Coughs and sneezes spread diseases

Coughs and sneezes really do spread diseases, airborne droplets from your infected mucus, phlegm and snot sprayed over your companions on the daily commute, in the office, at the shops, at school etc can pass the viral or bacterial particles to infect that other person if the particles get into their nose, mouth or on the surface of their eyes. Here are just a few of the nasties you might catch from a cough or a sneeze or someone drooling on you: Bacterial meningitis, chickenpox, common cold, influenza, mumps, strep throat, tuberculosis, measles, rubella, whooping cough etc

coughs-and-sneezes

Yesterday’s future tomorrow

In a thousand years’ time, our apps and smartphones,
our status updates and our tweets,
Our hybrid EVs, solar panels, windfarms,
all of our digital neats
Will seem so quaint, and misguided,
so twee and lopsided
They’ll talk of yet more Dark Ages repeats

Just think of our medical scans,
dental whitening, e-cigs and implants
Think of 1D gigs, get-rich-quick scams
And the sickening failure of healthcare plans

But, the world will still be an awful mess;
there will be floods and famine, I confess
There will be less water more disease,
Those with too much, and those with much less

There will be drug addiction and babies will cry,
The moon will wax and wane
It will be too hot and too cold, too wet and too dry
Winds will change, but we’ll stay the same

We will eat and we’ll drink, we will fornicate and frolic
We will ponder and think
and try to explain life with symbols symbolic
We will find it hard to imagine our past
or what the future really might bring
So, the best and the only thing we can do at last,
is live life to the full and let our hearts sing

yesterdays-future-tomorrow

Zinc, the only supplement

SECOND UPDATE: From Sciencebased Medicine [no relation]: “While zinc has the ability to inhibit rhinovirus replication in the test tube, clinical trials for the treatment of colds have been disappointing. While there was a very modest improvement in symptom score in one study of adults, the benefit was seen only when zinc was taken in large doses 5-6 times per day. At these doses, GI side effects were significant and patients complained of a bad taste in their mouth. Needless to say, 5-6 times per day dosing with these side effects would preclude this as a viable option in children. Additionally, a well-designed, randomized, double-masked, placebo-controlled study demonstrated no effectiveness of zinc on cold symptoms in children and adolescents.”

UPDATE: I just took a look at the packet of Zn tabs I have, 15mg per tab. The Cochrane Review says effective dose seen at 75mg. So…who’ve I been kidding? Anecdote is not evidence.

Zinc is the only supplement I take if I feel a cold coming on. Vitamin C, echinacea, cod liver oil etc have no proven effect. But, recent Cochrane analysis vindicates earlier research on which I based my choice.

Zinc – The promise: Laboratory studies have found it can inhibit replication of the rhinovirus, the most frequent cause of cold symptoms.

The research: A Cochrane review of 18 good quality studies last month found that zinc lozenges or syrup significantly reduced the average duration of the common cold in healthy people when taken within 24 hours of the onset of symptoms.

Dr Mullen says: ‘Zinc influences the immune system in a number of ways: it is involved in immune cell recruitment and function, systemic inflammation, is an antioxidant, and may have antiviral properties with respect to the common cold.’

The verdict: A proven treatment for colds, although side effects include a bad taste and nausea. The review advises taking zinc lozenges of 75mg or more until there is more research.

There is one caveat, I remember my old GP telling me he was involved in a Cambridge U study on cadmium content of zinc supplements. Cadmium is toxic, don’t know what the conclusion of his research was, never been able to find it on PubMed. But, either way, it’s a risk-benefit equation you have to balance yourself. Just don’t waste your money on the remedies that are really nothing more than expensive placebos (homeopathy and Reiki therapy for instance), they will do nothing to tackle a viral or any other infection.

Do supplements really help us keep healthy in the winter? – Telegraph.

Work in 2001 suggested that cadmium can indeed be present in zinc supplements – http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11474903, other work highlighted the fact that zinc is protective acute exposure to cadmiu – http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23726800

Large Hadron Collider Pop-Up

Papadakis publishers have released the Higgs edition of their unique publication – the result of a collaboration between the home of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), CERN and renowned paper engineer Anton Radevsky. Radevsky’s previous pop-ups include The Modern Architecture Pop-Up Book, The Pop-Up Book Of Space Craft and The Wild West Pop-Up Book. Co-author is Emma Sanders who heads Microcosm, CERN’s museum of particle physics in Geneva, Switzerland. The new edition is supported by the London Science Museum.

popup-large-hadron-collider

In this fabulous example of the art, the pair distil 7000 tonnes of metal, glass, plastic, cables and computer chips into miniature pop-up to tell the story of CERN’s quest to understand the birth of the universe.

You can order the LHC Pop-up book from the usual outlets. More details on the book here. There is a companion volume by Claudia Marcelloni and Colin Barras – Hunting the Higgs. In that book, the story of how two years ago, the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider began investigating the most powerful of particle collisions and ultimately revealed the first experimental evidence for the infamous Higgs boson, the subatomic particle that gives matter its mass.

How does your garden grow?

I just received what has to be the most bizarre press release ever. It’s either totally genuine and totally naive or a really good anti-gun spoof, can’t quite decide:

“Since early eighteenth century the shotgun has been used for hunting and in warfare. Countless deer, rabbits and birds has been killed, and Countless soldiers, from the trenches of Verdun to Bagdad have experienced the deadly blast of led shots. No more.

shotgun-gardening

My name is Per Cromwell. I’m a designer/inventor at ST-labs.
Today we’re launching a product I worked REALLY hard with for a long time: “Flower Shell” a shotgun shell loaded with flower seeds instead of deadly led.

  • Transform any 12 gauge shotgun to a life giver instead of a life taker.
  • Make gardening more FUN!
  • Comes with 12 different seeds. (Columbine, Cornflower, Daisy, Poppy, Sunflower, Peony, meadow flowers and more)
  • Each shell is hand made with love.
  • The amount of gunpowder has been reduced and adjusted to fit the different seeds.
  • More info on www.flowershell.com

    If you want more information, piuctures or anything, don’t hesitate to ask me.
    This is my dream project.

    Best wishes from a foggy autumn Sweden.
    ST Per Cromwell”