The Hospital: A Good Place to Avoid.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on any given day approximately one in 25 patients develops at least one infection contracted during a hospital stay. Health-care-acquired infections associated with antibiotic-resistant bacteria kill tens of thousands a year in American hospitals. To curb infections, hospitals are stepping up with more rigorous hygiene standards, focusing on commonplace equipment such as stethoscopes and blood pressure cuffs. They often collect bacteria and can transmit disease. Doctors were asked when they last cleansed their stethoscopes? Answers were disturbing if not shocking? “What? I rarely bother with that.” A 2014 study at a Swiss hospital published in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings found that “the contamination level of the stethoscope is substantial after a single physical examination and comparable to the contamination of parts of the physician's dominant hand.” At NYU Langone Hospital—Brooklyn a clinical trial was conducted examining stethoscopes for bacteria. Marwa Moussa, attending physician, decided that medical residents should learn early on to clean their stethoscopes. “You wash your hands, but never clean your stethoscopes.” Her analysis found that some of the stethoscope diaphragms were loaded with bacteria, including the superbug MRSA. But hey, technology dominates. Doctors today prefer to use high-cost CT scans and MRI machines, and insurers are willing to pay. Should the stethoscope be in a museum next to the wooden slide rule?
Dementia — Technology is on the Way for this World-Wide Problem.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) an estimated 50 million people suffer from dementia — a number that is expected to rise exponentially as the global population increases. For families of patients who require nursing homes or outside help, the cost can be crushing. Dr. P. Murali Doraiswamy Director of the neurocognitive disorders program at Duke University states “Ultimately we want the nursing home to disappear.” People want to live peacefully in their own home. Technology has the potential to help preserve independence or at least maintain it for many years more than is currently possible. Products already available are remote home-surveillance systems that enable basic monitoring of patients from a distance using a mobile phone. Wrist-worn motion detectors and GPS devices can help detect what a person is doing inside the home; sleeping, or detecting a fall, or leaving the premises and becoming lost. A smart pillbox can be added that can reveal when someone is or is not taking their medicine. Dr. Pat Blanchette, Professor of Geriatric Medicine at the John A. Burns School of Medicine has a broad background in gerontology with study at Dartmouth and Harvard and can elaborate on all of the above, and a lot more. She is a remarkable talent to have on our University faculty.
Despite his Outrageous Flaws, He was a Good Auto Designer.
Sometime in the middle 1930s the leader of the Third Reich in Germany designed an automobile he called the “people's car.” The name stuck and some 15 years later following WWII a small company in Wolfsburg, Germany began to produce the Volkswagen. With the engine in the rear and its simple design and function its popularity gradually spread in the western world. Because of its characteristic bug-like appearance it became known as the Beetle and with several modifications it has maintained a niche in the auto industry for generations. But like so many other cherished items, alas the Volkswagen Bug is passing and will soon be a bittersweet memory. Auf Wiedersehen Beetle.
Where are the Most Viruses at the Airport? Hint: Not the Toilet.
Researchers found evidence that plastic trays in security lines are a haven for respiratory viruses and bacteria. Travelers are tightly crowded often in poorly ventilated causeways, struggling with their shoes, iPhones, and personal effects, forced to share air and baskets. The result is easy transmission of viral disease. Meantime the toilet fixtures are remarkably clear of infectious agents.
This could be Any Street here in PARADISE.
In Toronto, Ontario, Canada, a pothole got a new life. The pothole, which is several feet in size, had been expanding for months, neighbors said. Area residents had grown weary of waiting for the city repair it.. They began filling it with tomato plants that are now ripening and growing very tall and require wire cages for support. It has become a community project. Finally Mayor John Tory has agreed to not only fill the pothole, but to move the tomato plants to a nearby garden.
Impressive, Debbie. What Do You Do for a Follow Up?
Debbie McCulley of Salem, Virginia, has been banned from all future Floyd County sporting events. On the bright side, her indecent exposure case may be dropped following an incident area lawyers are calling “moon over Floyd.” Her husband is the JV softball coach for the high school, and the charges resulted from Debbie's unusual reaction to his team's loss. She stood on the pitcher's mound and pulled down her pants to expose her right cheek. The Roanoke Times reported that Debbie wrote a letter of apology and will perform community service.
Addenda
According to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences looking at 70 fathers, Dads with smaller testicles were rated by their partners as better fathers. (How did they conduct this research?)
Near Mason City, Iowa, on August 20 the Iowa State Patrol pulled over a Ferrari 488 Spider that was clocked doing 137 mph during a rainstorm. The trooper posted on Facebook with a photo of the radar read out. The driver was unfazed; she thought she was going about 100. The fine was $335.
According to FiveThirtyEight.com only 5% of American diners prefer their steak rare, compared with 8% who prefer their steak well-done.
The oldest known school bus was in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1869. It was horse drawn of course.
She used to be Snow White but she drifted.
As Miss America my goal is to bring peace to the entire world and then get my own apartment.
In the United States anybody can be president. That's the problem.
Nice guys finish last, but we get to sleep in.
Enjoy life. There's plenty time to be dead.
Aloha and keep the faith rts
(Editorial comment is strictly that of the writer.)