Going Green

I'm not a tree hugger, I promise. I like meat, take 15 min showers and debate what to eat for lunch with the refrigerator door open. But I really like recycling. I can't help it, it's just so convenient and satisfying. I know a lot of people don't have newspaper or bottle recycling bins, so here are some stats that might motivate you to recycle your water bottle.

$1.42 billion: dollars college students spend on bottled water each year

$70 million: water bottles Americans consume each year

27,000: barrels of oil required to package and transport that water

90: percent of bottles that end up in landfills rather than recycled or reused

1,000: years water bottles take to degrade in landfills

Invasion of the Space Germs

Really, there are deadly germs from space..the catch is that we kinda put them there....

It sounds like the plot for a scary B-movie: Germs go into orbit on a spaceship and come back stronger and deadlier than ever.

But it really happened.

The germ: Salmonella, best known as a culprit in food poisoning.

The trip: Space shuttle mission STS-115, September 2006.

The reason: Scientists wanted to see how space travel affects germs, so they took some along -- carefully wrapped -- for the ride.

The result: Mice that were fed the space germs were three times more likely to get sick, and died more quickly, than mice fed identical germs that had remained behind on Earth.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/space/09/25/germs.in.space.ap/index.html

The bacteria changed over 150 genes to adapt to their surroundings - space. It makes sense...plus there's nothing up there to protect them from UV and other high energy waves which have a big role in mutating genes.

How to Save A Life

A lot of people don't like to get involved when someone around them is in trouble. Lets say someone around you collapses and stops breathing. Sure, I would be a little grossed out to give some stranger mouth to mouth too... If there's anything I am completely afraid of its getting herpes of the mouth, cold stores. Seriously the thought of THAT on my lips for the rest of my life would make me think twice about saving someone's life.

So you could call me completely shallow for possibly letting someone die to save my smooth lips, but it turns out you don't really need to give mouth to mouth. Chest compressions practically do the same thing.

Oxygenated blood is stuck in the chest around the heart. Chest compressions help push the blood to the brain, which is important to prevent brain damage. Studies found that chest compressions are almost as effective as mouth to mouth.

And the best part is you don't have to be CPR certified or be mouth to mouth to save someone. Just push their chest till the ambulance gets there...

Burn Treatment

Just something I picked up from volunteering in the ER:

If you get a bad burn put toothpaste on it. I overheard the doctors discussing the topic, and they had a pretty lively debate on which kind works best, but they finally settled on non-whitening.

Being a naturally clumsy person, I've burned myself a few times and I can say that it really works. Once I was pouring tea out of the pot into a cup and I spilled some over the edge and on my hand. The steam and hot water even got between my fingers. Luckily I had a whole tube of toothpaste on hand and put a layer on over my burns.

I swear it saved me from blisters. So try it sometime, and let me know how it works out for you.

Your pick: Tramp stamp or Epidural

Lately, a lot of girls have been getting the "tramp stamp," you know the tattoo on the lower lower-er back. But there may be a downside to getting one if you plan on getting painkillers during labor.

In 2002, a pair of Canadian anesthesiologists published a report that questioned whether administering an epidural through such a tattoo could be risky. The doctors speculated that complications like inflammation or nerve damage may arise if the needle pulled a bit of dyed skin along with it, and then deposited it into the nerve-rich region outside the spinal column.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119006970692630378.html?mod=todays_us_nonsub_pj

Other doctors say its no big deal if the ink is dried and the wound healed....but the ink itself is not exactly FDA approved. So if you plan on getting one, just remember to deal with it during labor.

The Truth about Milk - Growth Hormone

As a lot of people know, I believe there is a milk conspiracy. The war between organic and hormone grown rages on, if you just google about it there's several websites dedicated to it and the organic and not websites say really mean things about each other. Very entertaining, I promise. Anyway, to drink or not to drink, that is your decision. But there are some things you should know before you choose.

Growth Hormone is a Peptide Hormone!
This is really important to realize because it means Growth Hormone (GH) is just a protein. (Here's the 3D image of the amino acid sequence)


Think of it analogous to steak, a big nice protein. And when you drink the milk your stomach does the same thing it does when you eat steak....it digests the protein.

So it doesn't matter if your milk has growth hormone it it or not. It won't affect you if your stomach digests it. That's why people (and some notorious athletes) getting growth hormone therapy inject it, so it can go directly into the bloodstream and do its hormone stuff on the muscles.

Your body simply doesn't use growth hormone from milk whether its organic or not.

Fun Fact Fridays

"Have you ever wondered why infants and toddlers are so uncoordinated? It is because the process of myelination [covering of nerves with fat so they work faster] continues after birth. So, if children seem slow to walk or to be toilet trained, don't blame them for being uncooperative; they just may not be fully myelinated yet."

The Kiss of Death

From a newspaper article I saved:

Peanut butter 'did not kill girl'A 15-year-old Canadian girl with a peanut allergy did not die because of kissing her boyfriend who had eaten peanut butter, a coroner has ruled.

But Saguenay coroner Michel Miron did not reveal why Christina Desforges died last November because he has yet to make his final report. The coroner said he wanted to speak out so the case would not be used by the Canadian Association of Food Allergies. He said he believed the group wanted to use it in an education campaign.

"I had to tell them the cause of death was different than first believed," he said.

Miss Desforges died in hospital in Saguenay, about 155 miles (250km) north of Quebec City, last November, after she failed to respond to days of treatment.

Her 16-year-old boyfriend had kissed her some nine hours after he had eaten peanut butter on toast, the AFP news agency reported at the time. "She was extremely allergic to peanuts and her boyfriend didn't know," a reporter for Canadian broadcaster TVA said.

Allergists at the time called the case very rare and worrisome.

The coroner Mr Miron said that, contrary to media reports at the time, she did not get an adrenalin shot, a standard treatment for anaphylactic shock, immediately after the kiss.

He said she had not used her syringe to give herself a shot because she did not have an allergic reaction to peanut butter.

Peanut allergy symptoms can include hives, a drop in blood pressure and swelling of the face and throat that can hinder breathing.

Moral of the story? Feel free to kiss! In my case, eat all the mangoes you want, it won't be the reason I won't kiss you :)