"Doc Shop" was the idea of a Texas hospital. The program allows prospective patients to have 5-minute interviews with each of approximately 12 OB-GYN doctors. It's free, lasts about an hour and even includes lunch. Notices about upcoming Doc Shops are sent to e-mail addresses in the hospital's data base, posted on Facebook and Twitter and advertised at local businesses. Since the program was started in the fall of 2009, there have been 4 shops. Ten more are planned for 2010 and will include pediatrician shopping. It's a lot like speed dating without the dating - but perhaps with more lasting relationships.
Because there are about 100 different bacteria that grow on human skin, a scientist at Colorado University/Boulder had the idea to use them as bacterial fingerprints. Everyone has bacterial communities on their bodies that are unique to them. Because these communities don't change very much, they can be used for identification. After swabbing the bacterial DNA from 3 computer keyboards, the scientists were able to match it to the bacteria on the fingertips of the computer owners. Bacteria can be matched even after 2 weeks on surfaces. In the future bacterial ID technology is expected to be "germ-ane" to forensic investigations.
After 30 years the Army came up with the idea to modernize its fitness training in order to adapt to actual battlefield experiences. Bayonet drills and 5-mile runs are out. Zigzag sprints and honing core muscles are in. There are more calisthenics to build body power, strength and agility. Over the 10 weeks of basic training, there's a strict schedule of exercises, which are done on different days so muscles can rest, recover and strengthen. Having soldiers fit for today's wars is a good idea. Having no wars for the soldiers to go to is a better idea.
Good ideas solve problems, but solving some problems - like those caused by golf balls - requires more than one good idea. At a golf course in Northern Ireland a raven had been stealing golf balls. Because the raven seemed to think the balls were eggs, golfers changed to yellow balls. At the only golf course on the South Pacific island of Tonga, there's no penalty if a monkey steals your ball. At a golf club in Uganda golfers get a free drop if their ball lands in a hippo footprint. Ideas like these keep golfers from going "ball-istic".
Honeybees are more energy-efficient than any human-built machine. In 1957 a Canadian scientist devised an experiment to find out how far a bee could travel on a gallon of honey. After a bee was given all the honey it could eat, it was tethered painlessly to a pole; and the pole measured the distanced flown by the rotating bee. From that information the scientist calculated the flight efficiency of a bee = .5 mg per 1 km. Thus on a gallon of honey a honeybee could go 4,704,280 miles. Obviously, car manufacturers need to get "beesy".
Supermarkets need to keep lights on. Light keeps vegetables fresher longer. According to a study by government researchers, light helps spinach produce vitamins. Spinach is usually displayed in clear plastic at approximately 39 degrees Fahrenheit under florescent light. After the researchers kept spinach in continuous light or darkness for 3-9 days, the spinach in darkness lost vitamins. However, the spinach in light produced more vitamins. In turn, the vitamins promoted photosynthesis. Even after spinach is picked - as long as there is moisture, gas exchange and light - spinach continues to photosynthesize - which enabled the researchers to "see the light".
According to researchers at Business Week magazine Portland, Oregon is the most depressed U.S. City in 2010. The 50 largest metro areas were ranked based on such categories as crime (property and violent), divorce, suicide, unemployment and cloudy days - 1 being highest. The depression rate was calculated from drug-company data and antidepressant sales based on population. Portland ranked #1 because of a depression rate of 1, a divorce rate of 4, a suicide rate of 12, a crime rate of 24, 7.8% unemployment and 222 cloudy days. St. Louis was #2 and New Orleans, #3 - slightly less depressing rankings.
Portland may be depressing; but according to a survey by the Internet site "Real Simple", Portland ranks #2 among easy-living cities. The cities were ranked 1-5 in five categories: getting around, health and safety, information and technology, green time-savers and lifestyle. Portland ranked 4.5, 4.5, 4, 4.5, and 4 respectively - totaling 21.5. Portland has the fourth largest, light-rail system; fast emergency services, resulting in one of the highest cardiac-survival rates; and 450 gourmet food carts around the city. Seattle, however, ranked #1 (22.5) and San Francisco, #3 (21). It seems New Orleans - "The Big Easy" - isn't the biggest easy.
Andy Moore, a 61-year-old plastic surgeon in Lexington, Kentucky, started "Surgery on Sunday". The program provides free outpatient surgical care to uninsured Kentuckians. Hospital space is donated; surgeons, nurses, anesthesiologists and receptionists volunteer; and donations and private foundations cover the cost. With approximately 1,500 patients on the waiting list, patients are seen based on the urgency of their conditions - with gall bladder, hernia and colonoscopies being the most frequent procedures. On the third Sunday of every month since 2005, more than 3,100 of the working poor have been treated - making Surgery on Sunday's abbreviation very appropriate - SOS.
