Cat bites can be considerably more dangerous than most people assume, according to new research from Mayo Clinic. The findings of the new study state that one in every three recipients of a cat bite to the hand ends up hospitalized, with two-thirds of those hospitalized ending up requiring surgery.

The study notes that the complication most often experienced by cat bite victims is a deep-tissue infection. The research also found that, somewhat unsurprisingly, and somewhat humorously, middle-aged women were the most common victim of cat bites.

The reason for increased likelihood for infection, as compared to human or dog bites, is all down to the fangs. Cat mouths don’t harbor bacteria that is anymore dangerous than that found in dog mouths, it’s simply that their fangs are far more effective at delivering this bacteria deep into the meat of what it bites.

‘The dogs’ teeth are blunter, so they don’t tend to penetrate as deeply and they tend to leave a larger wound after they bite. The cats’ teeth are sharp and they can penetrate very deeply, they can seed bacteria in the joint and tendon sheaths,” explains study author Brian Carlsen, MD, a Mayo Clinic plastic surgeon and orthopedic hand surgeon. […]

No Comments

A group of researchers at the University of Utah has launched a new project aimed at understanding how the brain operates in people with deep spiritual and religious beliefs.

The Religious Brain Project, which kicked off this week, aims to foster dialogue and understanding among people with diverse viewpoints on religion by learning how private religious experience may affect the “social brain,” and how religion may affect social behavior. The new project is a broad, multidisciplinary effort that engages many religious and scientific communities from the University of Utah, Brigham Young University, Utah Valley University, and Westminster College. The project’s first initiative revolves around studying the brains of people who have returned from serving missions on behalf of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Jeff Anderson, M.D., Ph.D., an associate professor of neuroradiology at the University of Utah who is also the project’s director, said the study is among the first of its kind in trying to uncover the neuroscience behind the brains of religious and spiritual people.

“Religious and spiritual stimuli are among the most profound influences on behavior that exists. The neuroscience of spirituality, however, is almost completely unknown,” said Anderson. “We want to study what happens in the […]

No Comments

Most people are aware of Big Pharma, thanks to its advertising, but few are aware of Animal Pharma, the animal drug divisions within drug companies that sell livestock drugs by the ton. Unlike people Pharma, many Animal Pharma drugs do not require a prescription or a veterinarian and the hormones, growth promoters, feed additives and antiparasite and antifungal drugs are loosely regulated and monitored. The USDA tests for residues from the drugs in meat, poultry and egg products but repeat offender farms that release animals with violative drug residues into the human food supply are identified weekly.

Among the drugs found in beef released to the public in a USDA Inspector General report were penicillin, the antibiotics florfenicol, sulfamethazine and sulfadimethoxine, the antiparasite drug ivermectin, the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug flunixin and heavy metals. Some drug-contaminated meat was released into the human food supply and there was no attempt at a recall, says the report.

The highest of all veterinary drug residues are found in bob veal (calves under three days old that weigh only 70 to 100 pounds) says the USDA Inspector General report, because ‘Farmers are prohibited from selling milk for human consumption from cows that have been medicated with antibiotics […]

No Comments

Thanks to an experimental prosthetic, a Danish man makes history by feeling the shape and consistency of objects held in his artificial hand.

Bionic Hand

Amputees often have the sensation that their missing appendages are still there, a phenomenon known as a phantom limb.

For Dennis Aabo Sørensen, the sensations he felt recently weren’t phantom. They were real.

The 36-year-old Danish man recently became the first amputee in the world to experience sensation in real-time thanks to an experimental prosthetic wired to his nerves.

‘The sensory feedback was incredible,” he said. ‘I could feel things that I hadn’t been able to feel in over nine years.”

No Sensations for Nearly a Decade

Sørensen lost his left hand during an accident nine years ago. After a firework exploded in his hand, he was rushed to the hospital where his hand and forearm were amputated.

Since then, he’s been wearing a typical commercial prosthetic hand. It detects movement in his stump, which allows him open, close, and hold onto objects. However, he has to watch his every move to make sure that he doesn’t crush what he’s holding, whether it’s food or his child’s hand.

‘It works like a brake on a motorbike,” Sorensen said. ‘When you squeeze the brake, […]

No Comments

Four or five pots of yoghurt per week may reduce our risk of developing type 2 diabetes, scientists have said.

In a large study, which examined an as yet unexplained link between some dairy products and a lowered risk of diabetes, researchers at the University of Cambridge found that risk was reduced by 28 per cent in people who ate a large amount of yoghurt to those who ate none.

Dairy products an important source of protein, vitamins and minerals, and the reduced risk also applied to other low-fat, fermented products such as fromage frais and low fat cottage cheeses.

While the study could not prove a conclusive causal link between eating dairy and lower diabetes risk, the association was strong. Scientists suspect that fermented dairy products are beneficial because of the probiotic bacteria, as well as a special form of vitamin K produced during the fermentation process – however the cause is not fully understood.

The study compared the dietary habits of 750 people who developed type 2 diabetes with those of a randomly selected cohort of 3,500 people who took part in a wide-ranging diet study in Norfolk. Benefits associated with yoghurt were seen in people who ate on average four and […]

No Comments