Health

Does the "cotton swab" used to measure nucleic acid contain carcinogens? groundless statement

2022-05-05   

With the start of the anti epidemic war in Beijing, in the process of large-scale nucleic acid screening, new rumors about Xinguan nucleic acid detection also took the opportunity to rub the heat. For example, you can't eat oranges or drink coke before doing the coronavirus antigen test, which will change the pH in your mouth and lead to a positive test result. For another example, the cotton swab used to make nucleic acid "poke the throat" contains fluorescent agent, which can cause cancer and so on. What is the truth? The latest issue of "science" rumor list refuted the above rumor about the new crown. The monthly "science" rumor list is guided by the Beijing Science and Technology Association, the network information office of the Beijing Municipal Party committee and the capital Internet association, and jointly released by the Beijing Science and technology journalists' editing Association and the Beijing website refutation platform. Rumor: the sampling swab detected by Xinguan is toxic truth There are rumors that the cotton swabs used for nucleic acid detection and antigen detection are stained with toxic carcinogens such as fluorescent agents, which will lead to pharyngitis and even cancer. In fact, the swab used for detection and sampling does not contain any reagent, nor does it need to contain reagent. At the same time, the sampling swab belongs to medical devices, and the basic requirement is non-toxic and harmless. The claim that the sampling swab is "toxic" is completely nonsense. The cotton swab in daily life is made of absorbent cotton. The sampling swab looks similar to the ordinary "cotton swab", but the top is actually a flocking swab. The flocking swab is made of nylon fiber flocking technology, and the front end is coated with nylon short fiber fixed vertically, so that there is no absorption hole in the collection area of the whole collection swab. In this way, the collected samples will not be dispersed and retained in the fiber, which is conducive to faster and more efficient sample elution. Relevant data show that flocking swabs can elute more than 85% of the sample collection volume. In contrast, cotton swabs made of absorbent cotton can not completely collect and elute samples due to their strong absorption capacity. Rumor: eating oranges and drinking Coke will lead to positive antigen test truth Novel coronavirus antigen detection kit has been put on the market, making rapid detection more convenient. However, will the self-test results of specific groups be affected by factors such as diet? Antigen detection shall be carried out in strict accordance with the instructions. If the operation does not meet the standards, the results obtained are meaningless, but the antigen detection results cannot be considered inaccurate. The principle of detection kit is simply to capture virus antigen through specific antibody, but the combination of antigen and antibody needs to occur at an appropriate pH value (PH). Under normal circumstances, the sample treatment solution soaked in the swab contains a buffer system, which can ensure the binding of antigen and antibody at the appropriate pH. However, if cola, orange juice and other liquids are directly dropped on the antigen detection kit, the inappropriate pH value will cause nonspecific false positive results. So, can you do antigen detection after eating acidic food? The answer is yes. After sampling, the swab needs to be soaked in the sample treatment solution before testing. The sample treatment solution contains Tris glycine, high concentration sodium chloride and other substances, which can effectively stabilize the structure of gold labeled antibody and avoid interfering with the reaction. As long as the collected swab is mixed with the sample treatment solution according to the standard operation process, there is no need to worry about the false positive test caused by acidic substances. Rumor: sleeping East-West can lead to insomnia truth Some people think that when sleeping, the body should conform to the direction of the earth's magnetic field, that is, lying in the north-south direction. Sleeping with things can lead to insomnia. In fact, the earth's magnetic field has little impact on the human body. In this regard, experts from the sleep disorder cooperation group of the Chinese Medical Association said that human beings are in various magnetic fields all the time, and the human body also has magnetic fields, but the human body's magnetic field is one thousandth of the earth's magnetic field strength, and a certain balance has been established between the two. Therefore, the earth's magnetic field has little impact on the human body. At present, there is no research to confirm that the direction of lying down will affect the quality of sleep. Insomnia is mainly caused by sleep rhythm disorder. For example, often changing work and rest time, sleeping late and getting up late, and doing things unrelated to sleep in bed (reading books and playing mobile phones) may affect