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HEALTHWATCH
Degrees
of Inaccuracy
Is your
thermometer as reliable as you would believe it to be? No, says a recent
study
 Ever
wake up feeling like a burning log, only to have your thermometer tell
you all's well? Your thermometer could be lying, according to a recent
study by the Ahmedabad-based Consumer Education and Research Society (CERS).
Twenty out of 21 thermo-meter brands tested failed to meet the Bureau
of Indian Standards' guidelines. Only Omron digital thermometers qualified.
A healthy
human body has a temperature of 37 degree Celsius and any deviation from
this spells trouble. Ideally a thermometer should be allowed an error
margin of 0.1 degree Celsius. It should read temperature within eight
seconds and remain at that reading till vigorously shaken. It should be
clearly marked up to 42 degree Celsius with equidistant lines.
The survey
rated thermometers on several such points. The results sound like a veritable
repertoire of what to avoid in a thermometer. Most brands failed miserably
in the most crucial test-measuring temperature accurately. Some were off
the mark by as much as 4 degree Celsius. Even expensive digital thermometers
did not perform any better, except Omron.
None of
the brands reached the final temperature within the stipulated eight seconds,
so there's a danger that people would remove the thermometer before it
reached actual temperature, and get a wrong reading. The mercury column
descended as soon as the instrument was removed from the body in most
traditional thermometers, so the reading often does not indicate the final
body temperature. Another misleading feature of these thermometers was
their inaccurate scale length. Only three thermometers had clear markings
that did not peel off or fade with time.
The CERS
report, published in its journal Insight, caught the medical fraternity
by surprise. While it is widely accepted that some thermometers, even
digital ones, are inaccurate, it was were never thought to be so widespread.
"If
this report is correct," says Dr S. Chatterjee at Apollo Hospital
in Delhi, "the medical implications are serious ... particularly
in low-grade temperature, the difference is remarkable. Whether the temperature
is 100.6 or 99.0 degree Celsius would make all the difference to how the
patient is treated." Reason enough to send everyone's temperatures
soaring.
-Supriya
Bezbaruah
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Vaccine
for Flu?
|
| Red-eyed,
runny-nosed and aching? There's good news for flu patients. MNCs GlaxoWellcome
and Biota are planning a new flu drug, Relenza, which blocks a key
viral protein. The drug apparently has no side-effects. Meanwhile,
scientists in Atlanta, US, have tested a DNA-based vaccine which is
1000-fold more effective, cheaper to manufacture and more stable at
room temperature than the ones currently available. Great, but in
the meantime, hold on to your tissues. |
Getting
Rid of Bacchus:
 "One
drink led to another..." This excuse will soon be history. US scientists
are reported to have developed a drug called ondansetron which curtailed
the craving for alcohol in over 100 patients with early signs of alcoholism
during clinical trials. A steady stream of alcohol triggers a brain compound
which, among other effects, further reinforces a craving for alcohol.
Ondansetron works by blocking the path of this molecule. Doctors, however,
warn that alcohol dependence is a complex disorder, which cannot be treated
with any single drug. Well. Cheers to that?
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If
the markets don’t recover in the next 48 hours expect the worst, says
V Shankar Aiyar in 
