Rumor A: People with weaker chewing ability are more apt to develop Alzheimer's disease.
Truth: There is no causal relationship between chewing ability and Alzheimer's disease.
Alzheimer's disease, commonly known as dementia, is a chronic progressive brain disorder caused by damage to brain cells, which mainly causes a continuous decline in thinking, behavioral and social skills that affects a person's ability to function independently. According to clinical data, there is no effective cure for this disease yet. However, a recent post on Weibo has attracted a lot of attention. It's said that the risk of Alzheimer's disease can be predicted by the ability to chew, and the stronger one's chewing ability, the lower the risk of him or her developing Alzheimer's disease.
Although the ability to chew and Alzheimer's disease are not related, it seems that some people have found a connection that links chewing ability to health. In 2012, a study was published in The Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. The study looked at 557 people aged 77 or older in Sweden and found that people with multiple tooth loss and difficulty chewing hard food were significantly more likely to have cognitive impairment.
"It's an epidemiological study that can only show a correlation between chewing ability and Alzheimer's disease, but it cannot yet indicate whether there is a causal relationship between the two, and the mechanism needs further verification by scientific research," Zhou Yuying, chief physician of the Department of Neurology at Tianjin Huanhu Hospital, told Science and Technology Daily, adding that the exact cause of Alzheimer's disease is not yet clear to the medical community, but there are some contributing factors that have been identified, among which aging is the most prominent. The risk of developing Alzheimer's disease increases as people age.
According to Zhou, people who lack hobbies and lead a dull and monotonous life are more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease, so environmental stimulation is very effective in preventing the disease. A rich life and social circle can effectively stimulate the cerebral cortex, and a "live and learn" philosophy can also continue to exercise the brain to prevent Alzheimer's disease, she said.
Rumor B: Negative pressure wards (NPWs) will cause patients to have difficulty in breathing.
Truth: The pressure difference does not cause any discomfort
NPW plays a pivotal role in the fight against the pandemic. However, due to lack of knowledge about these wards, some people believe that negative pressure can cause breathing difficulties for patients.
"NPW is a ward where the air pressure inside is lower than the air pressure outside, and it's mainly set up for patients suffering from respiratory infectious diseases," Wang Yimin, chief physician of the Department of Intensive Care Medicine at Tianjin TEDA Hospital, told Science and Technology Daily, adding that the conventional atmospheric pressure is 1.013×105 Pascal (unit of pressure), while there is only a pressure difference of 25 Pascal between the air pressure in NPW and the conventional atmospheric pressure. "This difference in air pressure is difficult to notice, and patients do not feel any discomfort in NPW," he said.
Because the air pressure in a NPW ward is lower than the air pressure outside, the air can only flow in one direction, so that when medical personnel enter and leave the ward, it can ensure that fresh air from outside can flow into the ward, but the contaminated air in the ward will not spread outside. The polluted air will not be discharged at will, but collected through special pipes and discharged to a fixed place, and then to the outside world after layers of filtration and disinfection.