Happy January!
Wishing a slightly-early Happy Birthday to Mom, who again
will celebrate her 35th birthday on Friday (take the day off!)
I'm behind with health updates. Instead of attaching 3 newletters to this
e-mail, here's a link should you want to read them in full:
Recent highlights:
- The government shutdown is a hardship on both government employees and American citizens who depend on them. The USDA says it's found enough money ($5B) to keep providing food stamps to 44 million Americans through February. That includes about 1.4 million veterans and 23,000 active duty military families.
- I'm a sucker for stories of brain-eating amoebas. Picture yourself going swimming in your favorite lake on a hot summer day. As soon as you duck your head under water, a lethal microbe swims up your nose and buries itself into your brain to feed. Since 1962, only 4 of 143 cases of the brain-eating Naegleria fowleri amoeba have survived. Massachusetts researchers may have found a way to combat the amoeba.
a strain of bacteria found in parasitic worms might be
3X more effective at repelling mosquitos than DEET. Scientists are looking to see if it's safe
for humans. And before you ask, no...you
don't have to eat the worms and you don't have to rub them up and down on your
body.- "how weird is that?" -- lone star ticks prefer female hosts over males
- 44% of U.S. physicians are burned out, and 15% are depressed and thinking about suicide. Guess being the highest paid occupations in the world doesn't quite compensate for the work.
- "what's in your food this week?" --> well, with the government shutdown, the FDA is doing about 1/3 of its normal inspections. Good luck...good luck to us all.
- Americans now have a 1 in 96 chance of death from opioid overdose...higher than the 1 in 103 risk of dying in an auto crash.
- Steer clear of air bases in Georgia. The groundwater is contaminated from years of them using a toxic firefighting foam. The sites are all southeast of Atlanta: Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Cobb County, Robins Air Force Base in Houston County and Moody Air Force Base in Lowndes County.
- A review of 56 studies on the use of natural versus artificial sugar sweeteners concludes there is no health benefit or risk to either. That means, no impact on your teeth, behavior, kidney and heart disease, and -- what do you know -- weight.
- 72 years ago, in the 1940s, Johns Hopkins University, Bristol-Myers and the Rockefeller Foundation infected hundreds of people with syphilis so that they could test then-new penicillin. The piper has come calling now with a massive lawsuit.
- U.S. citizens spend 25% more on health care than any other developed country. Not necessarily to get better care, but to pay higher prices for drugs, doctor and nurse salaries, and hospital charges.
- People who use creams for dry and itchy skin can burst
into flames. Yes, flames. Flammable emollients in creams can build up
in clothing and bed sheets, and even washing doesn't completely eliminate the
chance that you'll become a human torch.
Guess that will cure your itch, eh?
- Cubans have discovered that a monthly sting by a scorpion keeps the rheumatism away. Seriously.
- Johnson & Johnson executives knew since 1971 that its baby powder contained asbestos...wonder if their own children and grandchildren used it?
Have a great week folks!
