
Top Stories 
Published On January 15, 2010
CLINICAL RESEARCH
A Pungent Problem
Americans spent $6.7 billion on mouth-freshening products in 2007, but popping a mint or gargling green stuff is no match for hardcore halitosis.
25
Percentage of adults worldwide affected by chronic halitosis, or bad breath, most of which is caused by oral bacteria’s breaking down proteins and producing volatile sulfur compounds that coat the tongue
615
Number of bacteria species that researchers at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine counted in the human mouth
15
Percentage of halitosis cases that originate somewhere other than the mouth, as the result, for instance, of sinus infections, diabetes, kidney failure and metabolic disorders (about 19)
5
Highest number on the organoleptic scale (for which trained experts sniff and rate a person’s breath), denoting “extremely foul odor”
25–34
Age range during which the incidence of halitosis is greatest, according to a study, published in 2005, of patients at the Department of Conservative Dentistry in Warsaw, Poland
6.7 billion
Dollars spent in 2007 on mouth-freshening products in the United States
10
Number of questions on a survey created to assess a halitosis patient’s psychological state; patients who complain of bad breath but have no detectable halitosis could be suffering from pseudo-halitosis (imagined halitosis) or halitophobia (an obsessive-compulsive disorder)
10
Percentage of people who would inform a friend or family member if he or she had persistent bad breath, according to a recent poll of 1,500 patients at a dental practice in Cheshire, England
Dispatches

What Makes a Kid Clumsy? More research into coordination disorders shows why some children are more prone to trip, fumble and spill the milk.

Eyes in the Sky Satellite data can be used to assess the health impact of dust storms and the spread of mosquito-borne diseases. Additional applications could be on the horizon.

Could This One Change Help Curb the Opioid Crisis? To prescribe an effective bridge to addiction treatment, emergency physicians must get special training and receive a waiver. Making that process easier—or eliminating the requirement altogether—could make a big impact.

One Thing Leads to the Next Robert Lefkowitz is best known for revealing the mechanism behind hundreds of drugs in use today. But he thinks of himself as a storyteller first and has a new book out to make his case.

Podcast: The Research Year That Was Medical research labs have faced a difficult stretch of closed buildings and competing priorities. Yet they have also produced milestone discoveries—and not only on COVID-19.

The Shape of Us Two milestone discoveries in protein modeling promise to change the fundamentals of drug discovery.

Universal Flu Vaccines Move Forward In the shadow of coronavirus vaccine development, another vaccine was making solid progress.

Top Stories 

The Neuroscience of Giving Up
Why do some people react poorly, even catastrophically, in emergency situations?