OCTOBER 11, 2022
The pandemic made lots of things worse, including resistance to antimicrobial medicines, which rose an estimated 15 percent in the pandemic’s first year, according to the CDC.
It was worse for some superbugs: a 78 percent jump among those infected with Acinetobacter; 60 percent rise in a fungal disease known as Candida auris and a 32 percent rise in infections from Enterobacterales.
Hospitals in the United States lost progress against four out of six infections that patients most often acquire during hospital stays. In the first year of the pandemic, reports STAT, more than 29,400 people died from antimicrobial-resistant infections commonly associated with health care settings. Antibiotic use surged as health care providers struggled to prevent and control infection while weathering shortages in protective equipment and staffing. Patients were sicker, needing more frequent and longer use of catheters and ventilators.
While reading this (or any printed matter), your eyes do not move continuously across the page. They move in a series of jumps called “fixations” from one clump of words to the next.
More Americans than ever have health care insurance, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have concerns. A new national poll reports that when asked to name the biggest single health care issue people face today, 45 percent said out-of-pocket costs were too high; 18 percent said too many people lack coverage; 12 percent said people lack access to resources like healthy foods or transportation to get to doctor’s appointments; and 10 percent said the health care system is too confusing and difficult to navigate.
$4.5 billion
The collective 2021 earnings of the CEOs heading 300 of the nation’s health care companies (Regeneron Pharmaceuticals’ CEO Leonard Schleifer pulled in $453 million, all by himself. Regeneron debuted the first monoclonal antibody treatment for COVID-19.)
Source: STAT
Diabetes insipidus
An uncommon disorder that causes an imbalance of fluids in the body, resulting in the production of large amounts of urine. While most people make 1 to 3 quarts of urine a day, people with diabetes insipidus can make up to 20 quarts of urine a day.
Apimania
An extreme enthusiasm for bees
Astrology is dangerous. There’s a 1 in 12 chance you’ll get Cancer.
“To be stupid, selfish, and have good health are three requirements for happiness, though if stupidity is lacking, all is lost.”
— French writer Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880)
This week in 1850, classes began at the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania, the second medical school entirely for women. The New England Female Medical College had been established two years earlier. In 1993, the college merged with Hahnemann Medical School and in 2003, the two colleges were absorbed by the Drexel University College of Medicine.
The New England school didn’t last nearly as long. It merged with Boston University to become the Boston University School of Medicine in 1874.
Q: Which grows faster?
a) Hair
b) Finger and toenails
c) Bone marrow
A: Bone marrow, which makes more than 220 billion new blood cells every day.
There are thousands of exercises and you’ve only got one body, but that doesn’t mean you can’t try them all. The admittedly oddly named Bulgarian split squat isn’t technically a zero-equipment exercise, but it only requires a lifted surface like a chair or small table. It’s intended to strengthen the lower body — quads, glutes, inner thighs, hamstrings and calves.
• Stand with your back to your “bench.” With your left foot on the floor a few feet in front of the bench, place the top of your right foot on the bench, shoelaces down.
• Place your hands behind your head and engage your core.
• Bend your knees to lower down into a split squat. Your left knee should ideally form a 90-degree angle so that your thigh is parallel to the ground, and your right knee is hovering above the floor. (Your left foot should be stepped out far enough that you can do this without letting your left knee go past your left toes.)
• Driving through your left heel, stand back up to starting position.
Build up to 15 to 18 reps on one leg, then switch sides. Do four sets on each side.
“Dictionary.”
— Uttered by Joseph Wright (1855-1930) on his deathbed at home, before succumbing to pneumonia. Wright was a distinguished scholar of languages and noted for editing the six-volume “English Dialect Dictionary.” His final word did not include a definition.
LaFee is a health science writer at UC San Diego.
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