A federal health report by the Robert-Koch-Institute in Berlin, Germany, has revealed that three quarters of Germans use, or have used, complementary medicine and so-called alternative remedies and 90% would recommend such treatments to others. Since 1995, health insurance companies in Germany have had discretion in including or excluding complementary medicine from the treatments they cover. A lack of definitive medical research could be said to assist the companies in reaching their decisions over certain treatments. Stats source: BMJ.
Author: David Bradley
Telesales taken to task
A paper in a recent issue of the journal Archives Of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery (2002, Vol 128, Issue 5, pp 571-577) discusses the problems facing telesales people, particularly with regard to voice problems. Telesales staff, the study, led by Katherine Jones of the University of Nebraska found, were twice as likely to report one or more symptoms of vocal “attrition” compared with controls, after adjusting for age, sex, and whether they were smokers or not. Apparently, voice problems and “occupational vocal load” can adversely affect productivity and “are associated with modifiable risk factors.”
We hung-up before finding out what these factors are but was left wondering whether the researchers cold-called the people and whether those interviewed were in the middle of dinner or had had to get out of the bath to answer the phone. In a more malicious moment we’d like to think so.
Cancer mismatch
UK scientists believe a map of how cancer research funding is distributed might help streamline the R&D process and spot underfunding in particular areas. The National Cancer Research Institute has produced the first map of its kind to analyze the distribution of some $390m of cancer research funding from charities and government in the UK. The map revealed that most of the money is spent on the biggest cancers but some rare disorders are being funded disproportionately. (Brit Med Journal)
Wireless power
Cambridge start up Splashpower hopes to commercialize wireless power technology for recharging all your rechargeable devices, cellphones, mp3 players etc, without having to worry about plugging different chargers into power outlets.
Their approach has two parts: the first is a sub-millimeter thin receiver module that can be customized to just about any size, shape or curve of a device. The second part is a thin pad (less than 6 mm) that acts as a universal wireless charging platform and is plugged into the power outlet. Any device fitted with a SplashModule instantly begins to recharge when placed anywhere on the pad.Several devices can be charged at the same time.
Major benefit cited by the company include:
- Contactless, efficient, wire-free power
- Fast and safe charging rates
- Low-cost technology
- Low profile
Nothing new under the sun
Concerns about acrylamide, an organic compound formed in foods when they are heavily browned or even burnt have been raised. The compound has worryingly been classified as a probable carcinogen. But acrylamide from cooked foods is very unlikely to be a cause of cancer in humans. Cancer Research UK stated that the notion that eating burnt food would cause cancer is deceived wisdom, a “myth”.
Anyway, for those who think the revelation that carcinogens are formed in the non-enzymic browning reaction known as the Maillard reaction is something new, take a look at the following article I wrote for New Scientist back in the day: Science: Cooking up carcinogens – The chemicals generated in our food, New Scientist vol 127 issue 1729 – 11 August 1990).
Chemical reactions that take place during cooking, baking and preserving generate products that are very important in giving different foods their distinctive aromas and colour. Recently, researchers have discovered that many of these products can reduce the food’s nutritional value, and some can actually be toxic.
Franze Ledl of Stuttgart University and Erwin Schleicher of the academic hospital Munich-Schwabing in West Germany have studied many of the reactions involved, which are known collectively as the Maillard reaction. They believe that the reaction products could cause some diseases, including certain forms of cancer (Angewandte Chemie, International Edition in English, 1990, vol 29, p 565).
Keeping chicken under wraps
A ton of chicken salad was recalled for destruction by the US Department of Agriculture at the beginning of August, because batches were found to be contaminated with the potentially fatal microbe Listeria monocytogenes. The latest development in food science could keep such ready meals on the menu by blocking and killing the bacterium before it can contaminate the food.
Cling film (clingwrap) made from protein rather than plastic could help make outdoor parties and buffet lunches a much safer mealtime. A thin layer of this engineered protein protects those marinated chicken wings and other ready-to-eat meats by stopping those tummy bug microbes in their tracks, according to US researchers.
Food scientists Marlene Janes of Louisiana State University and Mike Johnson of the University of Arkansas have designed and synthesised an entirely edible film from two protein-based substances, which they say can prevent the food poisoning microbe Listeria monocytogenes on ready-to-eat chicken. The team has tested the protein film and reckon they can keep bacterial counts below detectable levels for almost a month.
“Food production occurs in several stages, each of which provides potential opportunities for bacterial contamination,” explains Johnson. He points out that generally chickens grown for commercial food production live in crowded conditions that are ideal for the spread of bacteria. While thorough cooking will kill most pathogenic bacteria that worm their way around food industry safety measures pre-cooked foods can easily be contaminated between cooking and final packaging steps.
Stick that ready-to-eat meal in the fridge and leave well alone and you provide a breeding ground for listeria, which can then cross-contaminate other foods in the chiller, such as deli meats and hot dogs. The perfect recipe for a disastrous barbecue, in other words. Listeria poses a particular risk to children, the elderly, and pregnant women, and can cause serious illness and even be life threatening.
