Chicken soup, colds, and the therapeutic armamentarium – maybe Grandma was right

“Traditional chicken soup was prepared according to a family recipe, which will be referred to as ‘Grandma’s soup’ (C. Fleischer; personal communication; 1970). This recipe is as follows: • 1 5- to 6-lb stewing hen or baking chicken; • 1 package of chicken wings; • 3 large onions; • 1 large sweet potato; • 3 […]

Meth is Nothing to Sneeze At: A Possible Anti-Influenza Agent

Drugs almost always have more than one effect on the body. Witness this new study: “Methamphetamine Reduces Human Influenza A Virus Replication,” Yun-Hsiang Chen, Kuang-Lun Wu, Chia-Hsiang Chen [pictured here], PLoS ONE 7(11): e48335. (Thanks to investigator Ron Josephson for bringing this to our attention.) The authors, at the National Health Research Institutes in Zhunan, […]

Sanitizer study: Even docs ignore instructions

Even in a medical building, despite fears of the flu, most patients—and most medical personnel, too—disregard instructions to use a hand-sanitizer station. A new study [click on the image or click here to download a PDF] to be published in the Annals of Improbable Research, examined the hand-sanitizing behavior of patients and doctors who entered […]