HUB's LIST of medical fun facts

Satchel Page’s advice for living a long time was right. “Don’t look back. Something may be gaining on you.”

There is a significant association between gait speed and 10-year survival for participants older than 75. If a person can’t walk 20 feet in 10 seconds the risk for early mortality is high. (1)

Grandma was  wrong about cranberry juice.

311 college-aged women drank cranberry juice or a placebo twice a day for six months after being treated for a urinary tract infection (UTI). Recurrence rates of UTIs were the same in both groups. In fact, the women who drank the cranberry juice had twice as many recurrences with E. Coli, the bacteria that cranberry juice is supposed to be most effective against. (2) Cranberry juice contains over 200 active compounds, so “the little berry that defies” science will continue to do so for a while.

Grandpa is still going strong down under.

31% of 2800 Australian men aged 75-95 reported having sex at least once in the past 12 months and 43% reported having sex “less often than desired.”  “A lack of a partner” was cited as the reason by 21%. (3)

French men drink the Irish under the table … and into the ground!

91% of French men surveyed consumed alcohol once weekly while only 61% of Irish men did so. Average DAILY alcohol consumption in French men was 33 grams while Irish men consumed only 22 grams daily. In 10 years of follow-up the Irish men had TWICE the number of adverse coronary events (heart attack or death due to cardiac disease) than the French. You might say that the Irish are just poor losers…or perhaps that wine is better for your heart than beer and whiskey. (4)

Some Super Bowl losses are more permanent than others.

The 1980 Los Angles Ram Super Bowl loss was associated with a 15% increase of cardiac deaths in Los Angeles in the 14 days after the game. The increase was highest in women and those over age 65. In 1984 the Los Angles Raiders won the Super Bowl and cardiac deaths dropped by 1% (5)

Sometimes “progress” can be relative.

The odds of getting killed in an automobile accident in New York City today is about the same as getting killed in a horse accident in 1900 (about 1 in 20,000 – 25,000) (6)

Baseball players CAN see better than umpires.

“On average, a baseball players’ vision is 20/12 which means a baseball player can see from 20 feet what a normal person can see at 12 feet. Normal vision is 20/20, of course. The best the human eye can see is 20/8, so 20/12 is halfway to the best human vision possible.” Major League Baseball did not respond to an offer to evaluate umpires’ vision. (7)

It’s about the same ON or OFF the job.

Percentage of unemployed Americans who take a nap each day: 39%     Percentage of employed Americans who do: 31% (8)

Sperm and the Proton Channel.

“A recent study directly measured whole-cell electrical activities in human sperm using patch-clamp methods and found that the proton channel HV1, which is sensitive to both the membrane potential and the pH gradient, is the predominant mechanism used by sperm to achieve intracellular alkalinization which is necessary for motility and interaction with the egg coat.” (9) I can’t find either the Proton Channel or HV1 on my TV. I wonder if the Australian grandpas get it?

But what about Rock and Roll?

“Adolescents who were enrolled in a school-based drug prevention program were less likely to engage in unprotected sex or sex with multiple partners 7 years later.” (10)

References:

1. JAMA 2011 Jan 5; 305:50, Studenski
2. Clin Inf Dis 2011 Jan 1; 52:23, Barbosa-Cesnik
3.Gen Med Jour Watch, vol. 31, 5,  p.26
4. BMJ 2010 nov 23; 341:c6077, Ruidavets
5. Clin Card, Feb. 2011; 34;2 102-107, Kloner
6. Harper’s Index, Dec. 2010, p.11 and 68
7. Interview with Dr. Daniel Laby, opthalmologist to the Red Sox, Boston Globe G, Feb. 22, 2010, p.3
8. Harper’s Index, Aug 2009, p.13 and 63
9. New Eng J Med 362:20, May 2010 p.1935
10. J Adolesc Health  2009 Aug; 45:111, Ellickson