The Medical Advisor

Sports injuries are common in non-professional and professional athletes in Malaysia. Statistics show that 77% of the world’s population is living with some form of spine and joint pain. It is best to take every precaution to prevent such injuries in the first place.



When you get a musculoskeletal injury or problem, which specialist do you see?

Most patients will usually head to an orthopaedic surgeon whose job is to correct functional abnormalities of the musculoskeletal system, which includes bones, joints, muscles, tendons and ligaments.

They also perform surgery to address trauma, tumours, injuries and infections. Many are still unaware that you can actually consult a sports medicine physician first.

Just because the speciality has the word “sports” in it doesn’t mean that their services are limited to athletes only.

“We are not surgeons, but physicians dealing with cases of non-surgical management of musculoskeletal and sports injuries, including overuse, trauma, and wear and tea…

Molecular hydrogen has been shown to have anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. It is 'the one and only' antioxidant that can both penetrate the mitochondria and neutralize the reactive oxygen species (ROS) (Med Gas Res. 2020).

It was discovered and reported in Nature in 2007 by a team in Japan, that inhaled hydrogen gas could act as an antioxidant and protect the brain from free radicals. This sparked the interest in its potential health benefits worldwide and led to many published and on-going clinical research.



Published in 2017, a group of researchers in China suggested that hydrogen-rich solution therapy may be a safe, reliable, and effective treatment for Multiple Organ Dysfunction Syndrome (MODS) induced by influenza and other viral infectious diseases (Ref).

A review in 2019 that included 113 references, has also focused on the potential mechanisms of molecular hydrogen against sepsis to provide a theoretical basis for clinical treatment (PubMed Central).

COVI…

It has been more than 2 months since we posted the article on COVID-19 death rate. Some articles said that doctors and scientists know more about COVID-19 now as compared to say 2 or 3 months ago. Does that translate into better outcomes such as the COVID-19 death rate? Let's compare the current death-rate vs the one in our previous article more than 2 months ago. Are we improving?

The COVID-19 death rate is defined as the the number of known deaths divided by the total number of confirmed cases – varies widely by country right now. We have selected countries that are among the highest and the lowest in the world.


As of Jul 7, 2020, the global death rate is at about 4.6%, a significant decrease as compared to 7% on Apr 25, 2020. This supports the theory that we are better at managing the disease, globally. Even 1% difference means a lot on a global scale.

That said, we have gone above 11 million confirmed cases worldwide and the number of new cases are getting scary for Brazil and…

Dr Yu Kang - As time passes in a pandemic there's a greater chance of survival for those getting infected 3 months later like June 2020 than those who got infected 3 months earlier say February 2020. The reason for this is that Doctors and scientists know more about Covid-19 now than 3 months ago and hence are able to treat patients better.

Daily confirmed new cases (5-day moving average)
Outbreak evolution for the current 10 most affected countries

I will list *5 important things* that we know now that we didn't know in February 2020 for your understanding.

1. COVID-19 was initially thought to cause deaths due to *pneumonia- a lung infection*- and so Ventilators were thought to be the best way to treat sick patients who couldn't breathe. *Now we are realising that the virus causes blood clots in the blood vessels of the lungs* and other parts of the body and this causes the reduced oxygenation . Now we know that just providing oxygen by ventilators will not help but we have…

Osteoarthritis of the knee can affect anyone, but it usually develops in people over age 65. It’s a progressive disease, meaning it becomes more painful and difficult to move your knee over time.

Your doctor will probably prescribe oral medications and suggest lifestyle modifications before recommending knee injections. Before you turn to surgery, weigh the pros and cons of injections.

While there is no study on the number of Malaysians suffering from osteoarthritis, it’s estimated that more than 60 per cent of the worldwide population aged 65 and above has some form of the disease.




TREATING THE PAIN

Medication for osteoarthritis is usually painkillers. You are also asked to take supplements, glucosamine sulphates and chondroitin sulphates, to help build new cartilage.

You can also opt for knee injections. These are the main types of knee injections used in the treatment of osteoarthritis.
Corticosteroids

Corticosteroids are designed to be similar to cortisol, a hormone that is natural…

Vitamin C has been flying off the shelves as consumers look for natural ways to protect themselves from the coronavirus. Can Vitamin C actually protect you against coronavirus? Check out "Can Vitamin C Protect You Against COVID-19?" in order to dive into the facts.

The run on C has been made worse by the fact that Chinese purchasers are flooding the online sites to get the product from Korea, while the raw materials needed to make the vitamin mainly come from China.

A local large scale study on Malaysian older adults showed that a third has vitamin C inadequacy (Fakhruddin et al. 2016).

From the dozens of different brands and products, which one should you choose?

Many varieties of vitamin C supplements are available online and offline at your local health stores and pharmacies such as Guardian and Watson. As consumers, we'd like to think that the vitamins and supplements we buy are almost the same. In reality, this isn't always the case.

While supplements are regul…

As of July 2020, more than 50 studies have been launched to investigate the benefits of stem cell therapy and COVID19. You can review the status of these trials on clinicaltrials.gov.

WHO and other global public health bodies have mainly focused on preventing transmission, infection control measures, and screening of travellers. The development of vaccines has received immediate funding; however, as with SARS-CoV and MERSCoV, support for developing treatments for 2019-nCoV that reduce mortality has not been forthcoming. All three coronaviruses induce excessive non-effective host immune responses that are associated with severe lung damage, leading to death. In most patients who are severely affected, COVID-19 infection is also associated with a 'cytokine storm' or severe inflammatory response.






Below, we have compiled and updated a few significant studies, clinical trials and related reviews and news on Coronavirus treatment with stem cell therapy.

There are multiple on-going …

Vitamin C has been a subject of controversy for many years. It may appear to be as simple as ABC, but is not. What's so confusing about Vitamin C? Let's dive into some facts.

Vitamin C - The Basics

Vitamin C, also known as L-ascorbic acid, is a water-soluble vitamin that is naturally present in some foods, added to others, and available as a dietary supplement. Humans, unlike most animals, are unable to synthesise vitamin C endogenously, so it is an essential dietary component.



The recommended daily intake for vitamin C is 75 mg for women and 90 mg for men.

While it’s commonly advised to get your vitamin C intake from foods, many people turn to supplements to meet their needs. Can Vitamin C Protect You against COVID-19? Vitamin C is not a face mask or a sanitiser; and cannot be compared with more effective methods like social distancing, proper hand hygiene practices and personal protective equipments (PPEs). Vitamin C does not prevent a virus from entering the body as compared…