THE LATEST FROM SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN

For those who have lost their sense of smell, and there are 6.3 million of you in the U.S., a cochlear implant-like device (used for hearing loss) could one day restore it.  Anosmia is the complete loss of smell, and usually is a temporary nuisance caused by a cold or concussion.  The April issue of Scientific American provided some details.

Your olfactory cells, found high up in the nose, is the key to smell.  It is reported that 23% of U.S. adults 40 and over  have an impaired sense of smell.  This rate jumps to 62.5% for those over 80.  Treatments are limited because funding for research is minimal.  It is not immediately life-threatening.  

However, a lack of smell can be hazardous, for you can't detect the malodorant in natural gas used for cooking.  Also, there seems to be a link with an indication of coming neurological disorders, such as Parkinson's or Alzheimer's.

According to Eric Holbrook (left) of Harvard, what looms as a possible solution is an electronic device that can convert scents into electrical signals that the brain can interpret:

The VCU-Harvard team aims to create a smell-restoring device that would fit under the nose or on a pair of glasses. It would feature an odor sensor, a small microprocessor on the outside and an internal mechanism to stimulate various parts of the olfactory bulb. Development is expected to take years, but VCU cochlear implant surgeon Daniel Coelho (right) told Scientific American that it's possible.

The article, though, does not quite say when anything will be available, how much it will cost and whether medical plans will pay for it.  Don't be spooked by that skull, but those goggles could well be the solution to a lack of smell.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has been criticized for promoting unproved traditional Chinese medicine.  The 2,000-year history of Chinese healers is largely based on the concept of qi, a system of energy flows along meridians of the body to maintain health.  China has been pushing for the wider global acceptance of traditional medicines and techniques, and, guess who ran WHO from 2006 to 2017?  Margaret Chan, a Chinese-Canadian who served as the Director of Health in the Hong Kong Government from 1994-2003.

Do you know why Brits are sometimes called limeys?  The first randomized controlled trial, the gold standard of evidence in medical research involving humans, occurred in 1747 when Dr. James Lind, surgeon on the HMS Salisbury, gave some of his scurvy patients citrus fruits, including lime.  Those not getting these fruits suffered.  Thus, British sailors were called limeys.  The term then expanded to anyone from Great Britain.

Shifting gears to Alzheimer's disease, it is estimated that 5.7 million in the U.S. have this ailment, and with all the concern and research, this malady is still expected to double by 2050.  However, researchers at The University of California at San Francisco suspect that a reduction in the brain's glucose consumption measured through positron emission tomography (PET) can predict eventual Alzheimer's.  Not a cure, but an early warning step that will someday lead to strategies.

Finally, troubled sleep is more and more being shown to lead to dementia.  Thus, one solution to delaying or preventing Alzheimer's is to sleep well.  What happens is that beta-amyloid, a nerve cell waste product, begins to accumulate in spaces around brain cells.  This toxic buildup of tangles of tau protein leads to the death of neurons and loss of synapses.  Sleep flushes out these toxins.  Cerebrospinal fluid of the glymphatic system removes beta-amyloids.  Researchers are trying to figure out methods to manipulate the glymphatic system to reduce dementia.

Here is a graphic indicator of how much sleep we need:

Easy to cite the above, but how can you sleep that long every night if you have serious difficulty without taking "pills?"  Med sci says do exercise and avoid alcohol and nicotine.  The more physically and mentally exhausted you are, the easier to sleep.  My problem, I think, is that I think too much.  I have small bottles of Melatonin and CBD available, but my adventures trying to sleep have not reached the point where I need them.

At 15 Craigside I have about 8 hours/night, but sometimes need to be in bed for 10 hours.  Temperature control helps, and while sleep.org suggests 60-67 F, I find that range too cold, and set my room temperature to 71 F.  High security and general quietness at 15C also are beneficial.  In my previous apartment I had 6-7 hours, which were pretty much my average throughout my adult life.

"Safe" sleeping pills?  From Medical News Today:

• Melatonin
• Sedating antihistamines
• Valerian root (safety profile still unclear)
• Hypnotics (only by prescription)

Of course there are side and unknown long-term effects, so nothing is completely safe.  In any case, these pills are only recommended for short-term use when faced with insomnia, shift work, jet lag, etc.

Returning to sleep and dementia, it is kind of a catch-22.  Troubled sleep can cause dementia, but if you're physiologically trapped into this future pathway, are you doomed?  Or can pills and, horrors, opiods, help you bridge this catch and thus allow you to overcome?  Check with your personal physician.

-