21

Physiology & Medicine / Re: Methydopa Blood Pressure Tabs (HELP)

« on: 03/05/2005 19:11:52 »

Where was it mentioned that his wife is pregnant?  I must have missed that.

Of course any change in medication must be with the approval and cooperation of the physician in charge of her case.

The point, as has been said, is that there are very many antihypertensives available, and there is likely to be one drug, or combination of drugs that will do the job without producing untoward side effects.

22

Physiology & Medicine / Re: Methydopa Blood Pressure Tabs (HELP)

« on: 03/05/2005 08:31:44 »

Methyldopa is an extremely old antihypertensive drug, which fell into disuse largely because of side effects such as those your wife encountered.

There is a host of more modern, safer and more effective antihypertensive drugs, and your wife needs to ask her physician to transfer her onto one of those.

There is no reason on earth why she should put up with such unpleasant side effects, when there are so many alternative therapies available.

23

Physiology & Medicine / Drinking cold water helps slimming.

« on: 05/03/2005 18:32:45 »

I have been told that drinking lots of iced water can help in losing weight.

The theory is that the calories used to warm all that cold water to body temperature can help in slimming.

Is there any sense in that theory? Just how many calories does it take to warm up, say one litre of cold water to body temperature, and could this make any substantial difference when trying to slim ?

24

Geology, Palaeontology & Archaeology / Did the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami cause the Earth to alter its tilt?

« on: 31/12/2004 19:33:13 »

It was reported that the Tsunami, or the earthquake that caused it, may have caused a 1 degree tilt in the Earth's axis.

If that is indeed true, what effects, both long and short term, can we expect to follow?

25

Cells, Microbes & Viruses / Re: Antibacterial handwashes

« on: 10/12/2004 09:05:33 »

Thanks to everyone for their most interesting responses.

So it seems that the antibacterial content of liquid soaps is just an expensive irrelevance, more to do with marketing than hygeine.

26

Cells, Microbes & Viruses / Antibacterial handwashes

« on: 05/12/2004 15:29:16 »

Many public places are replacing bars of soap in their washrooms with "antibacterial" handwash dispensers.  

While it makes good sense not to use bars of soap to pass contamination from one person to another, yet just how effective are these handwash liquids that are claimed to be antibacterial?

Do they really reduce bacterial contamination to a greater degree than ordinary liquid soaps? And just how longlasting is their effect?  Do hands washed with them carry some continuing antibacterial properties, or are they re-infected with the first contaminated surface they touch after the wash?

27

Physiology & Medicine / Re: Harming their own children

« on: 21/11/2004 10:12:50 »

We seem to be getting sidetracked into age of consent territory.  However, most of the people I observe doing this dangerous and irresponsible thing are not all youngsters.  Thoughtlessness, it seems, is not a preserve of the young.

No doubt these same idiots, if and when their children do develop breathing difficulties, will blame "atmospheric pollution", and demand that "they" do something about it, whilst remaining oblivious to the fact that they have been a major contributor to the damage done to their childrens' health.

Surely this is a matter of education, trying to get idiots to see the harm they are doing.

28

Physiology & Medicine / Harming their own children

« on: 20/11/2004 17:50:46 »

How often do we see people picking up their children, or dropping them off, keeping their car engines running while they chat with their friends, and while their children, and others, are likely to be breathing in the fumes.

Do these foolish and lazy people not realise that this stupidity could increase their childrens' chances of developing breathing difficulties, or may make existing difficulties worse?

29

General Science / What causes black mould to grow on window frames?

« on: 13/11/2004 08:27:31 »

What is the black mould (or mold if you're American) that grows on the inside of window frames, especially in the winter?

Is is harmful to health?

30

General Science / Re: Pencil lead

« on: 05/11/2004 06:51:55 »

The graphite is mixed with various proportions of clay to give different hardnesses of pencil leads.

31

Chemistry / Ozone - good or bad?

« on: 21/10/2004 06:37:55 »

I have seen for sale an ozone generating machine, seemingly producing bubbles of ozone in a water bath, and designed to be used for sterilisation of items such as toothbrushes, babys' dummies and feeding bottle teats, fruit etc.

It seems that ozone is a very powerful antiseptic, but is it harmful if breathed in?

32

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Aeroplanes

« on: 12/10/2004 21:44:59 »

When an aeroplane passes low over your head, why doesn't the weight of the aircraft crush you to death?

33

Physiology & Medicine / Re: Why do onions hurt your eyes?

« on: 08/10/2004 23:27:34 »

Try cutting up the onion near to a flame, such as a gas cooker ring or a candle.
It seems to work.

34

Physiology & Medicine / Re: Potential method in curing heart disease

« on: 30/09/2004 21:55:35 »

It would be interesting to know what kind of heart disease the stem cells could 'cure' - presumably not atheromatous coronary heart disease.

More likely in heart failure, where the heart muscle itself is stretched and 'flabby', so no longer able to contract efficiently. Could these cells cause new heart muscle to grow, and would that help to increase the pumping efficiency of the myocardium ?

35

Physiology & Medicine / Re: The lesser of two weevils!

« on: 28/09/2004 22:52:23 »

Does that mean that vegetarians, and (presumably) especially vegans cannot dare eat anything made from flour in case it contained these tiny creatures?

Rather cuts down on their dietary options if that's the case!

36

Physiology & Medicine / The lesser of two weevils!

« on: 24/09/2004 07:00:21 »

What are those tiny creatures often to be found in bags of flour?
How do they get there, and how can they live with (seemingly) no water at all?

37

That CAN'T be true! / Re: harmful effect of masturbation

« on: 24/09/2004 07:08:34 »

They say it makes you go blind - so I shall carry on until I need glasses, only then will I stop!

38

Physiology & Medicine / Re: Bleeding to death

« on: 24/09/2004 07:06:33 »

In many of the hospital soaps on TV, when a patient is brought into the emergency room with a very low blood pressure, having suffered shock or major blood loss, we are led to believe that the heart goes into atrial or ventricular fibrillation, which, if not reversed, can lead to the death of the patient.

N'est ce pas?

39

General Science / Re: How do we recognise other people?

« on: 24/09/2004 06:57:33 »

"The man who mistook his wife for a hat" is one of the fascinating case studies by the Psychologist Dr. Oliver Sacks, in his book of that name.

This particular patient had had a stroke which dramatically altered his cognitive functioning.

40

General Science / Why am I me?

« on: 23/09/2004 10:59:10 »

Given that every cell in my body is being replaced at regular intervals, and the cells I am made up of now are mostly all different to those that constituted my body, say, 20 years ago, how is it that I am the same person as I was then?