The word “HAZMAT” describes substances that pose a risk to the environment, or even to life itself. Imagine the term being applied to entire planets, where violent flares from the host star may make worlds uninhabitable by affecting their atmospheres.

Researchers reporting in Current Biology on October 18 have described a remarkable new species of fish that lived in the sea about 150 million years ago in the time of the dinosaurs. The new species of bony fish had teeth like a piranha, which the researchers suggest they used as piranhas do: to bite off chunks of flesh from other fish.

The guidance from NHS England relates to devices for children who weigh less than 25kg (four stone).

You have the best intentions of starting a fresh exercise regime during the warmer months, but you’re struggling because of hay fever or allergies that affect your respiratory system and sinuses.

Whenever you go out for a run or an outdoor exercise class, your breathing and cardiovascular performance is interrupted because of nasal congestion, an allergy-induced sinus headache or because you just feel lousy. This can ruin any good workout.

Other culprits

Fortunately, your exercise mission doesn’t have to be doomed to failure. In fact, a survey undertaken by the National Pollen and Aerobiology Research Unit in Australia has shown that regular exercise can actually improve the symptoms of those with severe hay fever.

The survey also found that stress can influence the severity of hay fever. Those with high levels of stress who took part in the poll described their symptoms as “debilitating”. Exercise can be a method to reduce stress, give your mood a boost and ease up your symptoms.

According to Sarah King, an accredited exercise physiologist, about 150 minutes of cardiovascular exercise per week can help your symptoms ease up and improve your general wellbeing, although you should be mindful of where you exercise and consider the pollen count in your area. 

Outdoor exercise isn’t always the culprit. Gyms can also create problems, says Thomas Kallstrom, a registered respiratory therapist and chief operating officer of the American Association for Respiratory Care. High chlorine levels in pools, damp environments and shared exercise mats that trap dander and pollen from outside can also trigger allergy symptoms.

Talk to your doctor if you experience severe symptoms, especially allergy-induced asthma, and be mindful of how and where you exercise.

Listen to your body

You should listen to your body and know when to skip a workout. Many medical experts will go by the “below-the-neck” rule. If any allergy-induced symptoms develop into a chest or respiratory infection, it is advisable that you stop exercising until you are better.

When your symptoms are above your nose and throat, your resting pulse is normal and you have enough energy to exercise, a doctor will tell you to go ahead but to stop if you experience breathing difficulties or an abnormally high heart rate during exercise.

Sometimes simple allergy symptoms can turn into an infection. You might experience a fever, muscle aches and high resting pulse. These are all signs that you shouldn’t be exercising, as it’s your body’s way of fighting an underlying infection. If you suspect that any of your symptoms linked to allergies have now turned into an infection, see your doctor about the best course of treatment.  

Should I be exercising?

Not sure if you should be doing that half marathon after a terrible bout of sinusitis or hay fever? A Health24 article gives the following indicators of whether you should be exercising if you are feeling lousy. You can apply these when you suffer from allergy symptoms as well:

• Take your resting heartbeat or pulse as soon as you wake up – a normal heart rate for an adult can range between 60 and 100, depending you your height and weight, overall health and fitness levels. Anything higher than normal should be taken as a warning sign.
• You should be able to breathe without any difficulty. Don’t exercise if you experience any phlegm or a chesty cough.
• Don’t exercise if you feel abnormally tired, feverish or suffer from body aches.

Tips for exercising with allergies

Here are some tips to get the most out of your workout, despite springtime allergies:

• Monitor the pollen count in your area by using a weather app.
• Change your exercise routine to incorporate workouts either early in the morning or early in the evening when the pollen count is lower.
• Apply a barrier cream, such as Vaseline, around your nostrils to “trap” pollen before it gets into your nose.
• Change your route to stay away from parks and fields where grass can potentially wreak havoc.
• Avoid alcohol the evening before a workout as this can aggravate nasal congestion. Alcohol can also affect the way your histamine levels fight allergies; it is therefore a good idea to ease up on the tipple in general.
• Wear sunglasses when you exercise outside to reduce the amount of pollen getting into your eyes.
• Eat well – up your intake of antioxidants by eating plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, and try to eliminate dairy if this aggravates congestion.
• If you are prone to allergy-induced asthma, try holding a small amount of water in your mouth as you start working out – this will prevent allergens from getting into your respiratory system straightaway.

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Marelize Wilke

Hospital users are encouraged to activate the announcements when they see someone smoking on site.

According to Tracy Kruger, a clinical psychologist and educator at the South African College of Applied Psychology (SACAP), therapists absolutely need therapy but the reason is twofold.

