TIZER'S SCIENCE NEWS

[Wendyf]

She doesn't use mothballs Tizer and everything is well aired and kept fresh & clean. I did wonder at one point if it was to do with the strong smell of the washing powder she used, but I don't think it is. We worried that it could be some sort of mould spores from wood rotting, but there is no sign of anything in the loft. We haven't the heart to mention it to Mum as she would be mortified, so any major disruption to find the source is out at the moment! I suspect the wood effect wallboards which are plywood based and line part of a large hallway & the kitchen are at the heart of the problem. Apart from the towel trick, is there any other way of measuring what is in the air??

[Tizer]

I don't think there is any way you could easily measure or identify such chemicals yourself but you could ask the Environmental Health Officer for advice. You could probably email or phone them to discuss it and see what they suggest. They should have a better `nose' for such things (literally, because they will have been in places where there are such problems and will know what various fungi and rot smell like, as well as chemicals). Tell them about the boards, it might help them pin down the source. If they need to visit you could tell your mum you're concerned about chemicals leaking out of the wood and you want to check for her safety, no need to say it's smelly.

[Bodger]

Not sure if it applies, but during my working life in running plastic processing factories, part of HSE was to have the plant checked tfor chemical vapour emissions, there should be some goverment service that wil come round with a "gizzmo" to check for same ?

[Whyperion]

There are artificial 'noses' that can be hired , these can report on a range of elements and compounds.

[Stanley]

Interesting question Wendy. As to the the moths, I have noticed over the last few years that there are occasional moths about in my house but the only damage has been to wool carpets in places where regular vacuuming isn't possible like under heavy furniture. My reaction was to spot treat the junction between carpets and skirting board with a specialised long-lasting insecticide spray. I did enquire and found that there seem to be more moths about for some reason.
As for the smell.... Bit of a puzzle isn't it. One thing that might get the health people to do a check would be to ask them to do a check for Radon gas which you could probably get your parents to do without upsetting them by suggesting there was a smell. If you could have a word with the department they might be able to give you a private opinion as to whether they noticed anything else. There is of course the other route which is to do nothing if you have no evidence it is damaging them. I have noticed as I get older that my sense of smell is nowhere near as efficient as it used to be. Some smells I can recognise immediately, others pass me by.
The wood panelling.... Tiz is right about the composition of modern 'processed woods' like plywood and MDA. The only thing I can suggest is that if the wood panels on the wall aren't ventilated behind by an air flow from gaps at top and bottom this could be the source. Dry walling is very often a source of trouble if there is no ventilation. This same syndrome has been noted in roof spaces where modern levels of insulation have blocked air access under the eaves even in an otherwise well-ventilated house.

[Wendyf]

Thanks for all the advice. You don't get the smell in the house at all, it's only when you take an item away from the house that you notice it. As it has been the same for a number of years and my Mum has reached the grand age of 91 it can't be doing her any harm, so I expect it is best to leave things as they are.

[Tizer]

As it has been the same for a number of years and my Mum has reached the grand age of 91 it can't be doing her any harm, so I expect it is best to leave things as they are.

Yes, probably the best solution, all things considered, and similar to our attitude with my dad who is 93. He now eats mainly cheapest supermarket ready-meals because he doesn't want to be bothered with food preparation and cooking (and is tight with his money!) but at that age it isn't going to make much difference, if any, to his health and longevity. The priority is having a happy and contented old age without other people messing you about. And he does have one dietary habit that we all should emulate - he eats fresh fruit after every meal and always has a big bowl overflowing with apples, oranges and bananas. He could `eat fruit for England' and makes me envious because I can't eat such fresh fruit without getting stomach pain and the runs, I have to make do with canned peaches and prunes (although these are much under-rated and far better than no fruit).

Having said all that, I have to admit that sometimes oldies have to suffer some intervention from their youngsters. A week ago Mrs Tiz's dad was rushed to hospital after a fall. He has Parkinson's and heart trouble and suffers fainting spells, and this time he fell (at home fortunately) against a cabinet and damaged his nose - lots of blood and 9 stitches needed. Mum and dad didn't call an ambulance and instead rang their other daughter who lives much closer but still had a 30 minute journey, and when she got there immediately called for one. Dad wasn't able to stand up without soon falling over again and has been in hospital all week while they tried to stabilise his blood pressure and sodium levels, but I'm glad to say is now back at home. Meanwhile daughter found that mum, who is now very frail, was less able to look after herself than we younger ones had realised. Mum and dad had been metaphorically `propping each other up' and thus hiding the true situation (but then perhaps Mrs Tiz and I will do the same one day!). With their agreement, the daughters are now arranging for the appropriate services to visit mum and dad's house to weigh up the situation and help decide what needs to be done to make sure they are safe and able to live as comfortable as possible.

