In 2021, according to the latest data from the CDC, 100 older adults (age 65-plus) died from falls every day. Nonfatal falls were higher among women than among men, but fall-related death rates were higher among men than among women. Fall rates have steadily risen in recent years.

Falling is not an inevitable part of aging. It can be prevented by addressing risk factors and following some preventive strategies, such as:

Stay physically active.

Try balance and strength training exercises.

Fall-proof your home, e.g., handrails on both sides of stairs, good lighting, reduced floor clutter and no-slip carpeting and rugs.

Have your eyes and hearing checked regularly.

Find out about side effects of any medicines taken.

Get enough sleep.

Avoid or limit alcohol.

Stand up slowly.

Use an assistive device such as a cane or walker, if needed. Or lean on a friend.

Puke and Pay

Some restaurants in San Francisco popular for their brunches and endless mimosas have begun charging patrons who overindulge and vomit on the premises. Call it an upchuck upcharge.

Restaurateur Steven Choi told the San Francisco Chronicle that the problem came up during the pandemic. "It became a very sensitive issue for customers and staff having to clean," he said.

The $50 gag order, posted in bathrooms as an automatic fee when applicable, seems to be working, which is good spews.

Body of Knowledge

In anatomy, the term "fossa" (Latin for ditch or trench) refers to a depression or hollow, usually in bone, but sometimes tissues or organs, such as the fossa ovalis — a depression in the right atrium of the heart.

Entirely unrelated, fossa are also a slender, long-tailed, catlike mammal endemic to Madagascar. The animal looks a little like a small cougar. And depressingly for lemurs, fossa are their most feared predator.

Mark Your Calendar

November is awareness month for diabetes, bladder health, lung cancer, epilepsy, healthy skin, Alzheimer's disease, pancreatic cancer, stomach cancer and all those family caregivers who take care of the rest of us.

Doc Talk

Malpighian pyramids — Named after a 17th-century anatomist, these are cone-shaped tissues of the kidney. They help with blood filtration and water concentration within the organ.

Phobia of the Week

Apeirophobia — fear of infinity. (which is why we've stuck a meaningless period at the end)

Food for Thought

However you eat them, Oreo cookies are tasty. They're reportedly the best-selling cookie in the world, sold in more than 100 countries. There is much debate about whether the outer cookie or the inner filling is best. It's a matter of taste.

What isn't up for debate is what exactly is in the inner filling, because that's a trade secret. One thing is for sure: There is no cream in the creme filling. But you can deduce some ingredients from the packaging: sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, soy lecithin, artificial flavor and palm and/or canola oil. These ingredients are also common in commercial white frostings.

FYI: A Double-Stuf Oreo does not contain twice as much creme, but rather 1.86 times what's in a standard cookie.

Best Medicine

First guy: I asked my new girlfriend to meet me at the gym.

Second guy: So?

First guy: She never showed up. I guess we aren't going to work out.

Observation

"A doctor is a man licensed to make grave mistakes." — American writer Leonard Louis Levinson (1904-1974)

Medical History

This week in 1876, a patent for the first U.S. cigarette manufacturing machine was issued to Albert Hook of New York City (No. 184,207). The Hook machine was invented in 1872 but did not come into practical commercial use until 1882. It produced a continuous cigarette of indefinite length, to be cut into individual cigarettes. Tobacco was fed onto a ribbon of paper. The paper passed over a gummed wheel as it was drawn off its spool.

According to revenue collection figures, the number of cigarettes manufactured in 1875 was only 50 million — or about the number smoked in your average 1940s film noir movie.

Perishable Publications

Many, if not most, published research papers have titles that defy comprehension. They use specialized jargon, complex words and opaque phrases such as "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: "Prevalence and Disinfection of Bacteria Associated with Various Types of Wristbands."

Writing in the journal Advances in Infectious Diseases, researchers found that roughly 95% of 20 wearables (think Fitbits and Apple Watches) harbored multitudinous microbial communities, from skin-loving Staphylococcus (found on 85%) to diarrhea-inducing Escherichia coli (60%) to Pseudomonas (30%) responsible for lung infections.

Wearables made of rubber or plastic had more germs than bands made of metal, because they are more porous and thus better breeding grounds. Bands of gold or silver had practically no contamination.

Sum Body

QSR magazine issued its annual drive-thru report, clocking how quickly drive-thru restaurants delivered their fast food. Here are the top 10:

Taco Bell: 278.84 seconds (4.6 minutes)

Carl's Jr.: 303.74 seconds

KFC: 303.95 seconds

Arby's: 319.64 seconds

Dunkin': 321.10 seconds

Hardee's: 336.15 seconds

Wendy's: 343.07 seconds

Burger King: 351.38 seconds

McDonald's: 413.06 seconds

Chick-fil-A: 436.09 seconds

Getting, uh, in and out quickly means you'll have more time to drive to urgent care later.

Medical Myths

There's a dietary adage that goes "calories in, calories out," suggesting that the most important factor in long-term weight gain is how many calories one consumes. It's only sort of true.

If you consume more calories than you burn, you'll likely gain weight. If you burn more calories than you consume, you'll likely lose weight — at least in the short term.

But the real, long-term determinant of weight rests with the types of foods eaten. Ultraprocessed foods, such as starchy snacks, baked goods, sodas and sweets, are especially harmful to weight gain because they are rapidly digested and flood the body with glucose, fructose and amino acids that are converted into fat by the liver.

By contrast, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and proteins are more slowly digested, providing ample calories without overconsumption. It's a case of quality over quantity.

Epitaphs

"Good friend, for Jesus's sake forbear

To dig the dust enclosed here.

Blest be the man that spares these stones,

And curst be he that moves my bones."

— On the tomb of English playwright William Shakespeare (1564-1616), a heck of a writer to the end — and beyond

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: Ricardo Gomez Angel at Unsplash