An Ig Nobel, i.e., an alternative Nobel is awarded for research which make people smile, but later make them think. The idea behind the competition came from Marc Abrahams from Harvard University, the editor of the satirical magazine “Annals of Improbable Research” and the awards are handed over by the laureates of the original Nobel prize winners.
Some part of the awarded works is indeed very funny. However, studies presenting valuable data and findings prevail. The competition itself aims to disseminate science, and it is perceived positively in the scientific community. If we look back at the lists of the previous winners, we are going to notice both the previous as well as the future “real” Noble prize winners.
- The research which resulted in us receiving an Ig Nobel was a part of a larger project, which aimed to improve the security of automatic marrow transplants – says Emilian Snarski, PhD, one of the authors of the research. He goes on to add that this is the first Ig Nobel for an entirely Polish project, and the first one in medicine for Polish nationals.
Before engraftment, the sufferers of multiple myeloma receive melphalan, which often causes complication in the form of mucositis and erosion of the oral cavity.
- We intended to reduce the risk of oral mucositis in our patients. Using cryotherapy in this situation was not a new idea. However, the available publications mentioned ice cubes which were to be sucked by the patient for an hour or two. We decided to use ordinary ice cream, hoping that the most important effect would be to simply cool down the mucous membranes – says senior doctorate Snarski.
It turned out that it works. – The number of cases of mucous membrane inflammation decreased from nearly 60 percent to 30 percent. And even in these 30 percent, the inflammatory condition was less severe. The patients which received ice cream did not require analgesics or hyperalimentation, and they go through the engraftment procedure much less severely – emphasizes senior doctorate Snarski.
As it turns out, a simple and a cheap intervention can protect numerous patients from complications. This is the greatest message of this work.
The awarded research was published last year in “Scientific Reports”. Today it generates exceptionally high interest. This is seen in PubMed by the number of downloads. 4 thousand during the past 48 hours. This also shows how much Ig Nobels promote the awarded works.