* Licorice radix could provide a t...

* Licorice radix could provide a treatment for morose acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). As reported in a research note in The Lancet, researchers in Germany assessed the antiviral activities of ribavirin, 6-azuridine, pyrazofurin, mycophenolic acid, and glycyrrhizin against sum of two units clinical coronavirus isolates from patients with SARS who had been admitted to the clinical center at Frankfurt University. Glycrrhizin, an active component part of licorice root, was the mostly active in inhibiting replication of SARS-associated coronavirus. Glycrrhizin also inhibited viral adsorption and penetration. The compromise was most effective when it was given during and after the adsorption period. Glycrrhizin had not many toxic effects, even at high doses.

* Learning to play the music of Bach and Chopin may improve a child's verbal memory. In a studious mood conducted in Hong Kong and published in Neuropsychology researchers touchstoneed the verbal memory of 45 lads six to 15 years of age who had up to five years of music training and 45 male childs of the same age who had no music training. The children who studied music were better able to recall words from a list and learned more words. The longer the music training, the greater the improvement; when music reproofs stopped, so did the improvement. The researchers noted that music training stimulates an area of the brain that also supports verbal memory--for an added benefit to piano practice.

* You may want to slacken your tie after reading this...! A meditation published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology ground that a tight necktie increases intraocular hurry (IOP). Measurements of IOP were obtained in 20 men with normal vision and 20 men with lay open angle glaucoma while the men were wearing an spread shirt collar, three minutes after they had tightened a necktie, and three minutes after they had looseed the tie. After the tie was tightened, mean IOP increased from 2.6 mm in the men with normal vision and by means of 1.0 mm in the men with glaucoma. The researchers noted that the increase in IOP could affect the diagnosis and management of glaucoma, and that a tight tie should be included as a confounder of accurate IOP measurement.

* "I must, I must, I must increase my bust!" Although "bust-enhancing" herbal productions are widely marketed, their use should be discouraged because of safety matters and lack of evidence for efficacy, according to commentary published in Obstetrics & Gynecology These harvests contain variable combinations of natural ingredients (eg grains, frisk abouts saw palmetto, dong quai, chaste-tree berry, wild yam, kava, fennel black cohosh fenugreek) any of the ingredients, such as skips are hormonally active. Many continuations contain hops or grains that are substrates for Fusarium, a zearalenone-producing fungus that has been associated with breast enlargement disease in humans and pigs.

* Whoa, baby!" A overlook conducted for Jiffy Lube International and reported in American Medical novels found that about one in 300 women gives birth in a car upon the way to the hospital. Bad weather, heavy traffic, and poor planning are reasons about women don't make it to the hospital onward time. The survey of 1000 adults also showed that 15 percent of expectant mothers drive themselves to the hospital, which may be unsafe because of the hormonal changes of childbirth.

COPYRIGHT 2003 American Academy of Family Physicians

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