If you've noticed an increased recurrence of skin conditions such as eczema and itchiness, one reason might be poor air quality, especially in places such as California, where wildfires have been frequent and massive in recent years.

Researchers studied the Camp Fire of 2018, noting that there was a 50% increase in pediatric visits to dermatology clinics in the region compared to weeks without a wildfire. Adult visits for eczema, a condition that leaves skin red and itchy, were up 15%.

The Mouse That Scarred (Not)

Wound healing is a complex process, with a lot of cellular and molecular players. It does not give up its secrets easily. But researchers think they've uncovered a big one: In mouse studies, they identified a protein within fibroblasts, a type of skin cell that is involved in scar formation.

When they reprogrammed fibroblasts to make scars without using this protein, the resulting cells regrew tissues with hair follicles and sweat glands and the mechanical strength of skin. In other words, healthy, unmaimed skin with no visible scar.

The next step is to try the approach with larger animals whose skin more closely resembles humans, such as pigs.

Body of Knowledge

Right-handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people.

Get Me That. Stat!

With more children stuck at home during the pandemic (sometimes with minimal parental supervision) and firearms sales surging (for a variety of reasons), reports of gun injuries to children have grown dramatically.

In the first six months in 2018, there were 2.76 firearm injuries per million children; in 2019 it was 2.70; in the pandemic year of 2020, it was an astounding 5.09. A similar trend was seen in gun injuries inflicted by children.

Counts

40: Percentage of people in the United States deemed to breathe unhealthy air.

60: Percentage more like those breathing unhealthy air are people of color.

Source: American Lung Association

Doc Talk

Bradycardia: a slow heart rate, usually below 60 beats per minute; the opposite is tachycardia, over 100 beats per minute.

Mania of the Week

Alliomania: an uncontrollable obsession for garlic.

Best Medicine

I just found out I'm colorblind. The diagnosis came completely out of the purple.

Observation

"You don't have to be a wreck. You don't have to be sick. One's aim in life should be to die in good health. Just like a candle that burns out." — French actress, singer and director Jeanne Moreau (1928-2017)

Perishable Publications

Many, if not most, published research papers have titles that defy comprehension. They use specialized jargon, complex words and opaque phrases like "nonlinear dynamics." Sometimes they don't, and yet they're still hard to figure out. Here's an actual title of actual published research study: "The unsuccessful self-treatment of a case of 'writer's block,'" published in 1974 in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis.

It consisted of a single blank page.

Medical Myths

Breastfeeding does not cause breasts to sag. Pregnancy itself may cause breasts to stretch as they become bigger, and then recover differently, but breastfeeding has no effect. Smoking, on the other hand, has been empirically linked to sagging breasts.

Curtain Calls

The French playwright Moliere suffered a pulmonary hemorrhage caused by tuberculosis while performing the role of a hypochondriac in his own play, "Le malade imaginaire." He disguised his convulsions as part of his performance and completed the show, which ends with his character dead in a chair. After the show, he was carried in the chair to his house, where he died on Feb. 17, 1673 at the age of 51.

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.

Photo credit: Ylvers at Pixabay