Health and Disease Archives - Page 3 of 3

Armpit-gate

February 8, 2022 by szachik@pvs.org 2 Comments

Hopefully, we all regularly use deodorant for our day-to-day lives. We don’t give much thought to it though, and the reality is that there are questions that need answering. What’s the deal with aluminum? Why are “clean deodorants” better than extra strength? This week, conspiracy theorist Jessica Denyer goes armpit-deep in the world of Big Deodorant to expose their dirty secrets. – Editor Levi Kassinove

By Jessica Denyer

I have a conspiracy theory. The last time you went to buy deodorant you probably noticed that there are a few new brands such as Native or Schmidts who are advertising their “clean” deodorants. The main feature of these deodorants is that they are aluminum free. Popular brands like Secret and Dove are also trying to capitalize on this new clean deodorant market. But what does aluminum free in our deodorants even mean? Is aluminum bad for you? What is the deal with these new deodorants? These are questions I asked.

Now before I start this, I feel like I have to clarify a confusing fact. Antiperspirant is made to stop you from sweating so much. Deodorant is to make you smell less bad. However, nowadays deodorant companies have antiperspirant in them but still advertise them as deodorants. The antiperspirant part is the part that has the aluminum. (Healthline.com)

After a research dive into the internet, I learned that sweat itself does not have a smell, but when it touches your bacteria-ridden skin it does. When the sweat touches the skin of your armpit, which is a warm dark place, the bacteria on your skin mixes with your sweat to give you that classic armpit funk. This is what deodorant is for. It is meant to deodorize, or really remove bacteria from your armpits, or hide smell. WebMD says, “Deodorants offer two forms of protection against odor. The first is antimicrobial properties that reduce the number of bacteria producing odor. The second is a fragrance that masks odor that is produced” (webmd.com). A common concern is that aluminum in antiperspirant/deodorants can cause breast cancer and other not-so-great things, so many choose to avoid aluminum in antiperspirants. The American Cancer Society says, however, that there is no scientific evidence of the link. (Healthline.com)

This got me thinking. I have always been someone who would buy extra strength or clinical strength deodorant out of fear of smelling bad. I’ve always been an athlete, and we live in the desert heat, so sweating is an understandable fear. I would still find myself having to re-apply multiple times a day to achieve my goal of no smell. I would always think to myself, “Geez, it’s not like I have a sweating problem, imagine the people that do. What would they even use?”

Fast forward on my conspiracy journey to summer of 2021. I was standing in the deodorant aisle at Target, and I decided to smell the Native deodorant for fun. Native claims to be aluminum free, vegan, and cruelty free. I had no plan to buy one as I figured if the extra strength deodorant doesn’t work, the clean deodorant would do absolutely nothing for me. However, I smelled one of them, and it smelled so good that I decided to buy a travel-sized one. The next day I applied it just in the morning, and throughout the day I could smell only the deodorant. By the end of the day, I realized that the deodorant not only kept the “funk” away, but the smell of the deodorant itself was fragrant and lasted all day long. This inspired more research which leads to my actual conspiracy.

So, if the old regular deodorant doesn’t work, and the clinical/extra-strength deodorant only kind of works, then why all of a sudden does this new clean deodorant do the trick? What do they have figured out that everyone else doesn’t? Or do they…

I began researching ingredients, and Native’s website clearly and plainly states that they use baking soda and magnesium hydroxide to act as the antibacterial (anti-stink) component of their deodorant. These are both extremely common things found in everything from antacids to toothpaste and are harmless to the body. There are only 10 ingredients in their extremely effective deodorant, and all of them are natural (Native). On the flip side, when you go onto the Secret website and go to their line of aluminum-free deodorants, they do not list ingredients, just very blankly state that they are just aluminum free (Secret). This is where my conspiracy was born.

Now, technically I have nothing to back this up, but due to this circumstantial evidence, I am now a firm believer in this claim: I think that big deodorant brands choose to leave out a component (natural or not) that is completely anti-stink so that you have to use their product more often and therefore buy more. I feel like this is not too outlandish of a claim. Where before I was buying a deodorant every 2-3 months, I have now been using the same stick for almost 6 months.

