Hotel room surfaces could be giving you a cold

Hey, you with the suitcase and the head cold: It may have been not the poor ventilation on the airplane but those microorganisms in your hotel room that gave you the sniffles. Researchers at the University of Virginia found that a cold-infected adult leaves behind transferable viruses on as much as one-third of commonly touched surfaces (TV remote controls, telephones, light switches, doorknobs, etc.) during an overnight hotel stay. The findings were presented last month at a science conference in San Francisco.

Less boozy booze

The liquor, beer and wine that Americans drink today is less intoxicating than the alcohol they drank in the 1950s, according to an analysis in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.

In 2002 beer was the most-favored alcoholic beverage, making up 60 percent of alcohol consumed. In 1950, 80 percent of liquor sold was in the “whiskey” class (straight, bonded, blended, etc.). In 1950 the alcohol content of wine sold in the United States averaged 16.75 percent; by 2002 that figure was 11.45 percent. In 1950 the alcohol content of beer averaged 5.02 percent; it was 4.65 percent in 2002. The data come from the Alcohol Research Group, a nonprofit funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

Too much testosterone bad for brain cells

Researchers at Yale School of Medicine have found that short periods (six to 12 hours) of elevated testosterone levels, such as those resulting from the use of muscle-building steroids, induce neurotoxicity – in other words, impairment of the normal activity of the nervous system – and can cause significant loss of brain cells.

The findings appear in September’s Journal of Biological Chemistry.

Have a drink – if you’re thirsty

Some runners rely on fancy calculators and charts to estimate fluid needs, but new guidelines from the International Marathon Medical Directors Association say it’s more simple: Follow your body’s natural cues.

The IMMDA recommends runners drink when thirsty and avoid drinking when not; they say this will prevent dehydration while minimizing the risk of low sodium levels caused by over-hydration. The guidelines also advise runners to drink whatever they prefer, such as water or sports drinks.

Study ties BMI to memory

Getting more forgetful in your middle age? Check your belly.

According to a study in a recent issue of Neurology, a high body mass index is tied to cognitive decline in middle-aged adults. Researchers in France gave 2,223 healthy men and women between the ages of 32 and 62 a series of memory and mental function tests, first in 1996 and then five years later. In a test involving word recall, people with a BMI of 20 (in the normal range) could remember an average of nine out of 16 words, while those with a BMI of 30 (considered obese) remembered an average of only seven.