In 2015, more than 36,000 Americans were killed by guns (the two top causes: suicides and homicides) or 93 Americans on an average day, with another two injured with every fatality. These numbers are steadily rising.

Gun violence in the U.S. cost an astounding $6.6 billion in initial hospitalization costs over the past decade, according to a new Stanford University study that analyzed data from more than 267,000 patients admitted to hospitals for firearm-related injuries between 2006 and 2014. The total didn't include the cost of ER visits, readmissions, treatment for more minor gun injuries that don't require hospital admission, or treatment for patients who die before they are admitted to the hospital.

Spinach Builds Muscle And Other Cells

Researchers are steadily advancing in ways to regenerate tissue. The latest progress, at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, involves growing functional human heart cells on a spinach leaf.

Scientists stripped out all of the spinach cells, leaving behind a matrix of veins, which they used as a scaffolding for growing heart cells, with the veins also serving to infuse the heart cells with nutrients.

Now they're exploring ways to build tissues of different sizes and shapes using broccoli or cauliflower.

Body of Knowledge

The average human body contains 10 to the 28th atoms, give or take. That's 10 followed by 28 zeroes.

Get Me That, Stat!

One-quarter of millennials (people ages 18 to 34) say they've avoided seeking healthcare to avoid subsequent medical bills. That compares to 13 percent for individuals over age 35, according to Amino, a healthcare database.

Number Cruncher

A serving of kung pao chicken (154 grams) contains 240 calories, 135 from fat. It has 15 grams of total fat or 23 percent of the recommended total fat intake for a 2,000-calorie daily diet. It also contains 65 milligrams of cholesterol (22 percent); 540 mg of sodium (23 percent); 12 grams of total carbohydrates (4 percent); 3 grams of sugar and 16 g of protein, according to the website Calorie Counts.

Counts

5: Estimated number, in millions, of people bitten by venomous snakes each year worldwide

100,000: Estimated number who die

400,000: Estimated number who are crippled or maimed

Source: STAT

Doc Talk

Ceiling sign: sudden movement or near-levitation from the bed to the ceiling induced by examining for abdominal tenderness in a patient

Phobia of the Week

Geliophobia: fear of laughter

Never Say Diet

The Major League Eating record for deep-fried asparagus is 12 pounds, 8.75 ounces in 10 minutes, held by Joey Chestnut, who presumably was able to relive the memory of victory when he went to the restroom.

Best Medicine

A man came home after the successful implantation of a heart pacemaker. Reading through the literature, he was delighted to learn that the instrument carried a lifetime guarantee.

Observation

"I had to wait 110 years go become famous. I wanted to enjoy it as long as possible."

—Jeanne Louise Calment (1875-1997), who enjoyed being the longest lived supercentenarian on record, living to the age of 122 years and 164 days.

Medical History

This week in 1969, the first transplant of an entire human eye was announced in newspaper reports, albeit incorrectly. Dr. Conrad Moore of Methodist Hospital in Houston operated on John Madden, age 54, in an attempt to restore his right eye, which had been destroyed by bleeding following an earlier cornea graft. Others were skeptical, however, that a complete eye transplant had occurred and Moore eventually reported that he had actually transplanted just the front optical portion, retaining the original retina, optic nerve, blood vessels and muscles of the patient's eye. Three weeks after the operation, however, the patient still had no sight, though the eye had normal movement and appearance. Moore was subsequently expelled from the Houston Ophthalmological Society for poor practices.

Med School

Q: Why do people need to urinate in the middle of the night, but rarely (if ever) do anything else?

A: The human colon is controlled by a sophisticated neural network that is regulated by the body's circadian rhythm, the same internal clock that wakes people up when it becomes light outside. During the night and sleep, the colon is essentially shut down. The bladder, however, is a reservoir constantly being filled by urine produced by the kidneys. It has maximum volume. Normally, an empty bladder can go six to eight hours without triggering the need to urinate, but late-night fluid consumption or certain medical conditions can trigger the need earlier.

Curtain Calls

George Wilhelm Richmann (1711-1753) was a German physicist living in Russia and an early pioneer in the study and harnessing of electricity. In 1753, his research killed him when he was electrocuted by a globe of ball lightning in his lab. Richmann's death followed by a few months the more famous and successful static electricity experiments of Benjamin Franklin with a kite. (Franklin might have also risked the possibility of electrocution, but wisely remained outside the line of conductivity.)

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.