Allen Whittamore, a resident of Dover, England, died at the age of 85 from emphysema. Because he attributed his lung disease to smoking as a youth, his dying wish was to warn young people about the dangers of smoking. To do this Whittamore had signs made that looked like the health warning on a pack of cigarettes. The signs read, "Smoking Killed Me". The signs were placed in the windows of his hearse and on his grave. Although the signs were only temporary, Whittamore succeeded in making it clear that the consequences of smoking can be permanent.
Luis Soriano is a 38-year-old primary school teacher in Columbia. At the beginning of his 17-year career, he realized children from rural villages couldn't do their homework because they didn't have access to books. That's when the teacher started "biblioburro" - a mobile library carried on 2 donkeys. Soriano rides to 15 villages on a rotating basis. Twice a week he leaves his family and travels up to 4 hours both ways to bring approximately 120 books to waiting children. Since its conception in 1990 more than 4,000 children have benefited from biblioburro by "burroing" books.
Tim King founded Urban Prep Charter Academy in 2006. Four years later all 107 seniors were accepted to 4-year colleges. UPCA is a public high school in one of Chicago's toughest neighborhoods and open to all by lottery. Each freshman receives a watch to eliminate lateness as an excuse, it's all-male to eliminate female distractions and jackets and ties are required. There's an 8-hour school day and a curriculum including 4 years of math, 4 of science, 4 of social studies, 3 of foreign languages and 2 English classes daily. In 2006 only 4% of the class read at grade level. Now they all "made the grade".
A Harvard University professor developed a fingerprint-size medical lab that costs only one cent. The chip's water-repellent comic-book ink saturates several layers of paper, funneling the patient's drop of blood into tree-like channels, where the blood reacts with treated paper, creating diagnostic colors. Several diseases - as well as their severity - can be diagnosed simultaneously. Patients in third world countries could take a picture of the chip with a cell phone and send it to the nearest doctor. Because more complicated and expensive lab-on-a-chip technology exists, paper chips are "chips off the old block".
A 30-year-old graduate student at Harvard and MIT invented a high-tech shoe insole to help older people improve their balance, thus decreasing their risk of falling. Because the key to balance is how well a person can stand still, the "iShoe" tracks weight-shifting when standing. Well-balanced people shift their weight about every 40 seconds, but people who have dangerous balance problems shift their weight every second or continually. Using digital sensors, the battery-powered insole transmits data to a computer to be interpreted by doctors for treatment. However, until the iShoe is on the market, help is "in the balance".
A science fair student invented an instrument to measure reaction time. His invention consisted of a hockey puck attached to a stick, which he had marked in centimeters. The subject whose reaction time is being measured sits with his forearm on a table and his fingers loosely around the stick. When the stick is dropped, the subject grabs it as fast as possible. Where the stick is grabbed shows the reaction time. The student's doctor/father saw the instrument as a tool for immediately screening athletes for concussions and found that reaction times for such athletes were 15% slower. Although a patentable model is being developed, the diagnostic reliability of the puck-on-a-stick sticks.
And then there's the technology to make daily life easier. - like the Automower 260ACX made by Husqvarna. It's a remote controlled lawnmower that supposedly needs no supervision. Ultrasonic sensors prevent the machine from hitting anything and it automatically returns to its charging station when necessary. If anything does go wrong, the mower is able to send a text message to its owner requesting help. The 260ACX is basically a $5,300 Roomba for lawns that's available only in Europe. What's needed to bring it to the U.S. in 2010 is a "grass roots movement".
In 2010 Joshua Vasquez, a 22-year-old man from East Los Angeles, was booked on suspicion of felony vandalism and jailed in lieu of $20,000 bail. It seems the six-foot-four, 200-pound tagger scratched graffiti into a glass door on a public building. When Vasquez opened the door to tag the other side, he was confronted by approximately 40 deputy sheriffs and police officers who were in the building for a class. What Vasquez hadn't realized was that although he couldn't see through the outside of the door, the law enforcement officers could see through the inside of it. Lesson: there is no open-door policy for crime.
Nevertheless, hospitals repeatedly open their doors to crime. It's not only hotel guests who steal from their rooms. A 2010 survey of 93 nonprofit hospitals found that two-thirds of them experience patients stealing - costing each hospital approximately $15,000 a year. The items most stolen were towels, followed by pillows, bed linens and telephones. However, according to VHA, the international group of nonprofit hospitals that conducted the study, employees taking scrubs is a bigger problem. Some hospitals require old scrubs to be returned before new ones can be taken. It seems taking scrubs is so widespread it has become "uniform" behavior.