Believe me or don’t, but either way I recommend switching to any deodorant that is aluminum free.

Drop a comment if you’re with me here.

Aphantasia: Do You Count Sheep . . . and Actually See Them?

January 19, 2022 by szachik@pvs.org 1 Comment

By Lilah Nick, Blog Staff Writer

Is your mind’s eye awake? In this blog written by Lilah Nick, she talks about the wild phenomenon in which people are unable to see or visualize things in their minds. — Editor Oliver Martinez

Aphantasia is the natural phenomenon where people are unable to visualize things in their head or their “mind’s eye.” While most people are able to think about different images in their head, about 2% to 5% of people can not.

If I tell you to close your eyes and think about the beach, you’ll picture a beautiful sunset, warm golden sand, and bright blue waves crashing against the shore. If I ask you to think about a bright red apple, the image will pop right into your head. And, when I ask for your family’s faces, of course you’ll see them. You may experience this differently of course. Some people will see something that looks like a photo; other people will see a dimly lit cartoon style; others only see a beach they have visited.

I don’t. I’ve never been able to visualize anything. If you asked me what my mom looked like, my bedroom, or the cover page of the book I’m currently reading, I wouldn’t be able to “see” it. When people told me to count sheep or to close my eyes and imagine myself on the beach, I had always thought it was a metaphor. If you were to ask me to imagine a beach, I would think about all the different details. I can tell you that there are waves, sand, sea creatures, and people. I know the concept of it, and I could go on and on with details. It is like stringing together a bunch of different details like a puzzle.

Although I could list details about a beach, I have no visual, audio or any sensory experience. I can only imagine ideas, not images. I also remember what things look like because I understand conceptually how things look and most of my “visual” components in my head are just from recalling past experiences.

This is how I thought it was for you and everyone else in the world until I watched the TV show Space Force with Steve Carell. In one episode, a character named Duncan was talking to his love interest, and he mentioned that he had something called aphantasia. He went on to explain it, and I was so confused. I thought that it was some joke. When he said, “I don’t have an imagination,” I immediately looked up what aphantasia was, and I was shocked. I jumped out of bed and ran to my mom’s room and asked her if she could see images in her head; of course she said yes. I then ran to my brother and asked a few of my friends. I was completely and utterly shocked. I had no idea that I was a part of the 2% of the population who couldn’t “see” anything in my mind.

In 2005, a 65-year-old man was unable to see mental images after a surgery. Neurologists at the University of Exeter in England showed the man a photo of Tony Blair, and his brain scans showed the visual parts of his brain lighting up (prospectornow.com). Then they took the photo of Tony Blair away. The man knew the characteristics of him like his eye color, hair color, etc., but he said he couldn’t “see” him in his head (vox.com). His brain scans this time show that the visual parts did not light up at all. The neurologists also took other men and showed them the same photo, and both times the right part of their brains lit up (exeter.ac.uk).

The neurologists gave this rare phenomenon a name. They used the prefix “a,” which means “absence of” and “phantasia,” a Greek word meaning fantasy. So, together, the word means absence of fantasy.

If you’re wondering how I dream, so am I. Explaining aphantasia to people without it is like trying to prove you have a conscience. When most people ask me how I dream, they usually think that it is like reading a book. The best way I can describe it is like my inner dialogue suddenly has different voices and they are put to faces. I never dream about people I’ve never seen before or places I have never been.

If you’re reading this and suddenly thinking that you might have aphantasia, the graphic below is a spectrum example for aphantasia. If I say “apple,” and you envision an apple as vibrant as that seen in Head #1, congratulations!!! You have a really good “mind’s eye.” If you seen nothing, like in Head #5, you may have aphantasia–just like me.