“Transcending into a wise, grounded and mindful psychologist is a fluid process,” she explains. “We continuously need to learn and grow, practise our skills and ensure our work is in line with evidence-based theory. Every day is different, every patient is unique and as much as a list of symptoms and a diagnosis create a frame, our work can be tricky.”

On a personal level, Kruger says therapists may also experience their own challenges. “We are humans, we are juggling many different parts. Thus, our own therapy and supervision is mandatory. In therapy we have the opportunity for someone to hold our human selves. I am reminded of what it is like to be sitting ‘in the other chair’ and how difficult it is to be vulnerable and how brave we need to be to face what is hurting us. Supervision is just as important. This is a space where I can think together with a more experienced psychologist about the most effective way to treat the patients in my care.”

For Chantal Fowler, a clinical psychologist and SACAP educator, therapy gives her the space to debrief “and care for ourselves as people”. It is a wonderfully rewarding job, she says, but psychologists need to take their own care very seriously in order to offer good quality care to others. 

Learning to debrief

During her early days as a psychologist, Kruger says she had fantasies of rescuing her young patients from their abusive and dysfunctional family systems. “I wanted to take them home with me,” she says. “There were other times when metaphorically I did take my patients home with me as I thought about them and worried about them and sometimes cried for them.

“However, I learnt quickly that rescuing was not healthy, ethical or sustainable. I also learnt to believe in the inner strength and resilience of each one of the patients entrusted in my care. In each session I try to contain, guide, reflect and impart something from my learnings and experience. I have learnt that I am responsible to my patients and not for them.”

She has learnt that she is responsible to them as a psychologist who cares deeply and will do her best to create a safe place for them to heal. “But I am not responsible for them or their healing. This is their own journey to bravely experience, and in doing this they can own and celebrate their resilience and how they have overcome their challenges.”

It’s through this process of letting go and trusting that Kruger can cope between sessions. But it’s not always that simple she says, particularly when a process is particularly painful.

“I give myself time to let whatever I am feeling completely wash over me with no judgment. I allow the emotion I am experiencing from start to end, and after a few moments I may say a little prayer for them and then I let them go,” says Kruger.

The effect a patient has on the therapist

Working as a therapist is a challenging profession as you are privy to a patient’s distress, mental illness, suicidal thoughts and inner challenges. But Kruger says therapy affects her positively.

“I don’t feel overwhelmed or tired, I feel energised and hopeful. Being a psychologist is an honour and I take my responsibility seriously. It is also rewarding to be entrusted with someone’s story. I use the analogy of someone coming to me with a plaster on their arm, I gently ask if we can take the plaster off and see what is sore and then we work together to apply the right amount of time, healing ointment and care to see if there can be some relief and healing.

“There may be a scar, but it is my hope that it will be significantly less overwhelming and painful at the end of our process.”

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Mandy Freeman

Researchers say they’ve created an enzyme that might one day reduce nicotine cravings in smokers.

The scientists gave the enzyme to nicotine-dependent rats and found it broke down nicotine in the bloodstream before it could reach the brain.

This quickly reduced the rats’ nicotine dependence. It also prevented them from relapsing when they again had access to nicotine, according to the study.

“This is a very exciting approach because it can reduce nicotine dependence without inducing cravings and other severe withdrawal symptoms,” said principal investigator Olivier George. He’s an associate professor at Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California.

Also, the enzyme “works in the bloodstream, not the brain, so its side-effects should be minimal,” George added in an institute news release.

Nicotine dependence is what makes it so difficult for people to quit smoking. Preventing the nicotine in tobacco from reaching the brain has long been seen as a promising way of reducing dependence, but previous efforts haven’t resulted in drugs that reduce blood levels of nicotine enough to be effective.

The enzyme tested in this study is called NicA2-J1. It’s based on a natural enzyme produced by the bacterium Pseudomonas putida, but was modified to boost its potency, staying time in the blood, and other features to fight nicotine dependence.

The researchers plan to continue to improve the enzyme’s properties with the goal of eventually conducting human clinical trials. However, it’s important to note that results of animal trials aren’t always replicable in humans.

The findings were published online Octber 17 in Science Advances.

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They say babies should only sleep in them temporarily, with cots and Moses baskets thought to be safer.

A new collaborative study has investigated Arctic shrub-snow interactions to obtain a better understanding of the far north’s tundra and vast permafrost system. Incorporating extensive in situ observations, Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists tested their theories with a novel 3D computer model and confirmed that shrubs can lead to significant degradation of the permafrost layer that has remained frozen for tens of thousands of years. These interactions are driving increases in discharges of fresh water into rivers, lakes and oceans.

Women whose left index and ring fingers are different lengths are more likely to be lesbians, a study suggests.