GOOD NEWS

Bird flu tips

If you think nothing can be done to prevent a bird flu outbreak, you’re wrong. Hygiene consciousness, say health experts at the Tufts University School of Medicine, US, can be of help. Before vaccine production begins, an easier measure one can take is to stay at home if one gets sick. This is a surprisingly effective way to prevent many diseases, including ordinary influenza and the H5N1 virus that everyone now fears may jump into humans and cause a catastrophic pandemic of bird flu.

Eye signal

Doctors may be able to predict future strokes just by looking into our eyes, suggests a report in the journal Neurology. A new study conducted in Australia over seven years found that people with changes in the small blood vessels in their eyes are more likely to later suffer a stroke than those without these signs. Special photographs of the retina of the participants’ eyes were taken and examined for changes suggestive of small blood vessel damages. These changes can be seen in the early stages of the condition, well before eyesight is affected due to a stroke.

BAD NEWS

Smoking lowers IQ

While smokers claim that their habit helps them concentrate and feel more alert, years of smoking may actually have the opposite effect. A group of University of Michigan researchers found that long-term smoking leads to lower IQ and thinking problems. The association between the two in alcoholic and non-alcoholic men was a surprising finding from a study that set out to examine alcoholism’s long-term effect on the brain.

Pillow problem

According to Ashley Woodcock, professor of respiratory medicine at the University of Manchester, and colleagues, “We secrete about 100 liters of sweat into a bed over a year. We do not wash our quilts and pillows, so they are an ideal place to find fungi.” Woodcock’s team analysed pillows in regular use for one-and-a-half to 20 years and found that they carried up to 16 different fungi. Though this did not pose any risk to normal people, for those who suffered from a respiratory disease, it could be extremely harmful.