The Weekly Dose - Episode 38

The Weekly Dose...

... the latest from Dr Karan

  Here is your weekly dose...  

Hi all!Here is your weekly dose of the Sunday Six! A few things I found interesting this week. If you enjoy this please feel free to forward this to friends. families and enemies alike!**You'll find more in depth analysis of some of these subjects on my social platforms in the links just below, including Dr Karan Investigates! for deep dives into interesting topics on my YouTube channel.**

Why They Couldn't Make A Vaccine In "The Last Of Us"

In 2023, as you read this newsletter...there are no vaccines against fungal infections.It is therefore no surprise that in the hit TV show, "The Last Of Us" (which if you haven't watched, you definitely should) that centres around the post-apocalyptic world 20 years after a fungal pandemic...there was no cure or vaccine to protect against the deadly fungus, cordyceps.One of the main problems with developing fungal vaccines is that many fungi are shape-shifters.A fungal infections often starts after spore inhalation. Our immune systems are good at destroying these spores and preventing them from causing disease. However, if the immune system fails to do that, the spores can shape-shifts into a new cell type that the immune system may not have seen before.This makes developing a fungal vaccine very complex since we can’t predict how the cell may shape-shift once inside the body and thus undermines the basis of a vaccine that trains the immune system to recognise and combat a pathogen of a specific shape, pattern etc.  There is also the anti-fungal approach; creating medications that slow the growth or kill fungi. Again, these are not easy to develop because fungal cells are quite similar to human cells so finding a balance between one that kills fungi whilst avoiding collateral damage to our own bodies is difficult. Additionally replicating natural fungal growth conditions in a lab is laborious, time consuming and generally a difficult task. These factors slows our progress in understanding these microbes and how we can unlock their natural defences.Thankfully we *do* have fungal vaccines in clinical trials which is a promising thing to know given that fungal infections currently cause hundreds of thousands of deaths a year.  

A Wild Week...

On Wednesday the 15th March I announced my first ever book "This Book May Save Your Life'.Whatever happened after that exceeded any expectation I had.The response from you was nothing short of miraculous and we managed to storm the Amazon charts and various best-seller lists in different categories!Over the coming months I will tease little segments of the book and answer more of your questions as we ramp up towards the official publication date!Thank you once again for sticking around, watching my stuff and having faith that you will enjoy my book!Incidentally for those working for the NHS, I've heard they are doing NHS/bluelight discounts. I'll probably take some heat from the publishers for saying that but we shall deal with the ramifications of that later. If you can get a discount, have at it!A friend who is very active and all-knowing about social media told me that any videos or information you put out into any social media platform is rarely seen by more than 5-10% of your following. So despite my being pretty vocal about my book announcement, it is more than likely that most of my followers still have no idea that I have a book!If you happen to be one of those people you can pre-order my book here: This Book May Save Your LifeOnce again, thank you for all the support! 

Gwyneth "Goop" Paltrow...

As a general rule of thumb I would advise people do the opposite of most things that Gwyneth Paltrow does.A recent podcast appearance of hers went viral on social media where she waxed lyrical about regularly using "IV vitamins drips" and describing her disordered diet consisting of bone broth, soups and more liquid and her use of rectal ozone therapy. Whilst for many people most things she does is laughable and moronic, there are unfortunately large swathes of people who will try to emulate these frankly dangerous health fads Paltrow adheres to.Most of what the Goop queen advises has no supporting scientific evidence. Simply put, when a celebrity who is neither a scientists or a medical professional makes claims about treatments without offering sufficient scientific evidence, be highly skeptical particularly when they fail to mention how the therapy benefitted them . 

  What You Should Watch... 

Archive 81 - on NetlifxWow.This was a slow-ish burn but incredible. This leans into one of my favourite genres - the occult.I've always been fascinated with possession, demons, weird cults etc and although this starts off plainly it quickly ramps up in thrills, twists and suspense.I purposefully want to keep this description vague because you need to watch this for yourself to truly enjoy it without me giving away any spoilers or clues!  

You Have Less Time Than You Think...

Warning. This is a bit gloomy but the purpose is to nudge you into action.I often remind myself to respect time.A few years ago I was working a shift where a young, healthy patient was admitted with pancreatitis, an inflammation of the pancreas. Their blood pressure, pulse, oxygen levels etc were normal. Their blood tests were also *mostly* normal. The patient had some moderate pain which was controlled with analgesia and they were due to have an ultrasound scan to investigate the cause of the pancreatitis.During transport, the patient had a cardiac arrest. 22 minutes of resuscitation later we managed to get a pulse and the patient was transferred into the ICU.Within 12 hours of admission the patient had passed.This was totally unexpected and at that moment it dawned on me that many of us live life like we are immortal. We aren't. We often take health for granted until those moments when we are sick.We often don't do the things we really want to do in life, or say the things we want to. We procrastinate. We delay. We are bound by fear of future regrets such that our present moment is compromised.I have had many regrets in my life. Decisions not acted upon and paths not taken. I would rather do something and it fail than not do something and be forever haunted by regret of inaction. 

What You Should Listen To...

Tiptoe through the tulips - Tiny TimIf you've ever spent some time scrolling through the endless abyss of social media you have more than likely come across this song. It is deeply chilling.It also made an appearance in the equally disturbing film "Insidious", arguably one of the scariest movies I've ever seen.The song was actually created and written by Al Dublin and Joe Burke in 1929 but it was in 1968 that singer Tiny Tim re-popularised it with his odd rendition! Enjoy..or cower in fear  

As always, please give me feedback on Twitter. Which of this weeks Sunday six is your favourite? Is there something you want more, or less of? I'm open to any suggestions so please let me know! Just send a  tweet to @drkaranrajan and use the hashtag #theweeklydose at the end so I can find it!

Have a wonderful week, all.

Much love,

Karan