The number of people hospitalized for eating disorders (anorexia, bulimia) doubled in 2020 from 2019, with the median hospital stay growing from nine to 12 days.
Researchers say there are a number of possible reasons, all related to the COVID-19 pandemic: a focus on obesity as a COVID risk factor led to unhealthy dieting; fear of contagion during grocery store visits, resulting in buying and eating too much; families noticed eating disorders in college-age children because they were home again.
A New mRNA Vaccine Ticks Closer
Each year, almost 500,000 Americans are diagnosed and treated for Lyme disease, a condition caused by biting ticks carrying the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi. Most cases are successfully treated with antibiotics but some cases linger for months or years.
Researchers have successfully tested an mRNA vaccine on guinea pigs that effectively induces biting ticks to jump off before they start feeding properly or infect the guinea pigs. When vaccinated guinea pigs were bitten, their skin turned red but that passed without any further ill effect.
Body of Knowledge
A study some years ago surveyed male members of Mensa, the high intelligence society, and found they were more likely to have hairy bodies, especially their backs. The same researcher examined photos of top-ranked boxers and determined that world champions were less hairy than nonchampions — all of which is neither hair nor there.
Counts
700,000 to 1.6 million: Estimated range of persons in the U.S. diagnosed with COVID-19 who include loss of sense of smell as one of their symptoms
50 million: Estimated number of COVID-19 cases in U.S. since pandemic began
Source: JAMA Otolaryngology
Doc Talk
Gossypiboma: a term to describe a foreign object, such as a mass of surgical sponge, mistakenly left inside a patient’s body after a surgical procedure. Also sometimes called a textiloma or cottonoid.
Mania of the Week
Klazomania: a compulsion to shout or scream
Food for Thought
Liquid smoke is a byproduct of burning wood. The exhaust of a wood fire is primarily smoke and steam; fire produces water in the form of vapor, and this vapor, condensed through a cooled tubing, captures the smoke. The liquid is distilled into a concentrate and filtered of impurities, i.e., soot and ash.
Best Medicine
Q: A doctor, health insurance agent and lab technician walk into a bar. Who pays the tab?
A: The patient.
Hypochondriac’s Guide
In scientific literature, hyperthymesia is better known as highly superior autobiographical memory or HSAM, which pretty much describes what the condition is: the ability to accurately recall an abnormally large number of life experiences in vivid detail.
It’s very rare, with only 60 or so diagnosed cases known. Remembering everything seems like it might be useful, but persons with HSAM say the constant, irrepressible stream of memories disrupts ordinary life and is mentally exhausting.
Observation
“The only weapon with which the unconscious patient can immediately retaliate upon the incompetent surgeon is the hemorrhage.” — American surgeon William Stewart Halsted (1852-1922). Halsted is considered a surgical pioneer, an early champion of using anesthesia during procedures
Medical History
This week in 1997, Hong Kong began killing its entire chicken population of up to 1.4 million birds to stem the spread of a mysterious avian flu that had already killed four people. The Hong Kong government decision came after birds at two sites were found to be infected with the H5N1 virus. Birds at the territory’s 200 chicken and mixed poultry farms were placed in sealed containers and gassed. Owners of close to 1,000 provision shops and market stalls were ordered to kill their stock. The disinfected carcasses were sealed in plastic bags and buried at six landfill sites. The government compensated those whose stock was destroyed.
Perishable Publications
Many, if not most, published research papers have titles that defy comprehension. They use specialized jargon, complex words and opaque phrases like “nonlinear dynamics.” Sometimes they don’t, yet they’re still hard to figure out. Here’s an actual title of an actual published research study: “A ‘Rose Is a Rose Is a Rose Is a Rose,’ But Exactly What Is a Gastric Adenocarcinoma?”
This guest editorial in the Journal of Surgical Oncology in 1998 was actually addressing a topic of robust medical debate, from which many opinions, uh, arose. One thing is for certain: A gastric adenocarcinoma is not a flower. It’s a form of stomach cancer.
Self-Exam
Q: How many bones do you have in your neck?
a) 7
b) 9
c) 12
d) 15
A: a) 7
Bonus points: How many bones does a giraffe have in its neck?
Answer: Seven.
Medical Myths
Snacking does not increase your metabolism — at least not in a way that might suggest it somehow boosts calorie burn and related weight loss. Every time you eat, your metabolic rate bumps up slightly as your body digests, absorbs and assimilates nutrients, but eating frequently does not increase the 24-hour metabolic rate. The temporary bump in metabolic rate from eating is called the thermic effect of food. It’s related to what you eat. It is not related to how often you eat.
Put another way, if you ate the exact same food amounting to 1600 calories in three meals or in three meals and three snacks, the thermic effect of food will be the same at the end of the day, as will your 24-hour metabolic rate.
Epitaphs
“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” — Tombstone of author F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940)
To find out more about Scott LaFee and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com
