor Zijie Yan. The murderer and the victim were both from China. The sky-falling doom on Professor Yan evoked innumerable sympathies, because Professor Yan held a good reputation among his colleagues and students for his kindness and optimism. Additionally, he was so young (only 38 years old) when he died, his career was just about to take off, and he had two young children to support. The murderer, Tailei Qi, has been formally charged with first-degree murder and the police are still investigating the whole case.

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“Traditional” biomedical professionals, such as molecular biologists, physiologists, chemists, pathologists, radiologists, and clinicians, may have complicated feelings about AI. AI is exceptionally powerful, and its applications are pervasive in various fields, including data analysis, pathological diagnosis, protein structure prediction, drug design, behavior prediction, surgical design, and bioengineering projects. If you are a devoted enthusiast of biomedical sciences, AI’s potential is sure to excite you. However, as you read research papers, attend conference presentations, or search for jobs on LinkedIn, the term “AI” may grab your attention more than you like. You might feel somewhat outdated and anxious about your role as a “traditional” researcher. But no worries. For the time being, AI remains a tool that relies on other sources of data for quantification, data that are gathered from a variety of “traditional” research models, including histological images, radiological scans, flow cytometry, genomics, proteomics, and spatial transcriptomics analysis, among others.

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You might be very familiar with the Batman movies. Batman is the hero and Joker is the villain. Batman works together with other superheroes to save the world, whereas Joker, either works alone or with other supervillains, trying to destroy Gotham City. At the end of the movies, Batman and Joker usually have a decisive battle. Batman always smiles to the end, whereas Joker goes to jail and plots for his next revenge. Funny and exciting to watch? Absolutely! Now, it’s time for us to read a medical paper. You might start to yawn, but come on! It’s not that boring, it is like a Batman movie!

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Scientists toil and strive to develop medicines, unknown to the masses, while celebrities instantly make products widely known. Do you know what Semaglutide is? But you surely know that the billionaire Elon Musk injected an appetite suppressant and showcased a rapidly slimmed-down physique – that’s Semaglutide, whose market name is Wegovy or Ozempic. With Musk’s demonstration in the forefront, an increasing number of people are eager to follow suit, hoping to rescue their own obesity through medication.

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Love makes our world more perfect, yet it remains one of the most intricated challenges we encounter. In order to keep a harmonious love relationship, tolerance often assumes a crucial role. A husband and a wife, no matter how deeply they love each other, may spend a lot of time digesting their disagreements. A mother and her children, almost bounded by unbreakable, nearly unconditional love, the capacity of tolerance has started to play in the mother ever since the child is still a tiny fetus in her womb.

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