![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
A lot of you are having summer colds, so these two are for you:
Vital Signs: Resistance: Vitamin C Is Not Much Help Fighting Colds, Study Shows
By NICHOLAS BAKALAR, The New York Times, July 24, 2007
A large review of placebo-controlled trials of vitamin C for cold prevention and treatment has concluded that it is largely ineffective.
( Read More )
BUT...
Echinacea Helps Colds, Major Review Shows
By NICHOLAS BAKALAR, The New York Times, July 24, 2007
Echinacea helps banish colds. Echinacea has no effect on colds. The verdict seems to shift with each new scientific study of the herbal remedy.
In the latest twist, a review of more than 700 studies has concluded that echinacea has a substantial effect in preventing colds and in limiting their duration.
( Read More )
And while we are dispelling myths...
Really? The Claim: Eating Garlic Helps Repel Mosquitoes
By ANAHAD O’CONNOR, The New York Times, July 24, 2007
THE FACTS
How nice it would be if eating one simple food could bring relief to all those Americans who become walking bait for mosquitoes each summer.
Garlic, perhaps because of its strong odor, has long been said to be that magic food. But studies so far have found that claim to be little more than wishful thinking. Eating it may repel other humans, but apparently not mosquitoes.
( Read More )
And two extra for good measure...
Pressure Builds to Ban Plastic Bags in Stores
By IAN URBINA, The New York Times, July 24, 2007
ANNAPOLIS, Md., July 23 — Paper or plastic? It is a question that has long dogged grocery shoppers. But the debate may soon be settled for this maritime city, where a bill aimed at protecting marine life would ban plastic bags from all retail stores.
San Francisco enacted a ban in April, but it applies just to larger groceries and drugstores. Similar measures are being considered in Boston; Baltimore; Oakland, Calif.; Portland, Ore.; Santa Monica, Calif.; and Steamboat Springs, Colo.
( Read More )
The Doctor’s World: TB Tests Show Promise, but Flaws Limit Progress
By LAWRENCE K. ALTMAN, M.D., The New York Times, July 24, 2007
In the escalating battle against extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis, conflicting findings from laboratory tests have hampered efforts to control the spread of the disease.
Some of the conflicts come from a lack of standardized testing methods and others from subtle but critical differences in the way the tests are performed.
The most celebrated example of such discordant findings involved Andrew Speaker, the Atlanta lawyer who caused an international health scare after traveling to Europe in May with what was believed to be extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis, known as XDR.
This month, Mr. Speaker’s doctors downgraded his type of tuberculosis to multidrug-resistant, or MDR, after repeating tests that initially gave a different result.
( Read More )
Vital Signs: Resistance: Vitamin C Is Not Much Help Fighting Colds, Study Shows
By NICHOLAS BAKALAR, The New York Times, July 24, 2007
A large review of placebo-controlled trials of vitamin C for cold prevention and treatment has concluded that it is largely ineffective.
( Read More )
BUT...
Echinacea Helps Colds, Major Review Shows
By NICHOLAS BAKALAR, The New York Times, July 24, 2007
Echinacea helps banish colds. Echinacea has no effect on colds. The verdict seems to shift with each new scientific study of the herbal remedy.
In the latest twist, a review of more than 700 studies has concluded that echinacea has a substantial effect in preventing colds and in limiting their duration.
( Read More )
And while we are dispelling myths...
Really? The Claim: Eating Garlic Helps Repel Mosquitoes
By ANAHAD O’CONNOR, The New York Times, July 24, 2007
THE FACTS
How nice it would be if eating one simple food could bring relief to all those Americans who become walking bait for mosquitoes each summer.
Garlic, perhaps because of its strong odor, has long been said to be that magic food. But studies so far have found that claim to be little more than wishful thinking. Eating it may repel other humans, but apparently not mosquitoes.
( Read More )
And two extra for good measure...
Pressure Builds to Ban Plastic Bags in Stores
By IAN URBINA, The New York Times, July 24, 2007
ANNAPOLIS, Md., July 23 — Paper or plastic? It is a question that has long dogged grocery shoppers. But the debate may soon be settled for this maritime city, where a bill aimed at protecting marine life would ban plastic bags from all retail stores.
San Francisco enacted a ban in April, but it applies just to larger groceries and drugstores. Similar measures are being considered in Boston; Baltimore; Oakland, Calif.; Portland, Ore.; Santa Monica, Calif.; and Steamboat Springs, Colo.
( Read More )
The Doctor’s World: TB Tests Show Promise, but Flaws Limit Progress
By LAWRENCE K. ALTMAN, M.D., The New York Times, July 24, 2007
In the escalating battle against extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis, conflicting findings from laboratory tests have hampered efforts to control the spread of the disease.
Some of the conflicts come from a lack of standardized testing methods and others from subtle but critical differences in the way the tests are performed.
The most celebrated example of such discordant findings involved Andrew Speaker, the Atlanta lawyer who caused an international health scare after traveling to Europe in May with what was believed to be extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis, known as XDR.
This month, Mr. Speaker’s doctors downgraded his type of tuberculosis to multidrug-resistant, or MDR, after repeating tests that initially gave a different result.
( Read More )