Ice Skating: Injuries on Ice

February 7, 2020 by szachik@pvs.org Leave a Comment

By Blogger X

Hello guys, this time I am going to share with you the story around my ice skating injury. Ice skating in general is a very dangerous sport, and it can cause serious life-long injuries if you don’t practice the right way. So please, let this act as a reminder of how sports can really be.

It all started like a normal day. I went to school, ate lunch and went to the rink for ice skating practice. My dream was to become a famous Olympic ice skater. But, I was in a bad mood that day. I didn’t feel like ice skating that day. I’d fallen off my skateboard and scratched my knee on the ground earlier–to make the situation worse; but I couldn’t exactly say, “I don’t feel like ice skating today” out loud because I was afraid I’d be scolded by my parents about “not wanting to train hard.” So, I kept the feeling inside me and went to the ice rink.

That day was not my day. I fell out of many jumps, and I could already see my mom’s frowning face at the other side of the ice rink. I didn’t know why, but I felt my throat tighten and fought the urge to cry after failing on my latest Double Lutz jump. I felt so useless and tired, wanting to go home instead of being here shaming myself. I didn’t feel like standing up either. I wanted to keep my emotions under control. One of the clips that was supposed to keep my hair in place fell off onto the ice. Just as I was trying to reach the clip I heard a sound coming toward me, fast. The moment I realized what it was, it was already too late. I crashed with another skater who literally fell over me and landed on the other side. For a second, I couldn’t breathe; as I was trying to get my breathing under control, I felt a paralyzing pain coming from my left leg. I was on the ice, unable to move, and I did not have any ideas as to what was happening to me. I heard my coach yelling. He immediately rushed to my side and picked me up and then immediately skated off the ice. The parents outside of the rink were also panicking because they saw some blood on the ice from where we had crashed. It was unknown if it was mine or the other person’s; just to make sure it wasn’t mine, my coach started to pull up my ice skating pants from the bottom to check for any injuries. He and the parents checked my right leg; it was fine. And then, they moved on to pull up my left leg’s pants; just as they did, they gasped, and my coach covered my eyes right away the second he saw the cut. It was at that moment I knew the blood was mine. My head started spinning, and so was everything around me. I didn’t know what to do or what would happen to me.

By then my parents had rushed to my side; originally they thought it was not a big deal, so they didn’t come over to check on me. But I saw their faces when they arrived at the scene. It was a mixture between shock and agony. My coach handed me over to my mom, and we instantly rushed to the medic room. I was even panickier than before; my thoughts were “Am I going to die?” or “Am I going to the hospital?” The medic had patched my left leg with bandages and said, “It’ll do for now; go to the hospital straight away.” My parents nodded and thanked the medic. A few parents suggested that we call an ambulance, but my parents said it was unnecessary, they’ll get me to the hospital. The parent of the skater who crashed into me let us borrow their car so my parents could drive me to the hospital since their car was parked closer than ours.

On the way to the car I was panicking and didn’t know what to do; it felt like a dream, a painful one. I didn’t feel like I was in the real world; it seemed so fictional. But with my conscious mind I choked out the question for my mom as tears started rolling down my face, “Am I going to die?” She didn’t answer; I panicked as a wave of my emotions swam over me, “Mom! Am I going to die?!” “Shut up! You are not going to die!” She yelled back; I could clearly see her worrisome expression. I stayed quiet for the entire car ride, but I can still hear my dad’s calm and comforting words, “You are going to be fine.” It had given me at least a little comfort as I closed my eyes.

The next thing I knew that I was lying on the hospital bed. The nurses had checked on me and said this isn’t too serious. My mom called the best surgeon she could find and informed me that he was on his way here. Once the surgeon arrived he immediately set into action. He said the cut was not big in size, but it was deep. It was only a few inches away from affecting my tendon under my knee where it could do some real damage–luckily it did not; or else I’d have trouble exercising my entire life.

And without a second word, the surgery began. My dad was with me for the first half of my surgery. But he got nauseous because of the amount of blood on my skin as the doctor stitched step by step into my flesh. So he had to go outside to get some air before he could possibly pass out. My grandpa was with me for the rest of the process. And for some reason, I did not cry during this whole process.

