Bug be gone.An experimental device kills head lice head lice Pediculosis capitis Public health A louse transmitted in crowded conditions–eg, day care centers, homeless shelters Treatment Topical insecticides–permethrin, synergized pymethrin, malathion. See Crabs. by blow-drying them to death, offering a potential alternative to chemical treatments and tedious combing combing, process that follows carding in the preparation of fibers for spinning, lays the fibers parallel, and removes noils (short fibers). The modern combing machine is a specialized carding machine. . As lice have become resistant to chemical shampoos, scientists have been trying new approaches (SN: 8/20/05, p. 116). Researchers tested several blowers against lice and their eggs, or nits, on 169 children with head lice. The scientists randomly assigned the kids to get treatment with one of several devices, including a bonnet-style hair dryer, a hand-held hair dryer, a wall-mounted hair dryer, and an experimental high-volume blower that has a special rake that lifts hair into the strong air stream. All devices blew warm air. Applied for 30 minutes to the scalp, each device killed at least 88 percent of the nits, the researchers report in the November Pediatrics. But the high-volume blower also slew 80 percent of the lice. The bonnet bonnet usually worn along with new clothes on Easter Sunday. (“Oh, I could write a sonnet about your Easter bonnet.”) [Christian Tradition: Misc.; Am. Music: Irving Berlin, “Easter Parade”] See : Easter dryer, handheld blow dryer, and wall-mounted dryer killed 10, 55, and 62 percent of the lice, respectively, says Dale H. Clayton of the University of Utah The University of Utah (also The U or the U of U or the UU), located in Salt Lake City, is the flagship public research university in the state of Utah, and one of 10 institutions that make up the Utah System of Higher Education. and Larada Sciences in Salt Lake City, a university spin-off The situation that arises when a parent corporation organizes a subsidiary corporation, to which it transfers a portion of its assets in exchange for all of the subsidiary's capital stock, which is subsequently transferred to the parent corporation's shareholders. company that plans to commercialize the new device. While it's unclear how the lice die, Clayton suspects that the air dries out their breathing pores. His team is now testing the device, called the LouseBuster, against shampoos in a head-to-head trial.--N S. |
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