I have two hot water systems—a tankless by Rinnai and a Rheem Platinum Performance gas heater with a tank. I use the tankless more than the one with the water tank since it is more cost-effective. Gas heaters with tanks have to turn on and off the gas burner to keep the water hot, while…
Category: Miscellaneous
A Repost for Mothers’ Day
This article is a repost from 2021. Still appropriate for Mothers’ Day. Fetal microchimerism is when the fetal cells travel outside the fetus and embed in the mother’s body during pregnancy. Those fetal cells can stay with the mother for decades and affect her health. The Chimera is a Greek mythological creature with parts taken…
High Tech Nursing Home care in Japan
This article presents a video from NHK Japan about using technology to improve the nursing home for the elderly. The video has four parts. The first is using sensors in bed to monitor the sleep pattern of the residents. Second, are video cameras that detect movement and falls. The third is about odor sensors that…
Anoxic Brain Injury
This article is a follow-up to Myocarditis is more common than Commotio Cardis. I remembered that American football players wear shoulder pads extending to the chest, and I wondered how effective chest compressions would be with the protective equipment. In cardiopulmonary resuscitation, the standard established by the American Heart Association for the depth of chest…
Myocarditis is more common than Commotio Cardis
When doctors make a diagnosis, several things are considered. How often does that condition happen? In what situation or age group does that illness affect? Last night on Monday Night Football, millions of NFL fans saw something familiar to soccer fans for the first time. A player who went into cardiac arrest. Damar Hamlin, a…
Merry Christmas!
I wish all my readers a very Merry Christmas! May everyone experience the joy of celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, our Savior. I am sharing a message from one of my favorite priests, Fr. John Corapi.
Thanks for Buying Me Coffee!
Many thanks to the following for buying me a coffee! I removed Google advertising from my website because they wanted to censor me. Steve G bought me three coffees on June 12, 2023 “Thank you for your great effort” Laura RN bought five coffees – on June 1, 2023 “Thank you for shedding light over…
Microplastics in breast milk
A new study showed that microplastics are present in human breast milk. Using Raman spectroscopy, particles of polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and polypropylene with sizes ranging from 2 to 12 micrometers were found in women’s breast milk. In their abstract, The widespread use of plastics determines the inevitable human exposure to its by-products, including microplastics (MPs),…
The Projected Rise in Global Dementia
In February 2022, Lancet published a paper that forecasted an almost three-fold increase in the number of people with dementia. From 57·4 million cases globally in 2019 to 152·8 million cases in 2050.[1] The Dementia Forecasting Collaborators authored the paper. They estimated that there were more women with dementia than men with dementia in 2019…
Oncolytic viruses – viruses that dissolve cancer
Yesterday I posted Remission of Hodgkin lymphoma with SARS-CoV-2. It was about a man whose blood cancer (Hodgkin’s lymphoma) disappeared four months after he contracted COVID-19. Oncolytic viruses can dissolve (lyse) cancer (onco) cells. Research into the use of viruses for cancer treatment has been ongoing for the past few decades. The following are genetically modified…
Spleen glia connects the immune and nervous system
Years ago, a patient told me her emotions changed after her hysterectomy. At that time, I wondered if some nerve tissue was present in the uterus that, when removed, affected her. Recently, I read Glial cells may take on big jobs in unexpected body parts on Science News referring to a study that showed glial cells in…
How to wash raw chicken to prevent bacterial contamination
This article shows how to properly wash chicken meat to avoid bacterial contamination on surrounding surfaces. The technique comes from the engineers, chemists, and mathematicians from Montana State University and a microbiologist from the University of Chemistry and Technology in the Czech Republic. They published their work in the Physics of Fluids in March 2022….
The amount of food intake changes the size of the intestines
I always wondered why some skinny people don’t gain weight even if they eat a lot. And then there is the opposite. Overweight people will gain weight even on days that they don’t eat a lot. I suppose that it has something to do with the eating habit and the size of the intestines. People…
Serotonin levels do not correlate with depression
Antidepressants are one of the most popular drugs in the US. According to the CDC, during 2015–2018, 13.2% of adults used antidepressants. Prozac (fluoxetine), Paxil (Paroxetine), Celexa (Citalopram), and Zoloft (Sertraline) are popular Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI) used to treat depression. The idea behind using the SSRIs came from the serotonin theory of depression,…
Mother’s Day and Fetal Microchimerism
Fetal microchimerism is when the fetal cells travel outside the fetus and embed in the mother’s body during pregnancy. Those fetal cells can stay with the mother for decades and affect her health. The Chimera is a Greek mythological creature with parts taken from different animals. The Benefits to the Baby The fetus has a…