/oss/taxonomy/term/6296/all en /oss/article/medical-critical-thinking-student-contributors/well-established-balancing-act <p>Some things can be classified with high acidity, like lemon juice, or low acidity, like bicarbonate. Acidity is often measured on a pH scale. This is because Danish chemist <a href="https://www.sciencehistory.org/education/scientific-biographies/soren-sorensen/">Søren Peter Lauritz Sørensen</a> invented the concept of pH as a convenient method for expressing acidity. Acidic things have a low pH whereas alkaline things have a high pH.</p> Thu, 17 Oct 2024 22:09:08 +0000 Daniela Padres 10119 at /oss /oss/article/medical-critical-thinking-health-and-nutrition/processing-information-about-processed-meat <p>The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), an arm of the World Health Organization lists processed meats in its “Category 1,” reserved for substances known to cause cancer in humans. There is really nothing all that noteworthy here except for the official classification. Unofficial advice about minimizing processed meat has been dispensed by nutritional scientists for a long time. And for good reason.</p> Tue, 08 Oct 2024 22:06:53 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 10104 at /oss /oss/article/medical-student-contributors/migraine-more-just-bad-headache <p>A migraine is often misunderstood as just “a bad headache,” but this assumption couldn't be further from the truth. Migraines are a complex neurological disorder, far more debilitating than a typical headache, with a significant impact on patients' quality of life. For some, the pain is relentless and pounding, and it comes with a slew of other symptoms that make day-to-day functioning a challenge. Moreover, the struggle of enduring migraines is often worsened by the feeling of having an invisible disorder and of being doubted.</p> Fri, 04 Oct 2024 16:18:09 +0000 Hosna Akhgary 10101 at /oss /oss/article/medical-history-did-you-know/john-daltons-eyeball <p>In 1995, researchers from Cambridge University asked the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society for a sample of an eyeball that had been sitting in a jar on a shelf since 1844. That eye had made some of the most important scientific observations in history. It—and another just like it—belonged to John Dalton, the English schoolteacher who in the late years of the eighteenth century formulated the atomic theory. </p> Wed, 02 Oct 2024 17:31:08 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 10099 at /oss /oss/article/medical-critical-thinking-health-and-nutrition/hyperbaric-oxygen-therapy-may-just-be-hot-air-many <hr /> <p><em>This article was first published in <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/christopher-labos-hyperbaric-oxygen-therapy-may-just-be-hot-air-for-many">The Montreal Gazette.</a></em></p> Fri, 27 Sep 2024 23:03:19 +0000 Christopher Labos MD, MSc 10098 at /oss /oss/article/medical-student-contributors-general-science/why-do-some-people-breathe-bag-when-hyperventilating <p>“Just breathe!” is probably the worst thing that you can tell someone who is hyperventilating. The fact is, they can’t! Whatever the cause of the hyperventilation, screaming and telling someone to just “calm down” may actually worsen the situation. Don’t fret, there is still a way you can help, and it is actually quite simple. Offer them a paper bag to breathe into. We have all seen it done in movies or tv shows but this seemingly trivial solution is quite effective, but why?</p> Fri, 27 Sep 2024 03:59:40 +0000 Angelina Lapalme 10095 at /oss /oss/article/medical-history/life-and-death-soviet-era-search-longevity <hr /> <p><em>This article was first published in <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/the-right-chemistry-the-life-and-death-of-a-soviet-era-search-for-longevity">The Montreal Gazette.</a></em></p> <hr /> <p>Want to prolong life? To start with, you need three corpses from healthy young men accidentally killed in within the previous 12 hours.</p> Fri, 20 Sep 2024 22:41:00 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 10088 at /oss /oss/article/medical-health-and-nutrition/another-bullet-fired-highly-processed-food <p>Elie Metchnikoff drank sour milk every day. He believed that the lactic acid bacteria found in fermented foods like yogurt, especially the <i>Lactobacillus bulgaricus</i> strain, helped to promote longevity by preventing potentially disease-causing bacteria from proliferating in the intestines. He attributed the long life of Bulgarian peasants to their daily consumption of yogurt.