Good News for Bad Noses

Treatment with a glucocorticoid medication, either alone or in combination with Ginkgo biloba, appears to significantly improve the sense of smell in individuals with previous olfactory loss due to upper respiratory infections, according to a report in the October issue of Archives of Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery.
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Nonanal + CO2 = Olfactory Dinner Bell

What, exactly, do mosquitos find so irresistible in our human signature scent?
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Welding Fumes Linked to Anosmia

Eye protection has always been standard safety gear for professional welders but little consideration was given to the occupational hazard of that least-appreciated of the five senses…until now. A new study by the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine has found that welders who work in enclosed spaces with poor ventilation may be at risk for loss of sense of smell.

“This is the first study to clearly demonstrate that welders who work in confined spaces without adequate respiratory protection are at risk for damaging their sense of smell,” says Richard Doty, Read more

FDA Links Zicam to Anosmia

Two and a half years after a lawsuit against the manufacturers of Zicam and Cold-EEZE nasal gels was settled in January 2006 in which the companies made no admission that their products had caused anosmia (loss of the sense of smell) in 340 plaintiffs, the FDA has determined that intranasal application of zinc gluconate, the products’ active ingredient, is in fact the likely culprit.
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Mucosal Vaccination: Cheaper, Faster, Easier, and BETTER!

Even with the existence of effective vaccinations, hepatitis B continues to kill more than a million people each year. Traditional injected vaccines present challenges which are particularly Read more

A Strong Whiff of Hope for Early Cancer Detection

Recently, the Whiff-Guys sniffed into the fascinating field of Olfactory Diagnosis, a valuable diagnostic procedure in which a physician literally smells a patient’s breath for clues (a rotten apple smell, for instance, might indicate that testing for diabetes is in order, while fishy breath might point toward liver disease). Unfortunately, the limited abilities of even the most talented of human noses have severely limited the range of usefulness for the practice, and led to Read more

The Science of Olfactory Diagnosis

The smell of rotten apples on a patient’s breath doesn’t positively indicate diabetes, and fishy breath doesn’t positively indicate liver disease–any more than the smell of Smirnoff positively indicates alcoholism–but it can give a physician a pretty good starting point for further testing. “Olfactory diagnosis” has always been a valuable tool for physicians but, of course, the limited abilities of even the most talented human noses have Read more

Smell Less, Live Longer?

The effects of a low-calorie diet on the longevity of most animals is widely known in scientific circles: Caloric restriction extends animal lifespans by activating cellular protection mechanisms. But, according to a study into the lifespans of roundworms, just restricting the smell of those calorie-filled foodstuffs may turn the trick!

Three years ago, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis discovered that a class of anticonvulsant medications increased the lifespan of a roundworm, but prior to concluding their new study, they had no idea why. “We’ve learned that the drugs inhibit neurons in the worm’s Read more

Simple Testing for Little Noses

With increasing evidence that an impaired sense of smell can be an early indicator of everything from sinus and ear infection to schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease, development of accurate methods of measuring olfactory function has become a diagnostic priority. While effective clinical tests are in use for adults, such as the OLFACT, most are considered unsuitable for children because they tend to test for a complex range of smells unknown to a child.

Recognizing the need for testing on a more “Fun With Dick and Jane” level, researchers from the University of New South Wales have developed a simplified odor identification test involving 16 common odorants (such as fish, cut grass, and chocolate) and simple visual images geared toward children aged five to seven. Study participants sniffed the odors from individual plastic bottles, then viewed three photographs and picked the one that best represented the smell. 88.1% of five-year-olds, 88.9% of six-year-olds, and 91.1% of seven-year-olds correctly identified the smells. For a five-year-old, say the researchers, normal olfaction would be defined by correct identification of 11 out of the 16 odors, and anosmia would be signaled by correct identification of 4 or less.

While early results are extremely promising, the researchers point out that “as yet no data have been obtained from children with diseases or injuries using the tests which would provide the ranges of identification scores that define hyposmic and anosmic individuals, and the equivalent ranges for those with gustatory dysfunctions. Clearly, this is a priority before the tests can be fully utilized by clinicians when diagnosing chemosensory dysfunctions.”

Your Nose Grows: Good News for Bad Backs

Remarkably, the failure of regenerating nerve fibers to grow within the adult mammalian central nervous system does not apply to the olfactory bulb. Throughout the whole life of an organism, olfactory sensory neurons are renewed from progenitor cells. Read more

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