COVID-19 hits some people harder than others, with more severe or longer-lasting symptoms and consequences. Gene hunters are beginning to turn up clues as to why by probing dozens of parts of the human genome for evidence that some genes confer greater susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection or severe illness.

Findings thus far aren't changing how patients are currently treated, but they may help scientists find drugs that could be repurposed to lessen the severity of disease in those infected.

Doctors, Take Note

A small analysis of doctors' notes in electronic health records finds that physicians often write comments that may be stigmatizing or influence how they care for patients. For example, doctors sometimes used the word "claim" when describing a patient's complaint, suggesting that they doubted its credibility, or they used common vernacular that furthered race or social class stereotyping.

A provision of the 21st Century Cures Act now allows patients to see what their doctors have written in their medical records.

Body of Knowledge

The corneas of the eyes are the only human body parts with no blood supply. Oxygen and nutrients are diffused directly from tear fluid and the aqueous humor — the thick, watery substance between the lens and cornea.

Get Me That, Stat!

A new report from the Commonwealth Fund and Yale School of Public Health estimates that COVID-19 vaccinations have prevented nearly 280,000 deaths in the United States.

Counts

23.9: Percentage of outpatient visits conducted by telemedicine in the second half of 2020

Source: JAMA Health Forum

Stories for the Waiting Room

Overdose deaths jumped to a record 93,000 in 2020, a 29% increase from 2019, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Last year was already considered the deadliest year in U.S. history due to the pandemic. Social isolation and anxiety brought on by lockdowns and the shuttering of treatment centers may have meant that those with opioid use disorder were unable to get help, reports STAT.

Doc Talk

Epistaxis: a nosebleed

Mania of the Week

Macromania: a delusion that objects are larger than natural size

Food for Thought

Isinglass is a substance derived from dried swim bladders of fish. It's a form of collagen used mainly to clarify some types of beer and wine, though it can also be cooked into a paste for specialized gluing purposes.

Best Medicine

A man visits his doctor.

"Doc, I think I'm going deaf."

"Can you describe the symptoms?" asks the physician.

"Sure. Marge has blue hair. Homer is fat and bald."

Observation

"I become faint and nauseous during even very minor medical procedures, such as making an appointment by phone." — Humorist Dave Barry

Medical History

This week in 1879, Richard S. Rhodes received a patent for the Audiphone, a type of hearing aid. Rhodes suffered from deafness due to an illness but noticed that he could hear his watch tick when he held it in his mouth. The Audiphone worked on that principle, transmitting sound waves through the teeth and cranial bones.

Ig Nobel Apprised

The Ig Nobel Prizes celebrate achievements that make people laugh, then think. A look at real science that's hard to take seriously and even harder to ignore.

In 2011, the Ig Nobel Prize in medicine went to a pair of research teams for independent studies that found that people make better decisions about some things and worse decisions about others when they have a strong urge to urinate.

Sum Body

Over human history, lots of substances have been promoted as patent medicines to ill effect, including:

No. 1: Opium

No. 2: Blood

No. 3: Cocaine

No. 4: Prairie flowers and "Indian oil"

No. 5: Petroleum

No. 6: Tomatoes

No. 7: Arsenic

No. 8: Radium

No. 9: Mercury

No. 10: Swamp root

Epitaphs

"Here lies one of the funniest men around. It's funny they let him live so long." — Headstone of Warren Wesley Berkenbile, an Ohio businessman who probably wasn't among the world's funniest men but obviously had a sense of humor. He died in 1991 at the age of 70.

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: LionFive at Pixabay