The monthly "science" rumor list is guided by the Beijing Municipal Association for Science and Technology, the Cyberspace Administration of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee, and the Capital Internet Association, and is jointly released by the Beijing Science and Technology Journalists and Editors Association and the Beijing Regional Website Joint Rumor Dispelling Platform, and supported by the Science and Technology Journalists and Editorial Committee of the China Association of Popular Science Writers, the China Evening News Science Editors and Journalists Association, the Shanghai Science and Technology Communication Association, and the Institute of Science and Technology Information of the Beijing Academy of Science and Technology.
1. East-west sleeping can lead to insomnia
gossip:
When sleeping, the body should conform to the direction of the earth's magnetic field, that is, lie down in a north-south direction. East-of-west sleeping can lead to insomnia.
The truth:
The effect of the Earth's magnetic field on the human body is minimal, and there is currently no research to confirm that the direction of lying down affects the quality of sleep. In this regard, experts from the Sleep Disorder Collaborative Group of the Chinese Medical Association said that human beings are in a variety of magnetic fields all the time, and the human body itself has a magnetic field, but the magnetic field of the human body is one ten millionth of the strength of the earth's magnetic field, and the two have established a certain balance, so the impact of the earth's magnetic field on the human body is minimal, and there is currently no research that can confirm that the direction of sleep will affect sleep.
Insomnia is mainly caused by sleep rhythm disorders, such as frequently changing work and rest time, sleeping late and getting up late, and doing things in bed that are not related to sleep (reading books, playing mobile phones), etc., which may affect the rhythm of the human body and aggravate insomnia.
In addition, insomnia is also affected by age, genetic factors, health environment, etc., mental illness, medication, etc. can also cause different degrees of sleep disorders. It is precisely because there are many causes of insomnia, so the treatment of insomnia can not be "one thousand people", to be targeted treatment programs, including improving the sleep environment, establishing good living habits, improving emotional state, appropriate drugs and physical therapy.
2. Frequent "shaking of the hands" is Parkinson's disease
gossip:
With the aging of society, the incidence of Parkinson's disease is also rising: some people often shake their hands, which is a symptom of Parkinson's disease.
The truth:
The term "hand tremor" is called tremor, which is a typical symptom of Parkinson's disease in the public eye, but having a hand shaking symptom does not necessarily mean that there is parkinson's disease, and psychological stress, muscle fatigue or taking certain drugs can also cause tremor.
On the other hand, not all people with Parkinson's disease have shaky hands – some have only stiffness in the limbs and no tremors, a condition known as non-tremor Parkinson's.
In fact, bradykinesia is the core symptom of Parkinson's disease. Patients may feel inflexible fine movements such as brushing teeth and beating eggs, inability to swing their arms freely when walking, smaller writing, and flat expressions. Patients may also have a lateral tilt of the trunk, involuntary movement of the limbs, or significant postural abnormalities at certain times, which is known medically as dyskinesia or dystonia.
As the course of the disease progresses, patients with advanced Parkinson's disease will have symptoms such as unsteadiness and easy fall, and eventually they will not be able to walk independently and will need to rely on a wheelchair or bed.
In addition, Parkinson's disease also has many non-motor symptoms, including olfactory failure, low mood, sleep problems, mental decline, frequent urination, stubborn constipation, etc., usually require multidisciplinary participation to provide a better comprehensive treatment plan, not just look at "shaky hands" or not.
If the middle-aged and elderly people continue to have some slow movements in their daily lives, such as the reduction or disappearance of natural swing arm movements when walking, walking and dragging, turning slowly, unbuttoning and wearing pants are not flexible, turning over slowly at night, slowing down with chopsticks and writing, etc., it is necessary to increase vigilance, these slow movements are not necessarily caused by age, but may also involve Parkinson's disease, Parkinson's syndrome, Parkinson's superposition syndrome and other diseases.
3. Negative pressure wards can cause patients to have difficulty breathing
gossip:
Although the negative pressure ward can isolate the pathogen, the reduced air pressure may cause the patient to have difficulty breathing.
The truth:
The negative pressure ward mainly admits patients with infectious diseases transmitted by aerosol and droplet respiratory transmission. Since the air pressure in such wards is lower than the air pressure outside the ward, only fresh air outside is allowed to flow into the ward, and the air contaminated by pathogens in the ward will not leak out, but will be discharged to a fixed place in time through a special channel. Although the air pressure in the negative pressure ward is smaller than that of the outside world, it is generally only 15 pa less, and the atmospheric pressure on the ground is generally around 100 kPa, and the change of 15 pa will not affect the patient's breathing at all.
Not only that, the professional negative pressure ward is equipped with fresh air equipment, the fresh air entering the ward needs to be purified, and the exhaust air also needs to be fully treated to ensure safety before it can be discharged into the external environment.
4. Eating oranges and drinking cola will cause a positive antigen test
gossip:
Do not eat oranges or drink cola before the test for COVID-19 antigens, otherwise the result will become positive.
The truth:
Drinking cola, eating oranges, and other daily diets will not affect the results of antigen tests.
