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Suicide's
'smoking' gun
EAST LANSING,
MI — Cigarette packaging may warn that smoking
kills, but what about smokers killing themselves? Intentionally,
that is. Research in the March issue of the Archives
of General Psychiatry warns that smoking is associated
with suicidal tendencies. Interviews with 899 randomly
selected candidates aged 21-30 in 1989, 1992, 1993 and
1999 revealed that smokers were 1.82 times more likely
to have suicidal thoughts or attempt to take their own
lives. One silver lining in the smoke cloud: past smoking
was not associated with suicidal tendencies -- so quitters
are in the clear.
Chewable
fracture prevention?
TAGAWA, JAPAN
— We already entice kids to take their vitamins
with cartoon shapes and fruity flavours. New research
indicates it could be time to use similar tactics to
get elderly patients to take theirs too -- especially
after a stroke. Stroke patients are two to four times
more likely to fracture a hip and a study in the March
2 issue of JAMA of 628 elderly stroke patients
aged 65 and older shows that vitamins can reduce the
risk. Subjects who took 5mg of folate and 1500g of vitamin
B12 daily were significantly less likely to suffer post-stroke
fractures.
Avant
garde tea ceremonies
CAMBRIDGE, MA — Once again Ig Nobel Prize
season is upon us. The award, which celebrates unusual
research, has taken its show on the road, with a tour
of the UK to celebrate National Science Week. Marc Abrahams,
editor of the Annals of Improbable Research and
MC of the awards ceremony, did his own study on the
tea and coffee drinking habits of scientists. Shockingly,
he could find only one British scientist who adhered
to the Standard BS 6008:1980 method of tea making. The
rather experimental remainder chose to forge their own
brewing paths. One interesting subject was Dr Philip
Renshaw, who reported that circumstances forced him
to deviate from the traditional English cup of tea with
milk. Through roommate mishaps (stolen milk) and his
own parsimony (repeated use of the same teabag) he has
ended up preferring plain old boiling water.
Dutch
necrophilia quack
ROTTERDAM —
A Dutch researcher who won a coveted prize for his studies
on deviant duck behaviour has also been making the rounds
in the Ig Nobel tour. C W Moeliker received the laurels
for his seminal study, "The First Scientifically Recorded
Case of Homosexual Necrophilia in the Mallard Duck."
As the incident occurred just outside his office at
Natuurmuseum Rotterdam, he was able to record it in
great detail and provide photographs. Here's an excerpt:
"Rather startled, I watched this scene from close quarters
behind the window until 19:10 hours during which time
(75 minutes) I made some photographs and the mallard
almost continuously copulated his dead congener."
Yawn,
that's fascinating
AMSTERDAM —
Dr Wolter Seuntjens at Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam,
finds yawning endlessly fascinating. And thanks to his
attempts at a multidisciplinary, encyclopedic description
of the yawn he's earned himself a spot on the Ig Nobel
tour, joining countryman C W Moeliker and his obscene
mallard. He argues that our current understanding of
the yawn is sorely lacking and certain aspects of yawning,
particularly the contagious sort, beg further study.
He's doing his best to close the knowledge gap, with
some startling findings. For instance, in his PhD thesis,
he revealed, "In discussing pharmacology, I found a
link between yawning and spontaneous orgasm in withdrawal
from heroin addiction."
Chondroitin
adroitly treats osteoarthritis
ZURICH —
There's finally some hard evidence on the benefits of
one of the more mysterious ingredients found in the
dietary supplement aisle. In a study in the March issue
of Arthritis and Rheumatism, 300 patients with
osteoarthritis of the knee were randomized to receive
either 800mg of chondroitin or a placebo every day for
two years. Radiographs of the study group's knees showed
that the supplement effectively prevented cartilage
loss -- without any adverse side effects.
Bankruptcy
Act puts uninsured in poorhouse
WASHINGTON —
The US's recently passed Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention
and Consumer Protection Act has credit card company
stocks soaring. But it may soon have those without health
insurance reeling. That's because the Act will make
it more difficult to declare bankruptcy. Arguably the
biggest change in US bankruptcy protection since the
1841 abolition of debtor prisons, it passed with strong
support of President Bush, most Republicans and a substantial
minority of Democrats. Senator Ted Kennedy (Democrat
-- MA) had proposed an amendment that would exclude
medical-bill bankruptcies from the new, stricter rules.
The amendment was voted down.
Harmful
drug's genetic pathway illuminated
NEW ORLEANS —
The medical community is still dealing with the aftershocks
of drugs unwisely prescribed in the post-war decades
to pregnant women. One such drug, synthetic estrogen
diethylstilbesterol (DES) is now known to cause infertility
in the daughters of women who took it, but scientists
didn't know how. A paper in the March issue of Molecular
Endocrinology unravels the genetic pathway behind
its effect on their uteruses. Apparently DES affects
a gene called Msx2 that determines how the developing
uterus responds to estrogen signalling.
Hyperthyroidism:
the midnight rambler
RIYAHD —
A team of Saudi researchers has discovered a possible
link between sleepwalking and hyperthyroidism. They've
documented eight cases where people started sleepwalking
at the same time their hyperthyroidism cropped up. The
study, in the January/February issue of Endocrine
Practice, suggests a cause-and-effect relationship
between the two conditions. The researchers also found
that sleepwalking disappeared in patients once their
hyperthyroidism was successfully treated, and that patients
would resume their midnight rambles if the thyroid problem
wasn't properly controlled. The team was not able to
offer any clue as to why the link exists.
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