When it was done my vision had all become a blur. I passed out due to mental exhaustion soon after and couldn’t remember the rest of it. I was eight at the time.

What I remembered was my dad telling me to, “Be strong,” as he was holding my hand while the surgeon was doing his job.

Be strong. As I will forever be.

Health and Disease Editor: James Zheng

Quintus’s Guide to Staving Off Diabetes

February 6, 2020 by szachik@pvs.org 1 Comment

By Quintus Ni

Recently, Quintus saw a family member diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. He has researched ways to avoid and better the situation of Type 2 Diabetes. Some of his recommendations come from Western Medicine, some from Eastern.

Diabetes can be divided into several types: Type 1 Diabetes, Type 2 Diabetes, and Gestational Diabetes. Type 1 is genetic. Type 2 Diabetes accounts for 95% of all diabetics and is acquired through many factors, such as stress, diet, lack of exercise, and disposition, etc.

Here are some suggestions I recommend to stave off Type 2 Diabetes:

Eat nutritious food first after getting up every morning. It is best to eat some millet porridge and rice dumplings. After eating, let the stomach settle for 5 minutes, during which you can clean up the table. Next, exercise. This promotes the important production of insulin. It is best to do aerobic exercise, that is jogging and walking, etc. The exercise does not have to be strenuous. I suggest, at least, you walk in the yard or house and take in some fresh air, which is very beneficial to your health. In addition, you can practice clapping while walking backwards. All the muscles in the whole body will exercise. Moreover, I think it is important for the patient to pay attention to putting on more clothes or taking off some clothes to adjust their temperature. The climate in the northeast changes frequently; sometimes it can be very cold and sometimes hot, and diabetic patients can’t stay in a too cold or hot climate for long.

Relatively speaking, diabetics can not eat sugar. They can not eat sucrose or glucose in their daily diet, but fructose, that does not need insulin to break down in the body, is edible. However, honey is mainly composed of fructose and glucose. So it is best for patients not to eat honey. People say that each medicine has some kind of toxin, but comparatively, the side effect of Chinese Herbal medicine is much lighter. The effects of Chinese Medicine come slowly, which requires the patients to be patient and of good mentality. Good mentality is required at any time. Physical health is of great importance, and of course mental health is also important because it is also a factor in the healing of diseases. There are a lot of hormones, antibiotics and other substances in western medicine and they are extremely harmful to an unhealthy person. For these people, I think, Chinese Medicine is beneficial.

Additional suggestions to keep the diabetic healthy include–

1. In order to reduce the chance of developing retinopathy, don’t turn off the light when diabetics sleep. (Check out WebMD on this.)

2. Stop smoking.

3.When it is too hot or cold, diabetics should avoid exercising. And they should also develop the habit of checking their feet before going to bed and after exercising every day to see if there are injuries, broken skin or long blisters under their feet. Diabetics need to be vigilant protecting their feet due to poor circulation.

4. Diabetics should maintain appropriate and healthy weight.

5. Diabetics should eat each meal on time and according to the planned portion that can not be increased or decreased arbitrarily.

6. Eat less fried food, fewer puff pastries and foods with high oil content like skin of pigs, chickens, and ducks .

7. Use steaming, boiling methods when you cook; dress cold food with sauce; scald thin slices of food in boiling water; roast; stew; and use halogen ovens when you cook. The food should not be too salty. And salt consumption should be less than 6 grams each day.

8. Eat less food with high cholesterol, such as scallop-shaped pork/lamb kidney, animal livers, animal kidneys and other animal internal organs.

9. Use vegetable oil to cook because it is suitable for cooking.

10. Long-term and appropriate exercise, medication and diet control should be combined.

11. Often choose to eat foods with high fiber like unprocessed vegetables and fruits.

12. Foods with high starch content and Chinese and Western-style snacks to stave off hunger should be eaten as the amount planned. Do not eat at will so as to avoid excessive absorption.

