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Bursting 7 bubbles on medical myths even doctors believe

March 10, 2023 By Jay

Doctor and Nurse
Doctor and Nurse

What to do if you found out that even your doctor appeared to be a bit “scientifically-challenged” or “common sensically-challenged”?

Since it’s nearly Christmas time, you can probably send him a card with a picture of Santa Claus. You can then put a talk box near Santa’s head with the words “Ho-ho-ho! Doc, sorry to burst your bubble, but people don’t use just 10 percent of their brains. They use 100 percent of their brains! Well, except you perhaps. Ho-ho-ho!”

Yes, that’s one of the seven medical myths even doctors believe as published in the British Medical Journal this week and as compiled by Robert Roy Britt, the managing editor of the LiveScience Web site.

Researchers looked into several common misconceptions, from the belief that a person should drink eight glasses of water per day to the notion that MSG causes migraines- when all scientific evidence points to the contrary in every case.

There are actually many health misconceptions, but here are the seven most common ones that even some doctors tell their unwitting patients.

MYTH 1: We use only 10 percent of our brains.

FACT: Doctors and comedians alike, including Jerry Seinfeld, love to cite this one. It’s sometimes erroneously credited to Albert Einstein. But MRI scans, PET scans and other imaging studies show no dormant areas of the brain, and even viewing individual neurons or cells reveals no inactive areas, new studies show. Metabolic studies of how brain cells process chemicals show no nonfunctioning areas.

The myth probably originated with self-improvement hucksters in the early 1900s who wanted to convince people that they had yet not reached their full potential. It also doesn’t jibe with the fact that other human organs run at full tilt. Why would the brain be working at only 10 percent capacity?

Well, it’s different of course if we say that we have tapped only a small portion of the power of the human mind. But that’s a different subject altogether.

MYTH 2: You should drink at least eight glasses of water a day.

FACT: “There is no medical evidence to suggest that you need that much water,” said Dr. Rachel Vreeman, a pediatrics research fellow at the university and co-author of the journal article. Vreeman thinks this myth can be traced back to a 1945 recommendation from the Nutrition Council that a person consume the equivalent of 8 glasses of fluid a day. Over the years, “fluid” turned to water. But fruits and vegetables, plus coffee and other liquids, count.

MYTH 3: Fingernails and hair grow after death.

FACT: Most physicians queried on this one initially thought it was true. Upon further reflection, they realized it’s impossible. Here’s what happens: “As the body’s skin is drying out, soft tissue, especially skin, is retracting,” Vreeman said. “The nails appear much more prominent as the skin dries out. The same is true, but less obvious, with hair. As the skin is shrinking back, the hair looks more prominent or sticks up a bit.”

MYTH 4: Shaved hair grows back faster, coarser and darker.

FACT: A 1928 clinical trial compared hair growth in shaved patches to growth in non-shaved patches. The hair which replaced the shaved hair was no darker or thicker, and did not grow in faster. More recent studies have confirmed that one.

But when hair first comes in after being shaved, it grows with a blunt edge on top, Vreeman explained. Over time, the blunt edge gets worn so it may seem thicker than it actually is. Hair that’s just emerging can be darker too, because it hasn’t been bleached by the sun.

MYTH 5: Reading in dim light ruins your eyesight.

FACT: The researchers found no evidence that reading in dim light causes permanent eye damage. It can cause eye strain and temporarily decreased acuity, which subsides after rest.

MYTH 6: Eating turkey makes you drowsy.

FACT: Even Vreeman believed this one until he researched it. The thing is, a chemical in turkey called tryptophan is known to cause drowsiness. But turkey doesn’t contain any more of it than does chicken or beef. This myth is fueled by the fact that turkey is often eaten with a colossal holiday meal, often accompanied by alcohol — both things that will make you sleepy.

MYTH 7: Mobile phones are dangerous in hospitals.

FACT: There are no known cases of death related to this one. Cases of less-serious interference with hospital devices seem to be largely anecdotal, the researchers found. In one real study, mobile phones were found to interfere with 4 percent of devices, but only when the phone was within 3 feet of the device. A more recent study, this year, found no interference in 300 tests in 75 treatment rooms. To the contrary, when doctors use mobile phones, the improved communication means they make fewer mistakes.

“Whenever we talk about this work, doctors at first express disbelief that these things are not true,” said Vreeman said. “But after we carefully lay out medical evidence, they are very willing to accept that these beliefs are actually false.”

There’s actually an eighth myth, but it’s of a general nature, not just medical.

