Multitudes of medical studies are published every year, many of which wash under the bridge and remain unrecognized. Here are some from 2013 that I deem important, applicable or fascinating.
Strep sticks around and remains active while staying put. According to the December edition of the journal Infection and Immunity, streptococcus (strep) bacteria — they cause many throat and respiratory infections — remain active on toys for many hours after exposure. In the past, we were taught that bacteria cannot survive outside the body for long. This study demonstrated that bacterial droplets (released with coughing or sneezing) remained active overnight and into the next morning at a day care center. Cleaned surfaces as well as 4 out of 5 stuffed animals remained positive for strep the morning after cleaning took place. One researcher suggested that bacteria such as strep, given the right environment, could persist for months.
My advice is to continue antibacterial surface cleaning and buy machine-washable stuffed animals.
Hyenas in Ethiopia may deter human disease. While I cannot remember ever seeing a hyena in my neighborhood, let me explain the importance and application of this study. According to the September Anthrozoos, a particular Ethiopian town governorship elected to discontinue unsuccessful attempts to rid their town of hyenas. Instead, they chose to maintain peace with the animals despite occasional attacks on their children. People became more careful of hyenas — and more tolerant. The result was a decrease in disease-spreading rodents and a cleanup of dead and diseased animals in their community.
While you may never see a hyena near your home, this study demonstrates importance of symbiosis and that living with one’s natural enemies could have its advantages.
Hot chocolate may preserve memory. In the August edition of Neurology, investigators studied dementia-free people with an average age of 73. Imaging studies reviewed the brain’s blood flow, and work-memory speed tests were performed prior to beginning treatment. Participants drank 2 hot cocoa drinks daily over a period of 30 days. Upon completion, blood-flow response to brain stimulation improved 8.3 percent and the work-memory speed test completion time decreased from 167 seconds to 116 seconds.
Bottom line here is eat more chocolate (but remember to eat responsibly).
Two wrongs may make it all right: the placebo phenomenon. Instead of comparing two treatments, these researchers studied the effect of two fakes. Researcher Ted Kaptchuk (Harvard Newsletter, January-February 2013) provided 270 pain-suffering subjects with cornstarch pills or with sham acupuncture involving retractable needles. Patients were provided information on potential pain-relieving benefits along with possible side effects of both treatments. During the study, many participants complained of “feeling sluggish,” and some even complained they were so exhausted from the (placebo) pill that they were unable to get out of bed. The acupuncture group’s complaints were primarily about swelling sensations around needle sites.
Amazingly, most patients reported significant pain relief from both fake treatments and mainly with the sham acupuncture.
Not everyone has the smelly armpit gene. Several years ago, a gene that determined whether people produced wet or dry earwax was discovered. It was recently confirmed that people who produce the dry earwax also lack certain chemicals in the armpit that promote bacterial growth and produce a foul aroma (to put it nicely). Without these genetically produced chemicals, there is no armpit odor. Most East Asians and almost all Koreans lack the smelly armpit gene, while only 3 percent of Europeans lack the key gene for smelly armpits.
The conclusion of the study, from the January 2013 Journal of Investigative Dermatology and involving women only, was that almost three-quarters of non-odor-producing women still used deodorant.
If we can learn nothing else from these studies, it’s that the art of science is not boring and that there are naturally occurring surprises and humor in medicine.
Dr. Jane Sadler is a family medicine physician on staff at Baylor Medical Center at Garland. She blogs at healthblog.dallasnews.com.