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Human

Amazing Facts

  1. Four out of five of men in Europe shared a common male ancestor that lived as a primitive hunter on a wild continent some 40,000 years ago, researchers say.
  2. No matter how tall you are in the morning, by evening you will be about 1cm shorter. This is because your cartilage gradually squeezes together over the course of the day. You regain your original height while asleep.
  3. The strongest muscles are two powerful muscles ------ one on each side of the face ----- called masseters. They are used for biting.
  4. On average, muscles make up 40% of the body weight.
  5. It is impossible to sneeze with your eyes opened.
  6. Drinking too much water may cause a condition called hyponatraemia, which is usually associated with Ecstasy-takers and marathon runners and often mistaken for heat exhaution.

Interesting Articles

Open Sesame
Getting therapeutic drugs into the brain is difficult because of a firewall of cells that line the capillaries there. But Alessio Fasano, a gastroenterologist at the University of Maryland, may have found a way through. A few years ago, while studying cholera vaccines, Fasano stumbled across a protein that made victim's intenstines dangerously leaky. He later found similar molecules that unlock tightly sealed barricades throughout the body, including the one in the brain. Tests on brain tissue have confirmed that some of these molecules can open the blood-brain barrier, at least briefly. "many brain tumors are highly susceptible to drugs, but we can't get the drugs across the barrier. Now we have a key," he says. -Jocelyn Selim

Coughing one way to hold off cardiac arrest
VIENNA: Coughing vigorously until an ambulance arrives could save the lives of heart patients who are going into cardiac arrest, a doctor said on Tuesday.
Dr Tadeusz Petelenz, a researcher in Poland, said the technique, called cough CPR, forces blood to the brain while the heart is starting to fail and keeps patients conscious long enough to call for help. It may also rectify their heart rhythm, he told a meeting of the European Society of Cardiology.
He recommended Cough CPR be taught to the public, but other experts said the concept needs more study.
Cardiac arrest can be caused by a sudden problem with the heart's rhythm – ventricular fibrillation. It can also be caused by a heart attack which occurs when a blockage cuts off the heart's blood supply. – AP

 

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