human rhythm and aggravate insomnia. In addition, insomnia is also affected by age, genetic factors, health environment and so on. Mental diseases and medication will also lead to sleep disorders in varying degrees. It is precisely because there are many reasons for insomnia, so the treatment of insomnia can not be "one thousand people", and targeted treatment schemes should be given, including improving sleep environment, establishing good living and rest habits, improving emotional state, appropriate drugs and physical therapy. Rumor: frequent "hand shaking" is Parkinson's disease truth The term "hand shaking" is called tremor, which is a typical symptom of Parkinson's disease in the eyes of the public. However, the presence of hand shaking symptoms does not mean that there must be Parkinson's disease. Tremor can also be caused by psychological stress, muscle fatigue or taking some drugs. On the other hand, not all patients with Parkinson's disease tremble - some patients only have the stiffness of their limbs without tremor, which is called non tremor Parkinson's disease. In fact, bradykinesia is the core symptom of Parkinson's disease. Patients may feel that fine movements such as brushing teeth and beating eggs are inflexible, their arms cannot swing freely when walking, their writing becomes smaller, and their expression becomes dull. Patients may also have trunk roll, limb involuntary movement or obvious postural abnormalities in some periods, which is called dyskinesia or dystonia in medicine. With the progress of Parkinson's disease, the patient will not be able to walk or lie in bed independently, and eventually fall down with the progress of Parkinson's disease. In addition, Parkinson's disease also has many non motor symptoms, including olfactory failure, depression, sleep problems, decreased intelligence, frequent urination, intractable constipation and so on. It usually needs the joint participation of multiple disciplines to provide a better comprehensive treatment plan. We can't just look at whether the "hand trembles". Rumor: negative pressure ward will cause patients to have difficulty breathing truth The negative pressure ward mainly treats patients with infectious diseases transmitted through aerosol and droplet respiratory tract. Because the air pressure in this kind of ward is lower than that outside the ward, only fresh air outside is allowed to flow into the ward. The air polluted by pathogens in the ward will not leak out, but will be discharged to a fixed place in time through a special channel. Although the air pressure in the negative pressure ward is lower than that in the outside world, it is generally only 15 PA less, while the atmospheric pressure on the ground is generally about 100 kPa, and the change of 15 Pa will not affect the patient's breathing at all. Moreover, the professional negative pressure ward is equipped with fresh air equipment. The fresh air entering the ward needs to be purified, and the discharged air also needs to be fully treated to ensure safety before it can be discharged into the external environment. Rumor: Taking "smart medicine" can improve candidates' concentration truth Seeing that the college entrance examination season is coming, some parents hope to buy "smart medicine" to improve their children's concentration in order to make their children achieve good results. The so-called medicine that can "improve concentration" was once popular among candidates and parents, online writers, postgraduate entrance examination and public examination in the name of "smart medicine". In fact, "smart drugs" are actually central nervous system stimulants such as modafinil, Ritalin and Minda, which belong to a class of controlled psychotropic drugs. Such drugs are clinically used to treat children's attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, severe narcolepsy, etc. healthy people will feel energetic at the beginning of taking them, but they will soon show side effects such as nausea, insomnia and headache, and may also form drug dependence. Rumor: the food made of glutinous rice is difficult to digest truth People think glutinous rice is difficult to digest, probably because Tangyuan, yuanxiao, Babao rice and other foods also contain a lot of sugar and fat, giving people a "greasy" feeling. In fact, "sticky" glutinous rice is easier to digest than other pasta. The staple foods people often eat, such as rice and white flour, mainly contain amylose, while more than 99% of glutinous rice is amylopectin. Its molecular structure is more forked, so it is easier to gelatinize. When the human digestive system decomposes starch, it hydrolyzes it from the molecular end, so amylopectin with many branches is actually more efficient to be hydrolyzed and digested. However, because of the faster digestion, compared with the rice flour we usually eat, the glycemic index (GI) of glutinous rice is also faster (GI of rice is 82, while GI of glutinous rice is 87), so we shouldn't eat too much at a time. (outlook new era)

Edit:Yuanqi Tang Responsible editor:Xiao Yu

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