Johnson and Janes (now at Louisiana State University) have explored the protective ability of a protein substance called zein, blended with nisin, a natural preservative protein that kills bacteria. They tested the effects of the protein film on chicken breasts from their local supermarket. First, they trimmed off the skin and cut them into five-gram pieces. They froze the pieces and then blasted them with radiation to eliminate any spoilage bacteria found on the chicken.
They then cooked the chicken pieces (without sauce or condiment) and cooled them. They then marinated the cooked chicken in a listeria brew and coated it with the zein-nisin film and put into sterile sample bags in the fridge.
Usually chilling food in the fridge will be enough to prevent bacteria from multiplying too rapidly. But, that is not the case with listeria, which positively thrives in the cold. Leave that cooked chicken at room temperature or uncovered in the fridge overnight and it could be seriously contaminated by the time you’re lighting the barbecue the next day. Just one mouthful could make someone ill.
The Arkansas team carried out a bacterial headcount on their chicken pieces after 4, 8, 16 and 24 days. They found that even after 24 days in the fridge the treated chunks of chicken were free from live listeria. The blended protein film, which Johnson says is perfectly harmless to humans, kills listeria stone dead.
For Johnson and other food scientists, food safety is a matter of minimizing risks as much as possible, risks that will never completely go away. Pathogenic bacteria, he says, are tiny but formidable adversaries. There were some 65,209 food-poisoning cases in the UK not picked up while abroad in 2000. The Food Standards Agency wants to take Salmonella, E. coli O157, and Listeria monocytogenes off the menu wherever possible. Johnson told us that, “The zein-nisin coating will only work when cold refrigeration temperatures of 4 Celsius are used and only low numbers of the pathogen Listeria monocytogenes are encountered, say about 1,000 per gram. This strategy will not work for temperature-abused foods left out at room temperature.” Now, where’s that tarragon and lemon dressing?
SOURCE: Journal of Food Science.
Dead parrot sketch
woman brought a very limp parrot into a veterinary surgery. As she lay her pet on the table, the vet pulled out his stethoscope and listened to the bird’s chest. After a moment or two, the vet shook his head sadly and said, “I’m so sorry, Polly has passed away.”
The distressed owner wailed, “Are you sure? I mean, you haven’t done any testing on him or anything. He might just be in a coma or something.”
The vet rolled his eyes, shrugged, turned and left the room, returning a few moments later with a beautiful black labrador. As the bird’s owner looked on in amazement, the dog stood on his hind legs, put his front paws on the examination table and sniffed the dead parrot from top to bottom. He then looked at the vet with sad eyes and shook his head.
The vet fussed the dog and took it out, but returned a few moments later with a cat. The cat jumped up and also sniffed delicately at the ex-bird. The cat sat back, shook its head, meowed and ran out of the room. The vet looked at the woman and said, “I’m sorry, but like I said, your parrot is most definitely 100% certifiably…dead.” He then turned to his computer terminal, hit a few keys and produced a bill which he handed to the woman. The parrot’s owner, still in shock, took the bill.
“£150!,” she cried, “£150 just to tell me my bird is dead!” The vet shrugged. “If you’d taken my word for it the bill would only have been £20, but what with the Lab report and the Cat scan…”
Interesting Beer Supply
A recent spam email was offering me the rather desirable possibility of “firmer, lager breasts”. Perhaps the next one will offer a “bigger beer belly” to go with them? Although too much of the old hop juice often leads to brewer’s droop, so the next spam after that will inevitably be for herbal Viagara (sic) or verbal hiagra.
UPDATE for 4th July 2008: did you take part in the Sciencebase Beer or Wine poll yet? Or, read about the beer vs wine debate (apologies for using the same picture of lager breasts on both posts, by the way).
Silly molecule of the month
As if to prove chemists have a sense of humour, Bristol University’s Paul May has added a list of unusual, but genuine, chemical names to his Molecule of the Month web site. Among the chemical delicacies are the super-tough compound ‘adamantane’ and its chemical cousin ‘bastardane’ (more formally known as ethano-bridged noradamantane.
Then there’s the soccer-ball shaped ‘buckminsterfullerene’ and the natural product ‘megaphone’ from the roots of the plant Aniba megaphylla. There is even a mineral with the enticing name of ‘cummingtonite’ while the stuttering ‘unununium’ makes an elemental appearance too. But, the choice that May puts at the top of his list is…for the sake of decency…best left to visitors to find for themselves. Suffice to say, it involves the arsenic version of the molecule pyrrole and it’s ring shaped: sillymols.htm.
Planetary poop
I just got a software planetarium to review…very nice program allows you to put in your city or coordinates and then shows you the night sky as it would appear if there were no clouds. There’s the water carrier (Aquarius), the archer, and the various planets.
All seems in order, there are a few constellations I wasn’t familiar with – the hare (turns out to be lepus), the air pump (that’s Antlia) and “poop”. Poop? Nice! I did a quick search on some French astronomy websites and came up with the answer, Poop is what the French call Puppis. This one was originally part of the larger constellation Argo Navis. Indeed, it was the stern, or poop deck of the mythological ship, the Argo.
So, not only am I ignorant of the constellations, I don’t know my classics well enough either. But, thankfully the poop isn’t the last turd in constellations.