Lifeline
Burning mouth syndrome
Explanation: This condition, also called scalded mouth syndrome, causes chronic pain either throughout the mouth or on the lips, tongue and/or gums, yet there are often no visible signs of irritation. It affects up to 4 percent of U. S. adults, women more often than men.
Symptoms: These include a burning sensation in the mouth and throat, taste alterations, pain that intensifies as the day goes on and dry mouth.
Causes: The cause is sometimes unknown. When caused by a nutritional deficiency or other underlying medical condition, it’s called secondary burning mouth syndrome. Such conditions include nerve damage, certain medications, hormonal imbalances and psychological factors.
Treatment: There is no cure. Options include supplements for nutritional deficiencies, medication to relieve dry mouth and control nerve damage, cognitive behavior therapy and oral rinses.
Case report: In 2001, a report in The Annals of Pharmacotherapy tells of a 52- year-old woman who complained of burning mouth symptoms. She had been taking the drug alprazolam for anxiety, but was switched to clonazepam because of increased anxiety. Clonazepam relieved her symptoms, but after four weeks of therapy, she reported an oral burning sensation. The dosage was reduced, and the symptoms decreased, but remained intolerable. When clonazepam was discontinued, the symptoms resolved.
Urban sprawl
Could the street where you live be making you fat? That’s what a study of 450,000 Americans suggests.
Ken Smith and colleagues at the University of Utah gleaned the height, weight and address details of people living in the Salt Lake City area from a database of drivers’ licenses. They then used census and map data to score neighborhoods on various measures of “walkability.” People with a lower body mass index — indicating they are thinner rather than fatter — tended to live in areas with older buildings and where a higher proportion of people walked to work. The average difference in BMI between the top and bottom 25 percent of neighborhoods was 1.28 for men — equating to 10 pounds for someone just under 6 feet tall — and 0.95 for women, or seven pounds for someone 5z 1/4 eet tall.
Building age is a factor in Salt Lake City, Smith says, as older houses tend to be surrounded by sidewalks, trees and shade, and to be close to shops, making it “easy and pleasant” to walk compared with newer neighborhoods. “Older homes were built with pedestrians in mind.”
Making cities more walkable won’t necessarily keep people in trim, however, as they may choose areas to suit their behavior, rather than vice versa, he says.
