In the ongoing war against obesity, we're losing — and that's a good thing. New research shows that in high-income countries, the obesity rate has slowed slightly. Rates are still rising, but not quite so fast. (Rates have tripled since 1976.)

The less good news is that 42% of the adult U.S. population is obese, based on body mass index criteria.

Grown-ups, however, don't get the credit directly. The most notable reductions in obesity rates have been among preschool children.

Body of Knowledge

The eyeball would seem to be particularly delicate. After all, it's essentially a bag of water (more precisely, a liquid called vitreous humor). But eyeballs are surprisingly resilient. Researchers at the Institute of Human Anatomy, a private human cadaver lab, dropped cow eyeballs (pretty similar in structure to human ones) from the top of a five-story flight of stairs.

They bounced.

Get Me That, Stat!

In a 2009 study of 1,300 children hospitalized for nonfatal dog bites, 37% were from the family pet.

Mark Your Calendar

September is typically back-to-school month and, maybe, back to paying attention to your health after a summer of beer and barbecue. September is a busy awareness month for blood, prostate and ovarian cancers, atrial fibrillation, cholesterol, sickle cell anemia, polycystic ovary syndrome, sepsis and pediculosis prevention (lice, as in those kids returning to school).

Stories for the Waiting Room

We're all adults, right? Good. Flatulence is the medical term for passing of gas through the rectum. It's the appropriate word when conversation necessarily turns to this most human of activities.

But for those of a more sensitive or obscure disposition, here are other synonyms and phrases for, uh, farting: air biscuit, bottom burp, bafoon, cut the cheese, barking tree spider, foist, break wind, fizzle, prat whids (16th century British slang meaning "the buttocks speak"), tail scutter, rouser, shoot the bunny and trump.

No, really, that last word dates back to the 15th century and is related to the sound of a trumpet. Any other connotation is purely coincidental.

Doc Talk

Polydactyl — a condition in which a baby is born with one or more extra fingers or toes. The condition is rare, occurring once in every 500 to 1,000 births in the U.S. The rate varies by ethnicity. The world record is a child born in India with 10 toes on each foot and seven fingers on each hand. Surgery to remove excess digits is the typical treatment.

Phobia of the Week

Alliumphobia — fear of members of the strong-scented Allium genus, including onions, chives, shallots and (especially if you're a vampire) garlic

Best Medicine

First person: So looking at the body mass index chart, how do you stand?

Second person: It says I'm too short.

Observation

"Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt." — Naturalist and environmental advocate John Muir (1838-1914)

Medical History

This week in 1888, a baby incubator was used for the first time in the U.S. to care for an infant at State Emigrant Hospital on Ward's Island, New York. Edith Eleanor McLean weighed 2 pounds, 7 ounces. Originally called a "hatching cradle," the device was 3 feet square and 4 feet high, designed by maternity ward doctors Allan M. Thomas and William C. Deming to lower infant mortality. Sixteen years later at the 1904 World's Fair, Tennessean E.M. Bayliss exhibited actual premature infants from local orphanages ensconced in 14 metal-framed glass incubators with constant ventilation and temperatures of 90 degrees Fahrenheit, attended by real nurses. The care of the infants was paid for by the exhibit admission fee.

Sum Body

Eleven bodily fluids we can't live without.

1. Bile

2. Blood

3. Menstrual fluid

4. Mucus

5. Pus

6. Semen

7. Saliva

8. Sweat

9. Tears

10. Urine

11. Vomitus

Med School

Q: Why does swimming seem to provoke the urge to urinate?

A: There's a medical term for the phenomenon: immersion diuresis. When the body is submerged in water, blood vessels constrict, moving blood to the internal organs, which raises blood pressure and can increase activity in the kidneys because the body wants to release fluid to compensate for the arterial changes. The kidneys can also signal it's time to pee based on increased water pressure, which climbs as you dive deeper.

Immersion diuresis is quite common, and unfortunately, so is the phenomenon of people not getting out of the pool to take care of business. A 2017 study surveyed a 110,000-gallon community pool for specific markers indicating the presence of urine. The researchers concluded that over a three-week period, swimmers released almost 8 gallons of urine.

If it helps, that technically translates to just 0.000079% of the liquid in the pool.

So feel free to jump in, the water is fine — and warm.

Epitaphs

"I had a lover's quarrel with the world." — Headstone of poet Robert Frost (1874-1963), taken from his poem "The Lesson for Today."

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: Raj Rana at Unsplash