OK, it's a new year, so this probably means you're back at the gym reintroducing yourself to staff. Good for you. Hop on that treadmill or stationary bike and go for it. Then hit the weights.

A large observational study has found that adding weightlifting to aerobic exercise is good for older adults, lowering their risk from most deaths (but not cancer).

Weightlifting alone was linked to a 9% lower risk of death, while moderate to vigorous aerobic activity alone was tied to a 32% lower risk. Combine both and there was a 41% lower risk of death compared to all those couch potatoes who do neither.

Weightlifting is tied to lean body mass, which is a sign of good health, but the authors also noted that weightlifting could bring social benefits if people work out in a gym with others.

Body of Knowledge

Humans are quite leaky, even apart from the obvious ways. You produce, on average, more than 20 ounces of saliva (mostly water) per day, though much of that is recycled. Approximately 1.5 pints are lost daily when water evaporates from the skin. When you sweat, you exhale approximately 60 to 70 milliliters of water per hour.

Mark Your Calendar

January is awareness month for thyroids, glaucoma, birth defects, cervical health, radon and blood donations. Radon is a naturally occurring, invisible radioactive gas that can cause different kinds of cancer, including possibly cancer of the thyroid, a small, butterfly-shaped gland located at the front of the neck that produces hormones necessary for cell functions.

Stories for the Waiting Room

Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. (1809-1894) was an American poet and essayist, most famous for his "Breakfast-Table" series. He was also a doctor and medical reformer who rightfully concluded, and contrary to thinking at the time, that puerperal fever (postpartum infections) was carried from patient to patient by doctors.

He taught at Harvard Medical School for more than 30 years and was father of Supreme Court jurist Oliver Wendell Homes Jr. It is believed he was partial inspiration for the name of fictional detective Sherlock Homes.

Doc Talk

Bruit: an unusual sound, heard through a stethoscope, that blood makes when it rushes past an obstruction, such as a blockage in an artery

Phobia of the Week

Hypengyophobia: fear of responsibility

Best Medicine

The flu, common cold and COVID walk into a bar together.

The bartender looks at them and says, "What is this, some kind of sick joke?"

Observation

"Doctors prescribe medicines of which they know little, to cure diseases of which they know less, in human beings of which they know nothing." — French writer and philosopher Francois-Marie Arouet, better known by his nom de plume M. de Voltaire (1694-1778)

Perishable Publications

Many, if not most, published research papers have titles that defy comprehension. They use specialized jargon, complex words and opaque phrases like "nonlinear dynamics." Sometimes they don't, and yet they're still hard to figure out. Here's an actual title of actual published research study: "The effect of having Christmas dinner with in-laws on gut microbiota composition."

Published in Human Microbiome Journal in 2019, Dutch researchers found that seven bacterial species were significantly different in abundance between people who ate Christmas dinner with their in-laws compared to those who ate only with their own families.

However, the authors said more research was needed "before we can recognize in-laws as a potential risk factor for the gut microbiota composition and subsequently host health."

Medical history

This week in 1944, the first mercy flight of a U.S. helicopter carried 40 units of blood plasma from Battery Park, Manhattan, New York, to Sandy Hook, New Jersey, to save injured crewmembers who had survived the explosion and sinking of the U.S.S. Turner.

A Coast Guard Sikorsky HNS-1 Hoverfly helicopter flown by Comdr. F.A. Erickson transported two cases of medical supplies lashed to the floats of the aircraft. The destroyer Turner, which had been anchored off Ambrose Light, New York, sank after an explosion in its ammunition storage area. Of 276 men on board, 124 were rescued by nearby ships.

Med School

Q: How many types of cells are there in bone?

a) 1

b) 4

c) 16

d) 28

A: b) 4. They are osteoblasts, osteocytes, osteoclasts and mesenchymal stem cells.

Last words

"I die adoring God, loving my friends, not hating my enemies, and detesting superstition." — French writer Voltaire (1694-1778). Voltaire thought these would be his dying words after falling seriously ill following an arduous five-day journey, but the playwright recovered. By some accounts, his last words occurred a few months later when he fell ill again and was urged by a priest to renounce Satan and reportedly said, "This is no time to make enemies." In fact, the witticism appears to originate from an 1856 joke in a Massachusetts newspaper — 78 years after Voltaire's death.

To find out more about Scott LaFee and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

Photo credit: markusspiske at Pixabay