Not so long ago, one of the most popular ideas for boosting COVID-19 vaccination rates was running million-dollar vaccine lotteries. Get vaccinated, and you had a chance to become very rich!

But it turns out a little cash in hand is a better enticer to getting a shot in the shoulder. A study on JAMA Network Open found that when vaccination promoters offered small, guaranteed payments, such as a $25 cash card, they attracted more participants over the longer term. And when they provided the cards to people who drove others to get vaccinated, numbers went up further.

Coming Up Short, Genetically Speaking

The historical trend over the past 100 years of humans growing taller and reaching sexual maturity sooner is largely attributed to better access to food during pregnancy and childhood.

But new research suggests a receptor in the brain called MC3R plays a role. The receptor responds to nutritional signals. Researchers found that people born with genetic mutations that disrupt MC3R's functions were on average shorter and experienced puberty later than those with no mutation.

The findings may help in testing children with growth and puberty delays.

Body of Knowledge

Approximately 90% of dreams are forgotten after waking.

And if you remember a dream, what does it mean? It means you were asleep.

Get Me That, Stat!

An estimated — and unprecedented — 100,000 Americans died of drug overdoses between May 2020 and April 2021, surpassing the previous record of 93,000. The total exceeds deaths from car crashes, guns, flu and pneumonia. It is close to the total for diabetes, the nation's seventh leading cause of death.

Doc Talk

Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty: a procedure that involves removing excess tissue in the throat to make the airway wider, reducing the severity of sleep apnea or snoring

Mania of the Week

Plutomania: an obsession with money (comes from the Greek term for wealth: ploutos)

Food for Thought

L-cysteine is a semi-essential amino acid. It's derived from animal hair or poultry feathers and is broadly used as a food additive because it helps break down gluten proteins (dough softener).

Best Medicine

Q: What do dark humor and health care have in common?

A: Not everyone gets it.

Observation

"Have you ever had the measles, and if so, how many?" — American humorist Artemus Ward (1834-1867). Ward was his nom de plume; his real name was Charles Farrar Browne. He is considered by some to be America's first stand-up comic.

Medical History

This week in 1827, the Boston School Committee voted to require, effective the following year, that public school students show that they had been vaccinated against smallpox prior to school entrance. Certificates to the board of health were to be issued where necessary for free vaccination. This initiative came three decades after Edward Jenner's discovery of a method to immunize against smallpox. Massachusetts passed a statewide law in 1855, followed by New York (1862) and Connecticut (1872).

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: "Nifty ways to leave your lover: The tactics people use to entice and disguise the process of human mate poaching."

The 2003 study by researchers at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, wasn't quite as lyrical as Paul Simon's 1975 pop hit, but it did clearly specify some of the top ways men and women disguise their philandering from current partners. For men, it was talking about the future together, paying closer attention and getting their current partner pregnant (which seems pretty shortsighted). For women, it was maintaining daily routine, not changing how they look and wearing a "relationship ring" all of the time.

Medical Myths

Some research has suggested that consuming coconut oil can help fat melt away because it contains triglycerides which have a "fat-burning" effect. But the research is scant and far from convincing, and coconut oil doesn't contain enough triglycerides to make a difference, when consumed in reasonable amounts.

But it does have a lot of calories: 120 per tablespoon.

Also, fat doesn't actually melt away. Fat cells simply get bigger or smaller.

Last Words

"Remember, honey, don't forget what I told you. Put in my coffin a deck of cards, a mashie niblick, and a pretty blonde." — Leonard "Chico" Marx (1887-1961), one of the Marx Brothers, to his wife. A mashie niblick is a type of golf club. His brother, Julius "Groucho" Marx (1890-1977), reputedly said when he was dying, "This is no way to live."

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: PublicDomainPictures at Pixabay