MYTH 8: Greeting friends and loved ones a Merry Christmas doesn’t mean much anymore if it’s not accompanied by a gift with a humongous price tag.

FACT: On the contrary, Christmas greetings are still very much in vogue and will always be so. And you don’t have to gift me an HD television set or a 100-gig IPod video to prove that!

Photo via Enokson

The devil made Miley do it

March 6, 2023 By Jay

If you’re wondering why sexual perversions are happening left and right, front and back and every which way in the world today, why we have such a hideous sexual predator as Austria’s Josef Fritzl, one of the clues is staring at you right now.

Well, it’s not Miley Cyrus’ fault. Definitely not. This 15-year Disney megastar has simply been used and abused by people around her. Why didn’t her parents object?

Who is his right senses would ask a 15-year-old girl with a wholesome public image, who is the darling of kids as young as five or six years old, to pose semi-nude and to have such so-called “artistic” but sensationally provocative picture on the cover of a widely read magazine?

That’s what Vanity Fair magazine did.

Poor, poor Miley. After realizing what she’s done, the star of “Hannah Montana” is drowning in remorse. She could not apologize enough for allowing herself to be used and abused by people who are only a shade less monstrous than that guy from Austria.

Imagine. Using a 15-year-old celebrity to entice the beasts in the magazine’s male readers. The devil is really everywhere.

Photo caption:
Singer and actress Miley Cyrus arrives at the 2008 CMT Awards in Nashville, Tennessee. (AP)

Praise as good as cash, really

March 6, 2023 By Jay

Want to go on a shopping splurge without paying even a single cent?

You can try this: Print a copy of the Yahoo news page linked in this blog. Now, go to the mall, shop till you drop, and then go to the cashier. Tell the cashier, “You take my breath away with your beauty.” As the stunned cashier asks for your money or your credit card, show her instead the copy of the news page you printed.

This is because the news in that page says that “paying people a compliment is as good as paying them cash.”

Tell that to the cashier. If she calls the security guard to take you in, you may also compliment the security guard – “Oh, that’s very nice of you to come here. Nice uniform you got.”

Okay, okay, I’m just pulling your leg and taking the content of the news to its extreme interpretation.

But, really, Japanese researchers have found out that paying people a compliment appears to activate the same reward center in the brain as paying them cash.

The researchers said their study scientifically proves the long-held assumption that people get a psychological boost from having a good reputation.

“We found that these seemingly different kinds of rewards — a good reputation versus money — are biologically coded by the same neural structure, the striatum,” said Dr. Norihiro Sadato of the Japanese National Institute for Physiological Sciences in Okazaki, Japan.

See? They even know a high-fallutin’ word like “striatum.” Remember that. It can come in handy in a Scrabble game.

Dr. Sadato (not Sadako of “Ring” fame) went on to say that their findings provide “the biological basis of our everyday experience that personal reputation is felt as rewards.”

Sadato’s team studied 19 people using a brain imaging technique known as functional magnetic resonance imaging.

In one set of experiments, people played a gambling game in which they were told one of three cards would yield a payout. The researchers then monitored the brain activity triggered when the subjects got a cash reward.

In a second set of experiments, people were told they were being evaluated by strangers based on information from a personality questionnaire and a video they had made.

The researchers then monitored reactions to these staged evaluations — including when the subjects thought strangers had paid them a compliment.

Both kinds of rewards triggered activity in a reward-related area of the brain.

Sadato said their finding is an important first step toward explaining complex human social behaviors such as altruism.

The fact that the social reward is biologically coded suggests that “the need to belong … is essential for humans,” said Sadato, whose study appears in the journal Neuron.

Well, I wonder why the Japanese still have to conduct so many experiments on the effects of compliments or a good reputation on the human mind.

Many of us already know in our hearts the positive effects of compliments or a good word said about us by other people. When we hear such compliments, of course we feel good in ourselves, we feel like doing more goodness around us, helping other people, so we could reap more non-material rewards.

But to expect the cashier to allow you to check out of the counter with the mountain of purchases in your shopping cart– with just your compliments as payment – that may happen only in the realm of dreams or fantasy.

Madonna of the Philippines leaves Brits in awe

March 6, 2023 By Jay

A Filipina has just conquered Britain with just the power of her voice.

So powerful and beautiful and enchanting was her voice – that fully complements her personality — that she got the nod of even the most discerning and hard-to-please music judge in the entire planet, Simon Cowell.

The Filipina is Madonna. No, she’s not the Material Girl, far from the image of the former American enchantress.

