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Journalism of Courage
Home remedies for soothing mild burns run the gamut, from aloe vera gel to butter. Most that have been around for ages are clearly bad ideas. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns that applying butter or various popular ointments, for example, can increase the risk of infection. But at least one remedy, honey, has held up well. In studies of quick and easy treatments to soothe mild burns, scientists have found that honey has antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties that may promote healing. Medical doctors say the tried and true method for healing small burns remains applying a wet compress, immersing it in cool water and then covering the area with a sterile, non-adhesive bandage. But for those who prefer using natural remedies to soothe discomfort, honey may be a decent option.
Large social networks may help surgical patients
Having a large network of friends and family, a new study suggests, may help surgical patients experience less anxiety and pain before an operation and a quicker recovery afterward. Researchers of The Journal of the American College of Surgeons studied 605 people scheduled for chest or abdominal operations. They estimated their social connectedness by determining how many close friends and relatives each had, and how often they attended social functions. Using well-validated scales, the patients rated their levels of pain and anxiety before and after their operations. The one-fifth of patients with the smallest social networks reported almost twice as much postoperative pain intensity as the one-fifth with the largest. Smaller social networks were also associated with longer hospital stays.
Breathing dirty air may lower kids’ IQ
Kids who live in neighbourhoods with heavy traffic pollution have lower IQs and score worse on other tests of intelligence and memory than children who breathe cleaner air, a new study shows. The effect of pollution on intelligence was similar to that seen in children whose mothers smoked 10 cigarettes a day while pregnant, or in kids who have been exposed to lead, researchers of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, said the study. According to the study, the more heavily exposed children were to black carbon, the lower were their scores on several intelligence tests. Researchers suggest that traffic pollution may exert harmful effects by causing inflammation and oxidative damage to the brain.
