/oss/taxonomy/term/1045/all en /oss/article/history-did-you-know/farmer-epsom-salt-moses-and-some-sweet-chemistry <p>In 1618 a farmer in England noticed that he could lead his cows to water but could not make them drink. He tasted the well water himself and realized right away that there was some wisdom to the cows’ behavior. The water tasted terribly bitter! Something that tasted so terrible, must be good for something, he thought. It sure was. The water made for a very nice soothing hot footbath and even had a healing effect on scratches and skin rashes. The most dramatic effect, however, was noted when the farmer drank a whole glass of the water.</p> Wed, 06 Sep 2023 12:29:35 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 9619 at /oss /oss/article/history-general-science/bunnies-and-cancer <p>Dr. Katsusaburo Yamagiwa, a Japanese pathologist at Imperial Tokyo University, and his research assistant, Dr. Koichi Ichikawa, carried out an experiment in which they repeatedly painted the inner side of 101 rabbit ears with coal-tar for 150 days. This led to some interesting discoveries. On day 35, some rabbits began to show the initial signs of cancer, 12 days later some rabbits developed full-blown cancer, and by day 150, cancer was evident in all the rabbits. The cancer turned out to be squamous cell carcinoma, the same type that tends to appear in sun-exposed areas of the body.</p> Tue, 12 Apr 2022 16:37:13 +0000 Nancy Liu-Sullivan, PhD 9080 at /oss /oss/article/health-and-nutrition/food-thought-literally <p>What exactly should we eat? You would think that after literally thousands and thousands of studies that have been published on every aspect of nutrition, we would have an answer to that question. Actually, we do. Maybe not “exactly,” given that there is such a diversity of nutritional studies, some of which can be classified as good, some as bad, and most as mediocre. Nevertheless, with a bit of scientific sleuthing the chaff can be separated from the wheat.</p> Wed, 02 Mar 2022 22:39:30 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 9041 at /oss /oss/article/health-and-nutrition-general-science/every-day-our-body-needs-demolish-billions-houses <p>Imagine waking up one day to a constant racket. You walk out of your house and see that your neighbour’s townhouse is being deconstructed. A crew is disassembling that house item by item, some of which will be reused somewhere else. You think to yourself, “At least they didn’t use a wrecking ball or my own house might not have been spared.”</p> <p>Every day, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nrc2663">tens of billions of our cells</a>—the cells that make up our brain, our heart, our skin—die in a very similar process of deconstruction.</p> Sat, 19 Feb 2022 09:00:00 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 9032 at /oss /oss/article/some-welcome-relief-treatment-pain <p> </p> <hr /> <p><em>This article was first published in</em><span> </span><a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/christopher-labos-some-welcome-relief-in-the-treatment-of-pain">The Montreal Gazette<span>.</span></a></p> Thu, 21 Jan 2021 19:14:30 +0000 Christopher Labos MD, MSc 8568 at /oss /oss/article/health/kiss-and-tell <p>An Italian lady showed up at a clinic complaining of generalized itching and swelling of her lips about 30 minutes after making love with her husband. The reaction resolved after treatment with cetirizine (Reactine), an antihistamine. Tests showed an absence of food allergies but a clue emerged when doctors learned that her husband had been recently diagnosed with gingivitis.</p> Fri, 04 Dec 2020 16:15:49 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 8519 at /oss /oss/article/health-nutrition/fishing-evidence-omega-3s-and-dry-eyes <p>Are omega-3s the new vitamin C? In the past few years, these fats, primarily found in fish and flaxseeds, have acquired a reputation as veritable superheroes. Have arthritis? Try omega-3s! Don’t want cancer? Try omega-3s! Your car won’t start in the winter? Have you tried omega-3s?</p> <p>Some websites will even direct people with dry eyes to start taking omega-3 supplements in order to help with symptoms. And while the evidence for that looked surprisingly good for a while, a recent trial casts doubt as to their usefulness in getting your eyes to stop burning.</p> Wed, 12 Feb 2020 20:06:39 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 8106 at /oss /oss/article/food-health/perils-inflammation <p style="text-align:justify"><a href="http://blogs.mcgill.ca/oss/?p=5374"><img alt="floss2" height="150" src="http://blogs.mcgill.ca/oss/files/2013/05/floss2-150x150.jpg" width="150" /></a>A couple of years ago the Montreal Gazette had a stunning headline: “Floss or Die!” it screamed on the front page. Another sensationalized piece of journalism, I thought. Not flossing may make you lose your teeth alright, but your life? Then as I started to read the story, I realized that while the headline may have been a little over the top, there was an issue here. An issue of inflammation. If the gums are not in good shape they become swollen and red and bleed easily. This means that there is now an entry for bacteria that live in the mouth into the bloodstream which means that they can spread around the body. If they lodge in a coronary artery, they trigger immune activity and inflammation there, which in turn can cause cholesterol filled plaque to rupture. A blood clot then forms, the flow of blood is choked off and a heart attack ensues.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">That “Floss or Die” article was a harbinger of things to come. Inflammation research is now all over the news. You can rest assured that if Time magazine does a cover story on it, it’s big stuff. We may now be able to explain why it is that half of all people who have heart attacks have normal cholesterol levels. Severe inflammation may make even normal cholesterol dangerous. And this story is going to get bigger. Because it now seems that many other diseases, maybe even Alzheimer’s are related to chronic inflammation. How do we know whether we are suffering from low level chronic inflammation? <a href="http://blogs.mcgill.ca/oss/2013/05/29/the-perils-of-inflammation">Read more</a></p> Thu, 30 May 2013 01:00:17 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 1950 at /oss