</p> Wed, 11 Sep 2024 16:54:56 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 10071 at /oss /oss/article/medical-health-and-nutrition-general-science/should-you-be-worried-about-eating-burned-toast <hr /> <p><em>This article was first published in <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/the-right-chemistry-should-you-be-worry-about-eating-burned-toast">The Montreal Gazette.</a></em></p> Fri, 06 Sep 2024 21:30:09 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 10065 at /oss /oss/article/medical-student-contributors/serotonin-syndrome-too-much-good-thing <p>Serotonin, or 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT), is a neurotransmitter that plays a crucial role in various bodily functions, including mood regulation, behavior, memory, and gastrointestinal balance. Often dubbed the “happy” neurotransmitter, serotonin helps maintain a balanced emotional state—though it's not always as uplifting as the nickname suggests.</p> Fri, 06 Sep 2024 13:57:10 +0000 Hosna Akhgary 10059 at /oss /oss/article/medical/study-gets-heart-controversial-chelation-therapy <hr /> <p><em>This article was first published in <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/christopher-labos-study-gets-to-the-heart-of-controversial-chelation-therapy">The Montreal Gazette.</a></em></p> <hr /> <p>Chelation therapy is the process of removing heavy metals from the body. It can be used to treat a child with lead poisoning or remove excess iron from the blood of someone with thalassemia. What it can’t do is treat heart disease, and the recent TACT2 trial should hopefully put the final nail in the coffin of this idea. </p> Fri, 30 Aug 2024 21:29:05 +0000 Christopher Labos MD, MSc 10054 at /oss /oss/article/medical-critical-thinking-health-and-nutrition/no-tolerance-igg-food-intolerance-tests <p>“But where’s the harm?” we are so often asked. When your baby dies and has to be resuscitated in the emergency room, I’d say the harm has a Vegas-sized neon arrow above it.</p> <p>An infant boy in Hong Kong had a really bad reaction to being introduced to cow’s milk at eight months of age: vomiting, difficulty breathing, and a generalized skin rash. The doctors performed an allergy test by pricking his skin and sure enough the boy was allergic to a protein in cow’s milk. Hurray for modern science.</p> Fri, 30 Aug 2024 02:02:34 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 10050 at /oss /oss/article/medical-critical-thinking-history/genghis-khan-hiding-inside-your-dna <p>Genghis Khan is more legend than man. We’re not even sure when he was born: historians agree it’s somewhere in the decade that spans 1155 and 1167. That birth has itself been mythologized. Stories tell of a ray of light impregnating his mother; the baby, named Temüjin, was apparently born holding on to a piece of clotted blood, an omen of his later conquests. His death in 1227 is shrouded in rumours both kind and denigrating. Genghis Khan was struck by lightning. He died of an arrow wound that led to a systemic infection. He was castrated by a princess.</p> Fri, 23 Aug 2024 13:51:15 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 10044 at /oss /oss/article/medical-critical-thinking-history/book-natural-healers-really-hate <p>To the conspiracy-minded alternative health practitioner, everything was great until the Flexner Report was published.</p> Fri, 16 Aug 2024 03:19:23 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 10038 at /oss /oss/article/medical-environment-did-you-know/whipping-some-science <p>Want to add a bit of extra delight to that cake or sundae? No need to bother with whisking some cream when you can just reach for that aerosol cannister of whipped cream. Just squeeze the little trigger and perfectly whipped cream gushes out! For the propellant action you can thank nitrous oxide, also known as “laughing gas.” That term was coined by the great English chemist Humphry Davy upon noting that “this gas raised my pulse upwards of twenty strokes, made me dance about the laboratory as a madman, and has kept my spirits in a glow ever since.”</p> Tue, 13 Aug 2024 20:25:13 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 10026 at /oss