/oss/taxonomy/term/186/all en /oss/article/student-contributors-health-and-nutrition-did-you-know/are-your-refrigerator-habits-inviting-unwanted-bacteria <p>As a kid I grew up being told that I had to let food cool down before putting it in the fridge. I was under the notion that placing warm food directly in the refrigerator could cause the other foods in the refrigerator to warm up. I had also been told that placing warm food in the refrigerator was a waste of energy as the fridge would have to work harder to maintain a cool temperature. I was shocked when I learned that leaving leftovers to cool on the countertop posed a potential risk for my health.</p> Fri, 02 Aug 2024 14:39:35 +0000 Daniela Padres 10014 at /oss /oss/article/medical-critical-thinking/blood-microbiome-probably-not-real <p>Up until recently, if bacteria were detected in your blood you would be in a world of trouble. Blood was long considered to be sterile, meaning free of viable microorganisms like bacteria. When disease-causing bacteria spread to the blood, they can cause a life-threatening septic shock.</p> <p>But the use of DNA sequencing technology has allowed researchers to more easily detect something that had been reported as early as the late 1960s: bacteria can be found in the blood and not cause disease.</p> Fri, 28 Jun 2024 01:14:28 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 9989 at /oss /oss/article/medical-student-contributors-history/fighting-fire-fire-how-nobel-prize-winning-scientists-used-malaria-cure-syphilis <p>The history of science is full of disproved experiments, revised textbooks, and rewritten hypotheses. Even Nobel prize-winning research, which is often viewed as the best work science has to offer, can fall by the wayside. One example is the 1927 Nobel Prize in Medicine awarded to <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1927/wagner-jauregg/biographical/">Julius Wagner-Jauregg</a> for treating syphilis by infecting patients with malaria.</p> Fri, 22 Sep 2023 23:42:54 +0000 Maya McKeown, B.Sc. 9651 at /oss /oss/article/health-and-nutrition-you-asked/does-peeing-after-sex-prevent-utis <hr /> <p><em>This article was first published in</em> <a href="https://skepticalinquirer.org/exclusive/the-fact-and-fiction-of-physiological-phenomena-volume-i/" target="_blank" title="‌"><em>The Skeptical Inquirer.</em></a></p> Fri, 11 Aug 2023 06:17:37 +0000 Ada McVean M.Sc. 9597 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking-health-and-nutrition/microbiome-and-its-myth-making-machine <p>As promising new discoveries are made in the health sciences, the telephone game begins. Scientists put their best foot forward when presenting their results. The public relations department at their institute further digests their findings and adds a dash of hype. Journalists amplify and simplify, social media influencers garble the message, and start-ups capitalize on the hype to sell unproven health solutions. Before you know it, you’re grabbing a cup of coffee while your colleague tells you that they heard cancer was caused by bad bacteria in your gut.</p> Fri, 11 Aug 2023 06:37:32 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 9598 at /oss /oss/article/medical-student-contributors-history/tuberculin-under-your-skin <p>Throughout its lifetime, tuberculosis (or TB) has gone by <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/tb/worldtbday/history.htm#:~:text=TB%20in%20humans%20can%20be,China%20(2%2C300%20years%20ago).">many names</a>. The ancient Greeks called it “phthisis”. In the 1700s, it was “the white plague”. And in the 1800s, it was “consumption” – perhaps because of how the rapid weight loss caused by TB seems to consume the patient. Tuberculosis is not just of historical interest; it is still with us today and is a <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/tuberculosis">modern global crisis</a>.</p> Fri, 14 Jul 2023 10:00:00 +0000 Maya McKeown, B.Sc. 9567 at /oss /oss/article/health-and-nutrition-history/sweet-and-sticky-science-sugar <p>Sugar is sweet and sticky.  That’s a fact.  In fact, during the reign of Edward the Confessor in the early eleventh century, "ale tasters" were employed to check on the work of brewers.  They would test the ale by spilling some on a wooden seat and sitting on the spill in their leather breeches.  If they had difficulty getting up after a short time because their breeches stuck to the seat, they knew that the ale had been sugared.  Today we don't have to worry about such adulteration of our ale, and I think in any case we would have a hard time finding leather breeches.  But the stickiness o</p> Fri, 03 Dec 2021 23:31:20 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 8944 at /oss /oss/article/health-and-nutrition-history/leprosy-and-its-stigma-are-both-curable <p>How is an infectious agent transmitted? How does it jump from person to person and sometimes from animal to person? We can breathe it in or swallow it. We can get bitten or scratched, or rub abraded skin against an infected person, or touch a contaminated surface and carry the germ to our face. Figuring out exactly how an infectious agent is transmitted is not always easy. After thousands of years of coming into contact with it, we are still not 100% sure how leprosy is transmitted.</p> Sat, 06 Nov 2021 08:00:00 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 8916 at /oss /oss/article/nutrition/apples-getting-core <p>I’m fond of apples. Maybe it has to do with some youthful memories of an upset tummy being soothed with a grated apple sprinkled with lemon juice. Or perhaps biting into one rekindles thoughts of the great times we had with my kids going apple picking. Then there is the notion that apple a day is supposed to keep the doctor away. That is in spite of the toxins it contains! No, I’m not talking about traces of pesticide residues, I’m speaking of natural toxins. And the apple has plenty of those!</p> Wed, 16 Jun 2021 17:58:44 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 8763 at /oss /oss/article/health/dark-matter-inside-your-gut <p>There is a kind of dark matter inside our intestinal tract. “Dark matter” is the phrase coined for the matter that is implied to be present in the universe based on physicists’ calculations but that cannot be seen yet. Scientists who study tiny living things are facing their own type of dark matter: invisible microbes that are indirectly detected. They call it “microbial dark matter.”</p> Fri, 21 May 2021 19:41:42 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 8742 at /oss /oss/article/general-science/death-our-body-feasts-itself <p>A pretty morbid question perhaps, but why is it that our body does not decompose while we are alive? Most of<a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/book/10.1002/9781118953358"> </a><a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/book/10.1002/9781118953358">the post-mortem changes that affect our body</a> are the result of things we already carry inside of us, so how is it that these potent destructors are kept in check before we die?</p> Thu, 20 May 2021 20:05:34 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 8740 at /oss /oss/article/covid-19-health/have-no-fear-vaccine-here <p>No, we will not become genetic mutants when we finally get to roll up our sleeves and agree to be jabbed with a vaccine containing modified messenger RNA (mod-mRNA). That scare is making the rounds as the vaccine rollout begins, a culmination of a spectacular nine-month research effort. The term “modified” triggers alarm bells for some people, especially those who have bought into the often-misleading information about genetically modified organisms (GMOs) spread by activist groups.</p> Tue, 15 Dec 2020 20:23:15 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 8537 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/not-all-viruses-are-villains <p></p><p></p> Mon, 16 Nov 2020 18:53:35 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 8489 at /oss /oss/article/covid-19-health/how-long-does-covid-virus-live-surfaces <p> </p> <hr /> <p><em>This article was first published in</em><span> </span><a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/christopher-labos-how-long-does-the-covid-virus-live-on-surfaces">The Montreal Gazette<span>.</span></a></p> Wed, 14 Oct 2020 19:38:05 +0000 Christopher Labos MD, MSc 8447 at /oss