There is accumulating evidence that exposure to sunlight — and thus, higher production of vitamin D by the body — may help prevent several forms of cancer. Now comes word of a study that reports babies born in winter (and who haven't had much sunlight exposure at all) benefit if their mothers take vitamin D supplements during pregnancy.
The researchers found that wintertime babies with the prenatal vitamin boost had healthier bones than those whose mothers did not take supplements. Bone mass of summertime babies, on the other hand, wasn't affected by additional vitamins. Presumably because they got sufficient D from their moms being out in the sun more.
This Idea Bites
Researchers at a recent meeting of the Biophysical Society suggested that the next big painkiller might be tarantula venom. Not the whole arachnid cocktail, which can be lethal, but maybe individual elements, such as specific peptide toxins that inhibit pain receptors in the brain. Nobody has actually tried to develop such an approach yet, so it remains unknown whether the idea has legs.
Island Buzz
On the island of Tetiaroa in French Polynesia, a remote South Pacific atoll owned by Marlon Brando's family, a sort of mass killing is going on — for a good cause. Researchers there have released more than 1 million sterile male mosquitos with the goal of ultimately wiping the insect off the face of the island.
And, in fact, mosquito numbers have plummeted on Tetiaroa. Researchers hope to learn enough about the approach to perhaps try it on a broader scale elsewhere.
More than 800,000 children die each year from mosquito-borne diseases, from malaria and dengue to yellow fever and Zika.
Body of Knowledge
It would take 1,200,000 mosquitoes — all busily sucking at the same time — to drain all of the blood from an average-sized human.
Get me That, Stat!
The number of men who smoke tobacco in India has jumped more than one-third since 1998, up to 108 million persons. That's bad news because roughly 10 percent of all deaths in India are attributed to tobacco use. Researchers at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, which conducted the study, attribute the rise to less stringent (or non-existent) regulation over sales and advertising — at least compared to countries like the U.S., where tobacco use has declined.
Number Cruncher
A Carl's Junior Double Western Bacon burger contains 900 calories, 441 from fat. It has 49 grams of total fat, or 75 percent of the recommended total fat intake for a 2,000-calorie daily diet, according to the website Calorie Count.
It also contains 155 milligrams of cholesterol (52 percent); 1,770 mg of sodium (74 percent); 64 grams of total carbohydrates (21 percent); 2 g of dietary fiber; 16 g of sugar and 51 g of protein.
Counts
45: Number of unplanned pregnancies in U.S. per 1,000 women of reproductive age in 2011
18: Percentage drop in unplanned pregnancies from same study three years earlier
Source: Guttmacher Institute
Stories for the Waiting Room
According to the Centers for Disease Control, American adults paid 11 million visits to doctors' offices in 2012 for problems related to obesity. On the plus side, in almost half of those visits, doctors spent time discussing things like good diet, exercise, nutrition and weight reduction.
Phobia of the Week
Geliophobia: fear of laughter
Never Say Diet
The Major League speed-eating record for brain tacos is 54 in 8 minutes, held by Joey Chestnut. It's not clear what type of brain was consumed, though it's probably safe to assume the source was not the taco-eating contestants, whose participation suggests they entered the contest lacking brains altogether.
Mycrobes
As the name perhaps suggests, Malassezia furfur and its ilk are fungi that reside upon the skin of many hairy animals, humans included. Members of the genus are responsible for most fungal skin diseases, including being the most common cause of dandruff. The fungus requires fat to grow, so it tends to reside where there are plentiful sebaceous glands, like on the scalp.
Medical Myths
Your heart does not stop beating, even briefly, when you sneeze. On rare occasions, it might be temporarily beat irregularly due to a powerful sneeze changing pressure in your chest and altering blood flow to the heart, but it never stops.
Translational Meds
Generic and market names of drugs and what they do.
Med School
Q: What is Darwin's Point?
A: It's a small folded point of skin toward the top of each ear pinnae (external ear flap) that is found on approximately 10 percent of humans. It's suspected of being a vestigial remnant of a larger structure that allowed hominid predecessors to move their ears to focus on distant sounds.
Last Words
"I am still alive!"
— Roman emperor Gaius Caligula (A.D. 12- A.D. 24). The infamous ruler's final utterings, according to historian Tacitus, but only temporarily accurate as his assassins (members of his body guard) quickly finished the job.
To find out more about Scott LaFee and read features by otherCreators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
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