METRO Thursday, October 15, 2009 D With the 50c City Centre Fare from Dublin Bus, you can pop around town in no time for a coffee or two with friends. This Fare is valid within a special City Centre Zone - just ask the driver for a City Centre Fare when you board any bus where you see the pink sign, stating your destination within the City Centre Zone*. Thanks to improved bus priority including the College Green Bus Corridor and QBCs, transport into and around Dublin City has never been quicker. Available where you see this sign. For full details on the City Centre Fare see www.dublinbus.ie Get the bus and a skinny mocha-chino-whatever with the City Centre Fare. *Excluding Nitelink, Airlink, Xpresso services, flat fare services, Ferry services, Tours, Special Events and Private Contract services. www.dublinbus.ie A spoonful of sugar could be better than medicine A MEDICAL lecturer who uses sugar to heal wounds has won a 25,000 (26,800) grant to develop his tribal remedy. Zimbabwean-born Moses Murandu stunned doctors when he sprinkled granulated sugar on infected cuts. Incredibly, it cured 21 patients at the Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham, UK, in three weeks quicker than conventional medicines. Mr Murandu will use the grant to treat 100 more patients at four hospitals. The lecturer from Wolverhampton University said: While salt is painful, sugar is not and it reduces the pain drastically. Sugar is also much cheaper than expensive medicines and it has proven to be just as effective. The sugar absorbs water particles which stops bacteria from feeding on the tissue underneath, doctors found. Mr Murandu learned the treatment from his father, who was a medicine man in the Zimbabwean village of Mutasa. Robot doctor starts work IRELANDS first robotic doctor has begun working in Dublins Tallaght Hospital. The robot allows a medical specialist to examine a patient in the emergency department from a remote location. The specialist can speak to the patient, view scans and consult with the medical team. Tallaght Hospital is using the Remote Presence Robot (RP7) to diagnose strokes quickly, so that clot-busting drugs can be administered within the four-and- a-half hour target time, improving the chances of recovery. An assistant to German artist Ottmar Hoerl positions a gnome in the installation Dance with the Devil on a square in Straubing, southern Germany. The exhibition with 1,250 gnomes showing a Hitler salute opens today Picture: AP ALL HeIL tHe gnomAn empIre tongue studs could cause fatal brain abscesses DEADLY brain abscesses should be added to the list of risks of having a tongue piercing, say doctors. The journal Archives of Neurology has reported that a 22-year-old man died in hospital following multiple brain ab- scesses just weeks after getting his tongue pierced. The mans Israeli doctors warn infec- tion can spread in the bloodstream from the piercing up to the brain. Piercing can more commonly lead to chipped teeth and oral infections, and sometimes heart problems, say experts. Despite the risks, tongue piercings re- main popular. The clear message is that oral piercing is ill advised and should be avoided, said Professor Damien Walmsley, scien- tific adviser to the British Dental Asso- ciation Celebrities such as Spice Girl Mel B and Keith Flint from The Prodigy have had their tongues pierced. However, ex- perts say people should think twice and put their health before fashion. Professor Walmsley added: Dentists are all too aware of the health problems that can be caused by oral piercings. There are many potential complica- tions, ranging from pain and swelling to chipped or cracked teeth. Patients who have oral piercings can also suffer with recession of the gums and prolonged bleeding. Piercing of oral sites also carries with it a risk of infection. Problems associated with body pierc- ing can be down to poor hygiene during the procedure or people failing to heed advice about follow-up care at home. Professional piercers maintain that hy- gienic precision piercing rarely causes complications. By cOn DOHerTy Tongue piercing: Keith Flint index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html24.html25.html26.html27.html28.html29.html30.html31.html