The Food and Drug Administration is drafting first-ever regulations that would permit over-the-counter hearing aids to be purchased more easily. (Some states require people buy hearing aids through licensed providers.)
In the meantime, the FDA has approved marketing for the first-ever hearing aid that can be fitted, programmed and controlled by the user without help from a health care provider.
The National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders estimates 28.8 million adults in the U.S. could benefit from wearing hearing aids. Of that number, fewer than 16 percent have ever used them.
Healthy Eating Is a SNAP
Each year, the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program provides $70 billion to help low-income persons purchase food. New research suggests that boosting the subsidy for fruits, veggies and other wholesome foods can incentivize healthy choices. Likewise, adding financial penalties for purchasing junk food prompts better decisions.
Ultimately, researchers found, both efforts pay off in fewer health problems and medical costs down the line.
Body of Knowledge
Every day, the heart creates enough energy to drive a truck 20 miles. In a lifetime, that's equivalent to driving to the moon and back.
Stories for the Waiting Room
Non-fatal injuries exact their own costs. In 2013, there were more than 31 million non-fatal injuries treated in hospitals, resulting in $168 billion in hospital and home care, emergency transportation, drugs and physical therapy expenses.
The estimated cost for future lost work due to permanent disability was even higher: $223 billion. Average estimated cost per injury, including medical care, lost work and lost quality of life, was $66,857.
Falls and being hit by an object were the most common cause of injury, accounting for more than one-third of total injuries.
Doc Talk
Idiopathic: Traditionally defined as "arising from an obscure or unknown cause," which is another way of saying the doctor can't explain or identify the cause of symptoms or condition.
Mania of the Week
Logomania: Pathological loquacity
In other words (a lot of words), you talk too much.
Number Cruncher
An avocado burrito from El Pollo Loco (408 grams) contains 490 calories, 162 from fat. It has 18 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 85 milligrams of cholesterol (28 percent); 1,340 milligrams of sodium (56 percent); 54 grams of total carbohydrates (18 percent); 11 grams of dietary fiber (44 percent); 6 grams of sugar; and 34 grams of protein.
Observation
"Ah, well, then, I suppose that I shall have to die beyond my means." — English writer Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), in response to a quoted fee for a medical procedure
Medical History
This week in 1935, the first modern surgery on the frontal lobes for treatment of mental disorders was performed by Antonio Egas Moniz at Santa Marta Hospital in Lisbon, Portugal. Moniz injected absolute alcohol into the frontal lobes of a mental patient through two holes drilled in the skull. Moniz later used a technique that severed neurons and led to the prefrontal lobotomy techniques of the 1940s. Moniz was later awarded the 1949 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, but his radical surgery fell out of favor when psychoactive medications became available.
Self-Exam
Q: What fraction of the human body is made up of blood?
a) 1/13
b) 1/2
c) 1/27
d) 1/4
A: a) 1/13
Epitaphs
On a tombstone in a Ruidoso, New Mexico, cemetery:
"Here lies
Johnny Yeast
Pardon me
For not rising."
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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