The Year In Medicine From A to Z

(8 of 11)
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RESVERATROL

Studies have suggested that drinking modest amounts of red wine can help the heart. The key appears to be an antioxidant called resveratrol found in grape skins (and, in fact, grape juice seems to be just as effective if not as much fun). Now researchers at Harvard Medical School and the National Institute on Aging say that high doses of resveratrol fed to obese mice seemed to prevent problems usually seen in chubby rodents (and people), including diabetes, liver damage and premature death. But you would need more than 100 glasses of wine a day to get that much resveratrol. And even if you took it in supplement form, there's no proof it would work as well in humans as in mice.

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SIDS

Nobody has ever fully explained what used to be called crib death and is now known as sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), but a report in the Journal of the American Medical Association may point to at least part of the answer. In a study of 31 babies who died of SIDS and 10 who died from other causes, the SIDS babies had many more abnormalities among the neurons in their brain stem than did the other infants. The defects involved the processing of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that, among other things, controls arousal from sleep. When SIDS babies get into a position in which their access to fresh air is blocked, they can fail to wake up and move.

SMELL

That morning cup of coffee might smell better after you get up from bed. It has been shown that lying down can dampen such senses as hearing and spatial perception, and now researchers have found that reclining can also smother your ability to pick up odors. More than 60% of test subjects sniffing rose odor had decreased sensitivity to the smell when recumbent. The phenomenon could be the body's way of turning off potential distractions while you're trying to fall asleep, or it might be the result of fluids that rush through the brain while you're supine. Either way, the stifling effect may be an important consideration for reading MRI or PET scans, which take images of the body while you're lying down.

SMOKING

First, the bad news. After dropping over the past eight years, rates of smoking in the U.S. leveled off in 2005 at 1 in 5 adults, according to the CDC. The good news is that the FDA has approved a new drug--only the second to get its O.K.--to help smokers quit. This one, Chantix, was designed specifically to address nicotine cravings that make the habit so hard to break. Chantix mimics the active ingredient in nicotine and can fool the brain into thinking it has had its nicotine fix--without nicotine's addictive qualities or all the damage smoking does to the heart and lungs. But don't assume that simply popping a few pills will make you kick the habit; the most successful long-term quitters also participated in counseling and cognitive behavior therapy.

SPORTS INJURIES

1. McCain's Foreign Policy Frustration
2. Banksy: An Artist Unmasked
3. LeBron's Gold Guarantee
4. Berlin Awaits the 'Next JFK'
5. When Jellyfish Attack
6. Hasbro's Legal War On Scrabulous
7. A New Cold War in the Caribbean?
8. Goodbye to France's 35-Hour Week
9. Woman Kills Self Before Foreclosure
10. Dr. Dre's Headphones: Chronically Good