Ever notice how wounds in the mouth heal faster than similar injuries on skin? Some scientists recruited 30 healthy volunteers and gave them tiny matching wounds inside their mouths and on their skin. Then, over the next week, they biopsied the tissues daily. RNA sequencing revealed that the mouth samples had unique patterns of genetic expression and higher levels of certain proteins.
Researchers then genetically engineered mice to overexpress those proteins. Their skin wounds healed faster.
The findings may help scientists find new ways to improve wound care.
To Err Is Bovine
The Food and Drug Administration wants to re-examine the definition of "milk." Once upon a time, milk just referred to stuff from cows. These days, almond, soy, oat and rice products are sometimes called milk, though there's nothing particularly dairy about them. The agency wants to determine whether parents think these milk alternatives are nutritious in the same way that cow's milk is for kids.
Body of Knowledge
At least 100,000 chemical reactions occur in the brain every second.
Get Me That, Stat!
A measles outbreak, which can be prevented with a vaccine, is expensive. A new study examined the financial costs associated with a 2013 measles outbreak involving 58 people in New York City. None had been vaccinated.
Containing the outbreak cost the city's health department almost $400,000 — or roughly $6,800 per case. The average total cost of an MMR vaccine, which also covers mumps and rubella, is $246.
Counts
Three: the number of times higher the death rate is among people who are homeless and don't sleep in a shelter compared with peers who sleep primarily in shelters. Cancer, heart disease and liver disease are the most common causes of death.
Source: JAMA Internal Medicine
Doc Talk
Bolus: a large dose of a drug given (usually intravenously) at the beginning of treatment to raise blood-level concentrations to a therapeutic level. It can also refer to a concentrated mass of a substance, such as chewed food.
Mania of the Week
Planomania: an abnormal desire to wander and disobey social norms, otherwise known as adolescence.
Number Cruncher
A Panda Bowl with orange chicken and mixed veggies from Panda Express (343 grams) contains 490 calories, 166 from fat. It has 18.5 grams of total fat, or 28 percent of the recommended total fat intake for a 2,000-calorie daily diet, according to the Calorie Count database.
It also contains 80 milligrams of cholesterol (27 percent), 1,160 milligrams of sodium (48 percent), 61 grams of total carbohydrates (20 percent), 5 grams of dietary fiber (20 percent), 24 grams of sugar and 18 grams of protein.
Never Say Diet
The speed-eating record for french fries is 2 pounds in 3 minutes, 54 seconds, held by David "Coondog" O'Karma, who obviously fried, fried and fried again until achieving success. Or maybe it was just karma.
Best Medicine
Q: What's the difference between God and a surgeon?
A: God doesn't think he's a surgeon.
Observation
"Muscles come and go; flab lasts." — Bill Vaughan
Medical History
This week in 1956, the first prefrontal lobotomy was performed in the United States by surgeons at George Washington University Hospital on a 63-year-old woman.
Last Words
"I am about to — or I am going to — die; either expression is used." — French priest and grammarian Dominique Bouhours (1628-1702)
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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