In 2010 a Russian chimpanzee was put in rehab because of his behavior. Zhora, a former performer, became too aggressive to work in circuses and was sent to a zoo in southern Russia. At the zoo the chimpanzee fathered several children and learned how to draw with markers. He also learned to drink and smoke. Although Pravda's article didn't say who supplied Zhora, it did say the chimp pestered passers-by for alcohol. In spite of PETA wanting to rename fish "kitties" so they won't be eaten and demonstrating against Punxsutawney Phil working on Groundhog Day, real work for PETA hasn't "petaed" out.
Finally, in 2010 a yet-to-be-apprehended woman, armed with a semi-automatic pistol, robbed customers in a California market. According to a Sheriff's Department statement, the woman didn't rob just 1 or 2 customers. She robbed 10 customers and, as she was leaving to make her getaway in what was described as an "old car', she robbed a customer on his way into the market. Considering the total of the robber's take was only $6 - hardly enough to pay for gas - she hopefully learned crime doesn't pay - especially in a recession.
The majority of American couples - an estimated 70% - live together before marriage. Whether couples cohabitate to save money or test their relationship, cohabitating does lead to marriage. According to a 2010 study by the government's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 51% of cohabitating couples get married within 3 years and 67% within 5 years. The study also showed that couples who live together - contrary to previous studies - are just as likely to stay married as couples who don't live together. It's being "twogether" that seems to matter.
And when two becomes three or more, more women are having babies at home. Again according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the percentage of women having babies outside of hospitals is less than 1%. However, of that 1% there's been a 3.5% increase in home births between 2003-2004 and 2005-2006. In 2003-2004 there were 46,371 and in 2005-2006 there were 49,438. Because home births had been declining since 1990, the rise is primarily attributed to women who've had children born in hospitals. Home births are a reaction against their hospital experience. Home births seem to be a new "homeland security".
For health security sleep experts recommend 7-8 hours of sleep nightly; but according to the National Sleep Foundation, 25% of Americans don't get enough sleep because of their work schedules. On workdays Asians and Whites get about 7 hours of sleep, Hispanics get about 6.5 and Blacks about 6. On weekends everyone seems to sleep an hour longer except Hispanics, who sleep about 1.5 hours longer. As for what's keeping people awake, it's money concerns for Blacks, Hispanics and Whites - 20%, while Asians worry more about relationships - 12%. I guess this proves there's some order in sleep disorders.
One of the money concerns keeping Americans awake must be saving enough for retirement. The Employees Benefit Research Institute surveyed 1,153 workers and retirees age 25 and older. According to the survey, 54% had saved less than $25,000. Workers who'd saved less than $10,000 increased from 39% in 2009 to 43% in 2010 and those who'd saved less than $1,000 increased from 20% to 27%. In 2009 75% of workers had saved something for retirement. In 2010 it was only 69%. Finally, only 16% of workers felt confident they could save enough for a comfortable retirement. That mean 84% need to acquire a "saving grace".
A study published in the journal Environmental Health found that people who smoke in confined places inhale enough secondhand smoke to significantly increase their risk from smoking. Researchers in Genoa, Italy chose 15 newsstand vendors for their study because they worked alone inside small kiosks. The researchers discovered that smoking 14 cigarettes a day in an enclosed space is equal to smoking an extra 2.6 cigarettes. Also, 14.6%-20% of the carcinogens from regular cigarettes came from secondhand smoke. From light cigarettes it was 21%-34%. Obviously, smokers should have firsthand knowledge about secondhand smoke.
Thirdhand smoke is the nicotine residue from secondhand smoke. This residue is on indoor surfaces and car interiors, where it can stay for months. It's also on clothes and skin. A study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that when this residue interacts with nitrous acid from unvented gas appliances or vehicle engines, it forms TSNA's - one of the most potent carcinogens in tobacco smoke. Because TSNA exposure is through touch, dust inhalation or ingestion, babies and toddlers are most at risk. Opening windows won't eliminate thirdhand smoke. Opening minds will.
Minds also have to be open to the fact that hypertension, also known as high blood pressure, is the second-leading cause of death in the U.S. It triggers more than one-third of heart attacks, is a leading cause of strokes and kidney failure and plays a role in blindness and dementia. According to the Institute of Medicine, nearly 1 in 3 adults has hypertension. Leading risk factors include being overweight, inactivity and poor diet. The good news is we can avoid those three risk factors by exercising, eating less salt and eating more potassium. The bad news is we can't avoid the 4th risk factor - getting older.
