White May Not Be Right
Studies have shown that most human teeth are not naturally pearl-white. In reality, most are different shades tending towards yellow. Nor are teeth uniformly coloured. Despite this, perfectly white teeth are a symbol of beauty and self-care. Researchers at Stockton University have looked at how whitening strips, which people can buy over the counter, damage one of the teeth’s three layers.
Hydrogen peroxide, the main ingredient in the strips is a colour-lightening agent, also used to bleach hair. It is found to damage dentin, the middle layer of teeth. The collagen present in dentin apparently becomes fragmented when exposed to hydrogen peroxide, which leads to the loss of collagen mass in that layer.
www.medicalnewstoday.com
An Egg A Day?
Eating an egg a day may lower your risk of cardiovascular disease, a study of more than 400,000 adults in China suggests. Daily egg eaters had an 18-per-cent lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, which manifests as heart attacks and strokes, compared with adults who avoided eggs, according to the research published in the journal?Heart.
The study concentrated on 416,213 participants who’d never been diagnosed with cancer, cardiovascular disease or diabetes. Over nearly nine years, the research team tracked the group focussing on major coronary events, such as heart attacks and strokes, including haemorrhagic strokes. Analysing the data, they found that eating about an egg a day related to a lower risk of heart disease.
www.edition.cnn.com
Contaminated Curtains
Privacy curtains in hospital rooms might offer patients some personal dignity, but they can also harbour dangerous, drug-resistant bacteria.
That’s the claim of a new study where researchers took more than 1,500 samples from privacy curtains in 625 rooms at six skilled nursing facilities in Michigan. The samples were collected from the parts of the curtains touched most often. Samples were also gathered from patients.
Based on the findings, researchers said drug-resistant germ contamination of privacy curtains is common, as is patient/curtain co-contamination. The study concluded that this is a global issue and further studies are needed to determine conclusively whether contaminated privacy curtains are a source of multidrug-resistant organism transmission to patients.
www.webmd.com
Toddler Trouble
A disturbing study from the journal Pediatrics reveals a surge in the number of toddlers and young children visiting emergency rooms due to swallowing things like toys, coins, and batteries, reports the Associated Press. In today’s helicopter parenting age, this seems shocking, until we factor in a particular element: could the rise in cell phones (and even laptops) allow for the momentary distraction of parents? While 90 per cent of treated children were sent home without hospitalisation, severe internal injuries and deaths have been reported. Batteries and small high-powered magnets often marketed as desk toys for adults are among the most dangerous objects. Put the phone down. Kids are lightning-fast and have an innate sensibility to head right for the things you don’t want them to.
thetakeout.com
Meditation for Memory
An eight-week study conducted by Harvard researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) determined that meditation literally rebuilds the brain’s grey matter in just eight weeks. A first of its kind, the study involved taking magnetic resonance images (MRI) from 16 participants two weeks prior to the study and also after it was completed. Analysis of the images, which focused on areas where meditation-associated differences were seen in earlier studies, found increased grey-matter density in the hippocampus, known to be important for learning and memory, and in structures associated with self-awareness, compassion and introspection.
For the study, participants engaged in meditation practices every day for approximately 30 minutes. These included focusing on audio recordings for guided meditation, and non-judgmental awareness of sensations, feelings and state of mind.
www.collective-evolution.com
