For The Union-Tribune
Running out of breath
Researchers analyzed 16 years of race results from nine major marathons across the U.S. and found that races run on days with greater air pollution were associated with slower average finish times.
The concentration of an air pollutant is measured in micrograms per cubic meter of air, or µg/m3. Analyzing all finish times, the researchers found that each 1 µg/m3 higher particulate matter on race day was associated with 32-second slower average finish times among men and 25-second slower average finish times among women. The effects were more pronounced in faster-than-median runners.
That may not sound like much, but for competitive marathoners seeking new personal records, every second counts.
“Runners at that level are thinking about their gear, their nutrition, their training, the course, even the weather,” said study author Elvira Fleury. “Our results show that those interested in optimizing athletic performance should consider the effect of air pollution, as well.”
Body of knowledge
Your liver has a role in almost every bodily function. It’s the only internal organ capable of full regeneration, requiring as little as 25 percent of original tissue to regrow completely regrow. It also changes size with body weight. Your body needs about 1 gram (0.03 ounces) of liver for every kilogram (35 ounces) of weight in order to effectively do its job.
Get me that. Stat!
A Tufts University study in developing countries estimates that 2.2 million new cases of Type 2 diabetes and 1.2 million new cases of cardiovascular disease occur each year globally due to the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages.
Stories for the waiting room
Fitness trackers and smartwatches are much touted as health tools, able to count your steps and heart beats, measure blood oxygen levels and even call for help if you fall down.
But a new study reports that their watchbands often contain fluoroelastomers, a synthetic polymer used to make rubber material resistant to sweat, skin oils and lotions. Specifically, a type of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) called perfluorohexanoic acid. PFASs are known as “forever chemicals” because their chemical structures do not degrade or breakdown, posing a persistent contamination threat to soil and groundwater.
It’s not known to what degree PFASs may be harmful to humans, but it’s clear they can migrate from treated surfaces onto skin and into dust and air, creating multiple paths of exposure including inhalation, ingestion and dermal absorption.
Elevated levels of PFHxA were more prevalent in higher-priced watchbands tested, those costing more than $15.
Observation
“Pay mind to your own life, your own health and wholeness. A bleeding heart is of no help to anyone if it bleeds to death.”
— American author and theologian Frederick Buechner (1926-2022)
Medical history
This week in 1902, Harvey Cushing, the first U.S. physician to practice exclusively as a neurosurgeon, performed his first brain operation. Born in New Haven, Conn., Cushing’s clinical contributions are legendary, among them: the use of X-rays in surgical practice, physiological saline for irrigation during surgery, the discovery of the pituitary as the master hormone gland, founding of the clinical specialty of endocrinology, the anesthesia record, the use of blood pressure measurement in surgical practice and the physiological consequences of increased intracranial pressure.
Much honored, Cushing died in 1939 at the age of 70 of a heart attack, just days after receiving word that funds had been allocated to build a medical library at Yale University, named in part after him.
Sum body
Four things to know about your butt, er, posterior.
1. The three muscles that comprise your “glutes” are the body’s largest and strongest muscle group, based on maximum force generation.
2. Back pain can originate in the buttocks.
3. So can sciatica (pain, numbness and tingling that radiates down the leg) because the sciatic nerve typically lies atop of the piriformis, a small muscle that lives deep behind the gluteus maximus.
4. Butt lifts aren’t too far behind the popularity leaders in cosmetic surgery. In 2023, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons said its performed 29,383 Brazilian butt lifts (buttock augmentation with fat grafting), 1,234 butt implants and 7,748 butt lifts,
Epitaphs
“Poor John Scott lies buried here;
Although he was both hale and stout,
Death stretched him on the bitter bier.
In another world he hops about.”
— Headstone of a Liverpool brewer buried in the churchyard of Newhaven, the Sussex in England, by pun-loving family and friends
LaFee is vice president of communications for the Sanford Burnham Prebys research institute.