Stroke risk for women over age 50 is increased by high-fat diets. A study presented at a 2010 American Stroke Association conference involved 87,230 women ages 50-79 participating in the Women's Health Initiative. Researchers divided participants' diet surveys into 4 groups based on fat consumed. Seven years later - after factoring out other things affecting stroke risk - researchers concluded the women eating the most fat had a 44% greater risk of stroke and those eating the most trans fat had a 30% greater risk. It seems cutting the amount of fat we eat doesn't require a stroke - of genius.
Having an attractive significant other makes you more desirable to potential mates. In a study published in the journal PLoS ONE, 30 males and 30 females were shown 144 pictures of couples and asked to rate the desirability of the member of the opposite sex. Both the men and women rated people as more desirable when paired with attractive companions. In fact, the more time they spent looking at the unattractive companions, the less desirable they found the mates. Although these findings were stronger for women, it seems we're all judged by the company we keep.
When it comes to marriage, the majority of married Americans said they'd remarry their spouse. According to a 2010 CBS poll, 90% would do it over again. However, when this percentage was broken down, it was 95% men and 85% women. The percentage was also affected by income. Ninety-five percent of those making more than $50,000 a year said they'd remarry their spouse, as opposed to 85% of those making less. When those polled were asked what was most important in a happy marriage, 49% said respect; 37%, trust; 10%, humor; 2%, sex; and 0%, money. Somehow these percentages seem "divorced" from reality.
In fact, happiness can make us more selfish. In a study done by the University of New South Wales, 45 students were given negative or positive feedback on a fake cognitive test. Those receiving positive feedback were less likely to share 10 raffle tickets for a $20 prize. Then 36 students were shown 10 minutes of a comedy and 36 were shown 10 minutes of a depressing drama. In spite of being shown a picture of a friend with whom they could share tickets, happy students kept more tickets. It seems happy people undesirably focus more on their own desires.
When focusing on news, 92% of Americans get their news from multiple sources. According to a 2010 Pew Research Center survey, the #1 source is local television; #2, national or cable television; and #3, internet. Sixty percent of Americans get news online. Thirty-seven percent of cell phone users go online; and 33% of those want news, weather, sports and traffic information. In fact, cell phone users under age 50 are almost 3 times likelier to get news from wireless devices. Being able to customize their news is important to 40% of wireless users, enabling their news to be more - newsworthy.
In 2005 the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force questioned obesity screening for children. However, in 2010 it recommended screening. Evidence supports that behavioral intervention and counseling can lead to weight control, with the benefit outweighing any stigma of being labeled overweight. Obesity would be measured on the body-mass-index - a measure of weight in relation to height. Children with BMI's in the 85th to 94th percentile for their age and gender would be considered overweight. Children with BMI's over the 94th percentile would be considered obese. Because the USPSTF recommended screening start at age six, it doesn't have a "weight-and-see" attitude.
Nevertheless, a 2010 study published in the journal Clinical Pediatrics found the "tipping point" in obesity can occur in infancy. After studying medical records of 111 overweight children, researchers discovered the tipping point occurred as early as 3 months. More than 50% of the children were overweight by age 2 and 90% before age 5. Being overweight increases risk of type-2 diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure. Because 37% of American children are overweight and 16% ages 2-19 are obese, inappropriate weight gain needs to be addressed early. Otherwise, ending childhood obesity has only a - fat chance.
A 2010 study published in the journal Healthy Affairs found children are snacking so often - an average of 3 snacks a day - they're becoming constant eaters. Salty snacks and candy are on the increase, but desserts and sweetened beverages are the major source of snack calories. More than 27% of American kids' calories come from snacks. Between 1977 and 2006 children increased their caloric intake by 113 calories a day. Obesity for children 10-17 increased from 14.8% in 2003 to 16.4% in 2007. Although the dictionary defines snacks as light means, they have heavy consequences.
Finally, a 2010 study by the University of California/Los Angeles found physically unfit students scored lower on standardized tests. A group of 1,989 5th, 7th and 9th graders completed a 1-mile run/walk fitness test. When physical fitness and body weight were compared with California standardized tests in language, math and reading, overweight and obese students scored significantly lower. Test scores dropped more than 1 point for each extra minute required to finish the fitness test. Allowing for age, socioeconomic status, gender, ethnicity and body size didn't significantly alter the results. Obviously, the support parents and schools give physical fitness shouldn't be "fit-ful".
