A new federal report, based on 2016 data, says that more than three-quarters of pregnant women start prenatal care in their first trimester — a key factor toward ensuring a healthy pregnancy and newborn.
Less than 5 percent of women start in the third trimester; and only 1.6 percent get no prenatal care at all.
Of particular interest are the details: Women in their 30s are most likely to get care in their first trimester. Eighty percent of white women seek first-trimester prenatal care compared to just 50 percent of Native American and Pacific Islander women. Southern states typically had lower rates of prenatal care access in the first trimester, with women on Medicaid or who paid for their own care more likely to start prenatal care late or have no care than women with private insurance.
Body of Knowledge
Your gums are renewed every one to two weeks.
Get Me That, Stat!
The child demographic most likely to get head lice are 9- and 10-year-old girls, primarily because they are also more likely to do group hugs, according to Albert Marrin in "Little Monsters: The Creatures that Live on Us and in Us."
Stories for the Waiting Room
New research suggests that many patients who suffer mild traumatic brain injury aren't getting sufficient follow-up care. Scientists tracked 831 patients treated for mild TBI at 11 trauma center emergency rooms between 2014 and 2016. Just 42 percent said they received TBI information at discharge and just 44 percent said they saw a health care provider for a follow-up appointment. Even among patients with severe concussions, only 52 percent said they saw a doctor again within three months of their injury.
Doc Talk
Flu in the knees: an arthritis flare-up in the joints
Phobia of the Week
Coprastasophobia: fear of constipation
Number Cruncher
A chicken soft taco from Taco Bell (92 grams) contains 160 calories, 45 from fat. It has 5 grams of total fat or 8 percent of the recommended total fat intake for a 2,000-calorie daily diet, according to the online Calorie Count database.
It also contains 25 milligrams of cholesterol (8 percent); 480 mg of sodium (20 percent); 16 grams of total carbohydrates (5 percent); 2 g of dietary fiber, 1 g of sugar and 12 g of protein.
Never Say Diet
The Major League Eating record for deep-fried asparagus is 12 pounds, 8.75 ounces in 10 minutes, held by Joey Chestnut. That odor afterward was the sweet smell of excess (at least for the 40 to 50 percent who able to detect it).
Best Medicine
A woman, out for a walk, notices a little old man rocking in a chair on his porch. Approaching him, she says "'I can't help noticing how happy you look. What's your secret for a long, happy life?"
The man replies: "I smoke three packs of cigarettes a day. I also drink a case of whiskey a week, eat fatty foods and never exercise."
"That's amazing!" exclaims the woman. "How old are you?"
"Twenty-six."
Observation
"Health food may be good for the conscience, but Oreos taste a hell of a lot better."
—Actor Robert Redford
Medical History
This week in 1993, the first lab test was released in Arizona confirming a bee involved in a fatal on attack on a small dog at a Tucson home involved an Africanized honeybee. Because of their more intense defensive swarming behavior, such non-native bees earned the name "killer bee" in the media. Arizona was the second state to be invaded, less than three years after this species spread north into Texas from Mexico. The bee is now found throughout much of the U.S. Southwest, as far north as central California and southern Utah. Pockets have also been identified in Louisiana and southern Florida.
Med School
Q: How many oxygen molecules can a single red blood cell carry?
A: One billion. Each red blood cell contains 250 million hemoglobin molecules, the red-pigmented protein that carries iron and binds to oxygen. Each hemoglobin molecule can bind to four oxygen molecules.
Last Words
"Milan. What a beautiful place to die."
—American actor John Carradine (1906-1988), who died from multiple organ failure at Fatebenefratelli Hospital in Milan. Just hours before he was stricken, he had climbed the 328 steep steps of Milan's Gothic cathedral, the Duomo.
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.
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