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giovedì 14 aprile 2022
# life: a weird revisited from ethnomedicine inside an approach in epidemiology, the 'saliva healers' vs. 'herd immunity'.
lunedì 16 marzo 2020
# life: apropos of "herd immunity" ... ,
lunedì 27 agosto 2018
# drugs: proteins found in tick saliva (Rhipicephalus and Amblyomma) to treat a potentially fatal form of heart disease
<< Tick saliva contains proteins [evasins] that suppress chemokine-driven inflammation by binding and neutralizing multiple chemokines simultaneously, helping them to suck blood for several weeks without eliciting inflammation. >>
Kamayani Singh, Graham Davies, et al. Yeast surface display identifies a family of evasins from ticks with novel polyvalent CC chemokine - binding activities. Scientific Reports. Jun 27, 2017; 7 (4267).
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-04378-1
AA << has identified several new tick evasins and shown that one of them, P991_AMBCA, from the cayenne tick found in the Americas, can bind to and block the effect of chemokines which cause inflammation in myocarditis, heart attack and stroke. >>
From bug to drug - tick saliva could be key to treating heart disease. University of Oxford. Jun 27, 2017.
https://m.phys.org/news/2017-06-bug-drugtick-saliva-key-heart.html
Also: "saliva" in:
giovedì 18 gennaio 2018
# behav: the self-medication poultice by orang-utans (Pongo pygmaeus)
<< Animals self-medicate using a variety of plant and arthropod secondary metabolites by either ingesting them or anointing them to their fur or skin apparently to repel ectoparasites and treat skin diseases >>
AA << document self-medication in the only Asian great ape, orang-utans (Pongo pygmaeus), and for the first time, to our knowledge, the external application of an anti-inflammatory agent in animals. The use of leaf extracts from Dracaena cantleyi by orang-utan has been observed on several occasions; rubbing a foamy mixture of saliva and leaf onto specific parts of the body. Interestingly, the local indigenous human population also use a poultice of these leaves for the relief of body pains >>
Morrogh-Bernard HC, Foitova I, et al. Self-medication by orang-utans (Pongo pygmaeus) using bioactive properties of Dracaena cantleyi. Scientific Reports. 2017; 7: 16653.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-16621-w.
Nov 30, 2017.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-16621-w
Borneo Nature Foundation. Orangutans, like people, use medicinal plants to treat joint and muscle inflammation. Jan 10, 2018.
https://m.phys.org/news/2018-01-orangutans-people-medicinal-joint-muscle.html
mercoledì 1 febbraio 2017
# s-chem: a viscoelastic tongue with reversible saliva (spit and softness) to hang on to the next meal
<< A frog uses its whip-like tongue to snag its prey faster than a human can blink, hitting it with a force five times greater than gravity >>
<< A frog's saliva is thick and sticky during prey capture, then turns thin and watery as prey is removed inside the mouth >>
<< The tongue, which was found to be as soft as brain tissue and 10 times softer than a human's tongue, stretches and stores energy much like a spring >>
<< This combination of spit and softness is so effective that it provides the tongue 50 times greater work of adhesion than synthetic polymer materials such as sticky-hand toys >>
<< There are actually three phases (..) When the tongue first hits the insect, the saliva is almost like water and fills all the bug's crevices. Then, when the tongue snaps back, the saliva changes and becomes more viscous—thicker than honey, actually—gripping the insect for the ride back. The saliva turns watery again when the insect is sheared off inside the mouth >>
Reversible saliva allows frogs to hang on to next meal. Jan. 31, 2017
https://m.phys.org/news/2017-01-reversible-saliva-frogs-meal.html
Alexis C.Noel, Hao-Yuan Guo, et al. Frogs use a viscoelastic tongue and non-Newtonian saliva to catch prey. Journal of The Royal Society Interface. Publ. 1 February 2017. DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2016.0764
http://rsif.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/14/127/20160764