ArcaMax

By the year 2050, it's projected one in six young people will be obese. That works out to 360 million children and adolescents with a body mass index of 30 or higher.

The added girth and weight won't be spread evenly. Half of the world's young people with obesity will live in two regions: North Africa and the Middle East, and Latin America and the Caribbean.

The U.S. already has a substantial obesity problem among youth, with approximately one in five children and adolescents living with the condition.

Body of Knowledge

Humans, gorillas, chimpanzees and koalas are the only animals to possess fingerprints unique to each individual, but other animals have ways to distinguish themselves. Individual cats and dogs, for example, have unique whisker patterns. Zebras have distinct stripe arrangements, and leopards and spotted dolphins sport singular spot patterns.

Get Me That, Stat!

Hot flashes are caused by special chemical messengers in the brain that send signals to blood vessels to flush the skin, causing sweating. Roughly 10% of women will have more than seven hot flashes per day during menopause.

Counts

44: Percentage of U.S. adults surveyed who expressed interest in medical aid in dying should they become terminally ill (Source: JAMA Network Open)

Stories for the Waiting Room

Just 201 of more than 21,000 students accepted to medical schools across the U.S. last year were Indigenous. Low numbers have long been a concern, but the latest figure represents a 22% decline in American Indian or Alaska Native students seeking to become doctors.

Doc Talk

Scotoma: A blank spot in the visual field that is sometimes evident during the aura of a migraine headache. Scotomas can also be caused by strokes, tumors, scars from eye injuries and traumatic brain injuries.

Mania of the Week

Oniomania: Otherwise known as compulsive buying disorder

Food for Thought

Beef tallow is a soft, whitish solid resembling vegetable shortening or butter that is made by removing, simmering and clarifying the fatty tissue that surrounds the organs of ruminant animals, usually cows but also buffalo, bison, sheep, goats, deer and yaks.

It is used for roasting, sauteing, barbecuing and thickening stews but also to season cast iron and as a traditional ingredient in soap and candles. Lard is another form of rendered animal fat, but it derives from the fatty tissue of pigs.

Best Medicine

When I was a kid, we were so poor that when my little brother broke his arm, we had to take him to the airport for X-rays.

Observation

"Condoms aren't completely safe. A friend of mine was wearing one and got hit by a bus." -- Bob Rubin

Medical History

This week in 1862, the first test of pasteurization was completed by Louis Pasteur and Claude Bernard. They opened long-sealed jars of dog's blood and urine, which had been heated above 160 F. They noted no observable decay or fermentation.

Among the first practical application of pasteurization was beer. The process killed harmful bacteria and allowed beer to be shipped long distances without refrigeration.

Sum Body

Eight notable fears that you don't really need to worry about.

1. Shark attack. The chances are one in 4,332,817 of dying by shark in your lifetime.

2. Getting hit by an asteroid. The chances are one in 1,600,000.

3. Contracting a brain-eating amoeba. Chances: one in 34,000,000 in the U.S.

4. Crashing in an airplane. Chances: one in 13.7 million passenger boardings.

5. Getting struck by lightning. Chances are less than one in 1,000,000 in a given year.

6. Getting sucked into quicksand. Good luck even finding some, and in reality, quicksand is quite dense and relatively easy to escape from by slowly "swimming" out.

7. Experiencing an elevator in free fall. With modern safety measures, almost zero.

8. Being buried alive. Close to zero, but not zero, which still seems disturbing.

Medical Myths

Hair and fingernails do not continue to grow after death. Rather, as the body dehydrates, the skin around hair and nails retracts, causing the appearance of increased length or greater prominence. Think shrunken heads.

Epitaphs

Katharine Phelps Brown Ivison (1917-1997)

Sterling Hollinshead Ivison Jr. (1919-2008)

"We finally found a place to park in Georgetown!"

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