She’s Madonna “Mado” Decena, a 32-year-old mother from the Philippines who’s one of the favorites to bring home the crown in the top-rating British popular talent search show “Britain’s Got Talent.”

Last April 24, Madonna took time from her busy schedule as a club singer in Britain to audition for the show at the Manchester Theatre.

Madonna sang the famous Whitney Houston song “I Will Always Love You” and brought her audience to tears of wonder on just her first few notes. She certainly brought the house down as the teary-eyed British audience gave her a standing ovation.

After Madonna’s number, the three British judges – Cowell (of “American Idol” fame), actress Amanda Holden and journalist Piers Morgan – were simply flabbergasted.

“With the performance, taking everything into account I absolutely love it,” the erstwhile praise-stingy Cowell said.

“I have nothing to say, it’s absolutely brilliant,” Morgan said.

A teary-eyed Holden also heaped praises on the Filipina revelation.

The three judges voted her through the semifinals, and now Madonna is the crowd favorite to win the crown.

Before she delivered her number, Madonna tearfully explained that she had to leave her two children behind with their grandparents in the Philippines because she did not have enough money to send for them in Britain. She said she decided to join the contest for her kids.

“Well it’s a chance for me to get more work, more opportunity for me to sing, for my kids,” Decena said. “If I do well in this competition it would be life-changing not only for me but for my kids, it’s a chance for us to be together,” she added.

The judges assured her that she would soon be with her children because she would soon be a big star in Britain and rake in all the money that she needs to bring her kids to England.

In an e-mail to a Philippine television network, Madonna said she’s hoping that she would be able to inspire Filipinos especially those who are working abroad whether she win or lose in the British talent show. “I hope win or lose I would be able to inspire a lot of Filipinos especially our Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) all over the world who are sacrificing, and working hard for their loved ones to have better lives,” she said.

Madonna has also become a YouTube sensation. In fact, I discovered her in YouTube, singing her opus “I Will Always Love You.”

Just like the British audience and judges at the show, I was also stunned by her magical voice and her excellent rendition of the song. I have simply never heard of such a voice before. I’m definitely sure, she would go places.

Bravo, Mado! More success ahead for you. May you inspire more people!

Caption:
Madonna Decena (above and below) delivers her opus “I Will Always Love You” in “Britain’s Got Talent” show as captured in YouTube.

In Austria, the grandfather of all monstrosities

March 6, 2023 By Jay

Austria … Julie Andrews, “The Sound of Music.”

That was before. Now, what comes to mind more easily when one thinks of Austria is Josef Fritzl, the Grandfather of Incest.

This devil of a man raped his own daughter for 24 years beginning when she was just 11 years old, kept her prisoner in a windowless cellar for the same duration of years, and sired her six surviving children, according to Austrian authorities.

Fritzl confessed to imprisoning his daughter Elisabeth in the cellar beneath their two-storey house in Amstetten, Austria, and DNA tests showed that indeed the 73-year-old devil had done the unthinkable.

Fritzl also admitted to burning the body of his seventh child when it died soon after birth.

Elisabeth, who is now 42 years old, said her father enticed to go to the cellar of their home in 1984 and drugged and handcuffed her before imprisoning her.

Three of her children, aged 19, 18 and 5, had been locked in the cellar with her since birth and had never seen sunlight. The younger two were boys, the eldest a girl.

Three other children — two girls and one boy — were adopted and brought up by Fritzl and his wife Rosemarie.

The despicable monstrosity of Fritzl (whose body deserves to be broken into several pieces like a stick of pretzel) only surfaced when his 19-year-old daughter who is also his grand-daughter (this is getting to be confusing) became ill and was taken to hospital.

A million questions begged to be answered on how this could have happened. Why? How did he do it? Is he insane? Is he the devil incarnate?

The Austrian police remained clueless as of Tuesday, April 29, just like the millions of people in the world glued to their TV sets following up this extraordinary crime story.

If this was an isolated incident, we could simply dismiss it as an aberration in human civilization. But lately, other similar monstrosities have occurred in various places in the world, including the one involving a polygamist camp in Texas and the father-daughter incestuous couple from Australia who were even proudly proclaiming on television their bizarre relationship.

Is this another sign that our world is on its death throes? Just like the sign of global warming? The global food crisis and famine?

Where’s morality heading to? Where are the spiritual leaders of the world in these trying times?

Photo caption:
This photo made available by the Austrian police shows the aisle to a sleeping room in the basement of a house where Elisabeth Fritzl was held imprisoned for 24 years by her own father in the Austrian village of Amstetten. (Reuter)

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