Antigen nucleic acid detection should be carried out in strict accordance with the instructions, if the operation does not meet the standard, the results obtained are not meaningful, but the antigen test results cannot be considered inaccurate. The principle of the assay kit is simply to capture viral antigens by specific antibodies, but the binding of antigen antibodies needs to occur at the appropriate pH (pH). Under normal circumstances, the sample treatment solution of the soaked swab contains a buffer system that ensures that the antigen antibody binds at the appropriate pH. However, if liquids such as cola and orange juice are directly dropped on the antigen detection kit, inappropriate pH values can cause non-specific false positive results.
So, can I do antigen testing after eating acidic foods? The answer is yes. After the swab sampling, it needs to be soaked in the sample treatment solution before it can be detected, and the sample treatment solution contains Tris-glycine, high concentration of sodium chloride and other substances, which can effectively stabilize the structure of the gold standard antibody and avoid interfering with the occurrence of the reaction. As long as the swab is mixed with the sample treatment solution and then tested according to the standardized operating procedure, there is no need to worry about false positive tests caused by acidic substances.
5. Taking "smart drugs" can improve candidates' concentration
gossip:
Before important exams, taking "smart drugs" can improve concentration and help candidates achieve better results.
The truth:
The so-called medicine that can "enhance concentration" was once popular among test takers and parents, online writers, and examination students and examinations. In fact, "smart drugs" are actually central nervous system stimulants such as modafinil, ritalin, and focus, which belong to a class of controlled psychotropic drugs.
Such drugs are clinically used to treat children's attention deficits and hyperactivity disorders, severe narcolepsy, etc., healthy people will feel energetic at the beginning of taking, but soon will show nausea, insomnia, headaches and other side effects, and may also form drug dependence.
6. Dogs also shed tears when they are wronged
gossip:
Dogs are emotional animals, so when they are wronged, they cry and cry like human children.
The truth:
Many vertebrates, including mammals such as cattle and sheep, secrete tears, which protect and flush the eye surface. The tears of pet dogs in the home are often not wronged, but they have nutritional or health problems.
The dog's lacrimal glands are located above the outside of the orbit, and under normal circumstances, excess tear fluid enters the tear sac and nasolacrimal duct through the tear duct opening (tear point) in the inner corner of the eye, and evaporates with the air breathed after reaching the nasal cavity, and there is no tearing. If there is an increase in the accumulation of tear fluid, it may be due to irritation of the eye by adverse factors or obstruction of the tear duct to discharge tear fluid normally, or at the beginning of infection in some infectious diseases.
If there is local inflammation, in addition to tears, it is generally accompanied by symptoms such as red eyes and swelling around the eyes. If the tear duct is obstructed, it is accompanied by wet dermatitis under the inner corner of the eye and a lacrimal spot that can squeeze out a muscular discharge. If an infectious disease occurs, it may be accompanied by symptoms such as increased body temperature, vomiting, diarrhea, runny nose, cough, and loss of appetite.
In addition, pet dog tears are not all caused by diseases, and may also be overnutrition. If dogs are found to have more tears, accompanied by excessive eyelids (eye droppings) and no other symptoms, they may be related to overnutrition and can be adjusted by reducing the amount of meat fed.
7. Foods made of glutinous rice are not easy to digest
gossip:
Tangyuan, Lantern and other foods are made of glutinous rice, which is sticky and difficult to digest, so you can't eat more each time.
The truth:
People find glutinous rice difficult to digest, probably because foods such as tangyuan, lantern, and eight treasure rice also contain a lot of sugar and fat, giving people a "greasy" feeling. In fact, sticky glutinous rice is easier to digest than other pasta.
Staple foods that people often eat, such as rice, white noodles, etc., contain mainly amylose in the starch structure, and more than 99% of glutinous rice is amylopectin, and its molecular structure is more bifurcated, so it is easier to gelatinize. When the human digestive system decomposes starch, it is hydrolyzed from the end of the molecule, so there are many branches of amylopectin, and the efficiency of hydrolysis and digestion is actually higher.
However, precisely because of faster digestion, compared with the rice white noodles we usually eat, the blood glucose index (GI) of glutinous rice is also faster (the GI of rice is 82, and the GI of glutinous rice is 87), so it is not advisable to eat too much at a time.
8. Sampling swabs for COVID-19 testing are toxic
gossip:
Cotton swabs used for nucleic acid detection and antigen detection are stained with toxic carcinogens such as fluorescent agents, which can lead to laryngitis and even cancer.
The truth:
The swab for test sampling does not contain any reagents itself and does not need to contain reagents. At the same time, the sampling swab belongs to the medical device, and the basic requirement is that it is non-toxic and harmless. The claim that sampling swabs are "toxic" is complete nonsense.
The raw material of cotton swabs in daily life is degreased cotton, and the sampling swab looks similar to ordinary "cotton swabs", but the top is actually a flocked swab. The flocking swab is made using nylon fiber flocking technology, and the front end is coated with nylon staple fibers that are fixed vertically, so that there are no absorption holes in the entire collection area of the swab. In this way, the collected sample is not dispersed and trapped in the fibers, which facilitates faster and more efficient sample elution. Relevant data show that the flocking swab can elute more than 85% of the sample collection, in contrast, the cotton swab made of skimmed cotton cannot completely collect and elute the sample due to its strong absorption capacity.
Sources for this issue:
Science and Technology Daily, China News Network, Beijing Youth Daily, Beijing Science and Technology News, Beijing Evening News WeChat public account, Shanghai Network Rumor Suppression, Qianlong Network, Shangguan News, Scientific Rumor Dispelling Platform
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