Time flus
We’re in the fourth winter in the Age of COVID, but experts say this season of respiratory ailments appears to be returning to pre-pandemic normalcy. Anti-COVID efforts like masking and social distancing put a damper on the spread of colds and influenza in recent years, but they appear to be coming back in normal numbers and at normal times.
Early signs indicate a more familiar pattern of cases, portending a winter more like those we knew before COVID. The question remains how SARS-2 will alter this pattern. It’s not clear yet whether COVID will become primarily a seasonal threat, though many experts think it’s heading that way.
Body of knowledge
Minor facial scars have little or no effect on ratings of attractiveness, according to studies, but more dramatic scarring — at least on men — may make them more appealing to women (at least in the short term).
The scarring, however, was most effective if it suggested action or trauma, rather than, say, teenage acne.
Get me that. Stat!
Speaking of COVID, a Chinese study found that three-quarters of persons evaluated who experienced long COVID were reinfected compared to two-thirds of people who recovered from COVID but had no persistent problems. People with long COVID were also more likely to develop pneumonia and other new or worsening symptoms, reported STAT.
Doc talk
Phobia of the week
Life in Big Macs
One hour of personal grooming (shaving, putting on makeup, styling hair, etc.) burns 136 calories (based on a 150-pound person) or the equivalent of 0.2 Big Macs.
Hypochondriac’s guide
Methemoglobinemia is a very rare blood disorder in which the skin turns a Smurf-like shade of blue. It’s caused by overproduction of methemoglobin, a form of hemoglobin in the blood, which disrupts proper distribution of oxygen throughout the body. The result is blue skin, purple lips and brown-colored blood. The condition can be inherited but usually happens when people use certain medications or are exposed to certain chemicals. Treatment involves reducing methemoglobin levels to eliminate symptoms.
Observation
“A grave is a place where the dead are laid to await the coming of the medical student.”
Medical history
This week in 1964, the first angioplasty was performed by Dr. Charles Dotter, a vascular radiologist. The procedure, which deploys a balloon to stretch open narrowed or blocked arteries, was used as an alternative to an anticipated leg amputation. The method involved no costly, traumatic surgery, no stitches and left no scars. The patient left with only a Band-Aid covering the incision.
It was the beginnings of minimally invasive, image-guided procedures. In 1978, Dotter was nominated for a Nobel Prize in Medicine but did not win.
Ig Nobel apprised
The Ig Nobel Prizes celebrate achievements that make people laugh, then think. A look at real science that’s hard to take seriously, and even harder to ignore.
In 2023, the Ig Nobel Prize in public health went to Seung-min Park and colleagues for inventing the Stanford (University) Toilet, a device that uses a variety of technologies, such as dipstick test strip for urine, a computer vision system for defecation analysis, an anal-print sensor paired with an identification camera and a telecommunications link that can analyze the substances that humans excrete.
All presumably based on the idea that you can neither go or know too much.
Sum body
Five components of the integumentary system:
1. Skin
2. Hair
3. Nails
4. Sweat glands
5. Oil glands
Curtain calls
One hundred and five years ago this week, an immense vat at a Boston molasses processing plant burst, sending its contents flooding into nearby streets. It’s estimated that the wave of molasses reached an estimated 35 miles per hour.
The molasses flood killed 21 and injured 150 people. A far greater toll than the 1814 beer flood in London when a brewing vessel burst, releasing 3,555 barrels of Porter beer, killing eight. A dark day.
LaFee is vice president of communications for the Sanford Burnham Prebys research institute.