[Wendyf]

It's a very delicate balance isn't it? Mum has a carer coming in for an hour 3 mornings a week now. She was having problems with watery blisters on her her legs which could easily have become ulcerated but she cant see what is happening. The carer bathes them and puts cream on. It doesn't fill an hour but the carers are very good and find other jobs to do. Mum doesn't think that someone making a cuppa and having a chat is something she should be paying for! I feel happier knowing that we have found a lovely company who do the job properly, and when she needs more help the hours can be increased. Col has been with me today to do some work on Mum's shower. There were tiles falling off and she needed the rail lowering. It really needs a new shower putting in and Col was going to commit a couple of days to doing it, but Mum just couldn't cope with the upheaval, so he has done the minimum needed to make it safe and usable for her. Every time I go over there a little bit more patience & understanding is required!

[Stanley]

I'm sure my kids have worries and issues with me but they are very good and leave me to swan on in my own way. They've even stopped complaining about the dusting!

[Wendyf]

Perhaps we need a whole new topic......

[Stanley]

Post one! 'Parents, the good, the bad and the worrying'.

[Stanley]

Harvard researchers have concluded that world-wide lack of exercise is a factor in 10% of deaths, as bad as smoking and other obvious problems. See this LINK. If they could put the benefits of exercise in a pill and market it......

[Whyperion]

I understand there is an Over 50s excercise group that meets in the Civic Hall once a week. Of course being a permanent 49 means I will never get to use it.

[Stanley]

Report this morning of research based on the fact that in diseases like Muscular Dystrophy and Parkinson's the one muscle that is almost never affected is the group which controls the eye.

[Stanley]

Report this morning of a new treatment for persistent leg ulcers, a massive problem for many elderly people with bad circulation. A spray-on mixture of skin cells and blood-clotting proteins is giving encouraging results.

[Stanley]

I've always been a fan of body watching, working out how you use your senses to navigate life. I make a cup of coffee in the mornings by mashing the coffee first thing in a glass jug and topping it up with boiling water later when I have finished my first mug of tea. I always get the quantity of boiling water needed dead right and realised this morning that it isn't a guess, I go by the note of the water falling into the jug which rises as the jug fills. The thing that fascinates me is that I have worked this out subconsciously. How many more of our actions rely on subtle signals like this? We are wonderful machines!

[Tizer]

My mother had oedema and severe leg ulcer problems in her final years and the new treatment would have been marvellous for her. Leg ulcers doesn't sound bad but it's horrible when they burst and the serum soaks through bandages, runs down in shoes and wets bed sheets etc.

[Stanley]

When I was working with Newton Pickles I used to laugh at the way he used Manganesite jointing paste as ointment on cuts. (It had a lot of Manganese dioxide in it). Years later a dressing for leg ulcers was developed which had the same oxide in it. You're right about leg ulcers, a terrible and persistent affliction.
NASA have just announced that the Mars landing has gone well. The vehicle is on the ground and has sent the first pictures back. Wonderful.....

[Tizer]

News and pics of Mars Curiosity rover on the NASA site here:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/index.html

[Stanley]

What an achievement. Totally overshadowed by the Olympics of course. The lads deserve a pint!

[Whyperion]

Are we nearly there yet ?

Voyager 1 is near the heliosphere , maybe

[Stanley]

Two things grabbed me this morning. First was the warning issued about use of pain-killers which, if used more than 15 days in a month can actually cause pain. The second was a report from America about a consequence of GM crops, the rise of the Giant Rag Weed which is virtually impervious to modern weed killers. The worrying thing is that they are talking about using 2.4D, one of the worst chemicals ever made, one of the constituents of the infamous Agent Orange. When I was farming we used it before it was banned and another one called Denocate which was just as bad. Worrying stuff and funnily enough there's a link back to the Drummond murder in France in the 1950s, Sir Jack Drummond was nutrition adviser to the government in WW2 and largely responsible for the way we managed rationing so well. He was so disgusted with the government when they made the decision after the war to go for quantity of food rather than quality that he switched disciplines and worked for the chemical firms who produced the super toxic weed-killers.

[Wendyf]

Last year when I had some inflammation in my hip the doctor prescribed ibuprofen and told me to keep taking them for at least three weeks. After a few days I started to get painful headaches which stopped immediately when I gave up the ibuprofen. I wasn't convinced about the connection, but when I tried taking them again recently the head pains came back within a couple of days.

[Stanley]

I recently found that Ibu was exacerbating the pains in my legs and not relieving them. I stopped taking them and the pain improved.
Heard a news item this morning about Rinderpest being officially extinct. (LINK)

[Stanley]

News this morning of a Herpes virus that attacks some farmed oysters and can kill young stock in 24 hours. It's rife in France and the oyster farmers are waiting with bated breath.