13. Eat less food with refined sugars like condensed milk or preserved fruit.

Health and Disease Editor: James Zheng

Hypochondriacs BEWARE!

January 27, 2020 by szachik@pvs.org 2 Comments

By Luke Langlois

If you live in constant fear of germs, diseases, amoeba, bacteria, viruses, or various disorders that can transform your internal organs into abstract artwork, this post may not be for you. We are extraordinarily lucky to have an immune system that can effectively ward off the literal gazillions of microscopic villains floating around the rock we call home. Furthermore, the researchers that have developed vaccines and other treatments galore have saved countless lives. But, there are some ailments that (for now) have quite simply stumped the human body. Here are a few of the diseases that have a greater than 99% case fatality rate (CFR), meaning that >99% of people diagnosed with a disease ultimately pass away during the disease.

~99% Case Fatality Rate – Balamuthia mandrillaris: First discovered in the brain of a mandrill in the San Diego Wild Animal Park (frighteningly close), the Balamuthia mandrillaris is a free-living amoeba that causes the lethal neurological condition known as granulomatous amoebic encephalitis. This infection causes necrosis (the injury and subsequent early death) in nervous system cells. While the disease can be difficult to diagnose due to its rare nature, symptoms include severe headaches, nausea, dizziness, irritability, and fever. As the disease progresses, seizures, loss of nerve function, and complete personality changes are common. Existing treatments are often experimental. The only two survivors of this disease suffer from permanent brain damage. In most instances of this disease, the victim had some sort of immunodeficiency.
~99% Case Fatality Rate – Naegleria fowleri: Typically found in natural (or poorly chlorinated) warm freshwater bodies, Naegleria fowleri is a eukaryote straight from your nightmares. Naegleria fowleri is colloquially known as the “brain-eating amoeba” because it travels up your nose and into your brain (by attaching itself to the olfactory nerve). There, it will travel through your brain as it pleases to feed on nerve tissue and rapidly reproduce. The overall condition is known as naegleriasis, or primary amoebic meningoencephalitis. Given its rarity, it is a difficult disease to diagnose, but symptoms include headache, fever, nausea, confusion, hallucination, ataxia (lack of voluntary muscle control), and seizures. Out of 450 documented naegleriasis cases, only seven people have survived. In general, it is a good idea to avoid submerging your head in untreated freshwater bodies. Also, chlorinate your pool!
100% Case Fatality Rate – Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva (FOP): This disorder is not a result of a microscopic horror. Rather, FOP is an incredibly rare genetic disorder of the body’s connective tissue. A mutation in the connective tissue’s repair and creation mechanism causes a body’s fibrous tissue to ossify, or turn into bone. Minor injuries can, for example, cause joints to become permanently frozen in place as bone comes into place of muscle tissue. Victims of this disorder are ultimately frozen as the “secondary skeleton” that forms becomes progressively restrictive. There is no cure or approved treatment for FOP, but research is underway. Affected people can live to be 40 years old if properly managed. As it is a genetic disorder, FOP is not contagious, but children of an FOP patient have a 50% chance of manifesting the disorder.
100% Case Fatality Rate – Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies: Rather than being one disease, transmissible spongiform encephalopathies are a group of 100% fatal diseases associated with prions, the most common being Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Prions are misfolded (thus ineffective) proteins in the brain that have the ability to project this shape onto other proteins in the brain, causing an exponentially growing infection. Unlike viruses or bacteria, prions are virtually indestructible. Symptoms include dementia, personality changes, hallucinations, psychosis, and myoclonus (abrupt or jerky muscle movements). Variants of prion diseases can be genetic, but the primary disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob, is contagious if one were to come in contact with an infected brain. Transmission is not yet understood completely, but know that prion diseases are extraordinarily rare, and universally fatal.

In conclusion, we are fragile mortals. Appreciate your life!

Sources:

https://www.cdc.gov/prions/index.html

https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/fibrodysplasia-ossificans-progressiva

https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/balamuthia/index.html

https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/naegleria/index.html

Health and Disease Editor: James Zheng