Health and Society
jfiore | April 7, 2009Under 200. That's the usual target for total cholesterol as reported in popular media. But are all 200s the same?
I just received my profile from a recent blood test. Here's what it said.
Total cholesterol: 204
LDL (bad cholesterol): 131.6
HDL (good cholesterol): 57
Triglycerides: 77
The total is computed as LDL+HDL+Tri/5. These are fairly typical numbers for me as compared to the last half dozen years, although my HDL usually is a few points higher and my LDL and tri usually are a few points lower. This 204 would normally place me at borderline high. However, my doctor is not very…
jfiore | June 23, 2008Two things that seem to be in the headlines of late: oil prices and overweight Americans. How do these things go together? Time for a fun "back of the envelope" calculation.
According to the CDC about two-thirds of American adults are overweight or obese (a BMI over 25 tags you as overweight while a BMI over 30 defines obese). Currently, nearly a third of US adults are obese. If we ignore the obese children for a moment (and that's getting harder and harder to do), that means there's somewhere around 165 million Americans who are at least overweight. Let's be really generous (kind of like…
bushwells | April 4, 2008Mary Roach, author of Stiff and Spook, has a new book debuting this month: Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex. To promote her new book, Roach is making the interview rounds. Check out her interview with Katharine Mieszkowski for Salon: Getting it on for science.
An excerpt pertaining to sexual arousal in women follows:
Edited to add a video of Mary Roach discussing Bonk; be sure to check it out, particularly her remarks on Danish swine sex! Thanks to Steve C. from W.W. Norton for providing the clip.
There can be a split between what the sex researchers measure happening in…
jfiore | November 21, 2007In early October I posted a series of pics regarding the low water level at Hinckley Reservoir in upstate NY. The combination of low rainfall and demand had reduced the lake some 35 feet below spill level. I had hoped to post some pics in Spring 2008 to contrast these to normal levels. That won't be necessary. Over the past several weeks we have had considerable rain. Also, the major draw off of the reservoir, the NY state canal corporation, reduced their demand and planned to close the canal early. (At present, the canal is nicely topped off.) The result is that the lake is now just a few…
jfiore | November 19, 2007The local paper ran an article yesterday regarding smoking statistics in upstate NY. The major point of the story is seen in its headline "Region's smoking rate is among highest in state". The basic stats involve a region of upstate NY including 11 counties ranging from Utica, down to Cooperstown, up to Plattsburg, and much of the Adirondacks, for a total population of just about 600,000. The key item is a smoking rate of 26.6%. This is second only to the Southern Tier at 27.1%. The state-wide average is 18% and the national average is 20%. I was a bit surprised by this but it does encompass…
bushwells | September 20, 2007Speaking as a mother who breastfed both of my kids and was a card-carrying member of LaLeche League (an uneasy relationship since I worked outside the home but valuable all the same for many other reasons), I figured I'd weigh in on this, but not from the Facebook angle. There are plenty of other offerings among my SciBlings on the Facebook debacle, and I am sure you can find them via the main page so I am not linking them here. I can't say I am surprised at FB's reactionary response to the photos of the mother in question. Breastfeeding is ridiculously sexualized in the US.
So here I…
bushwells | September 15, 2007I concede. As self-deprecatory as I can be, I am left in the dust, gasping and quivering, by the mighty Christopher Hitchens who aptly displays the gloriously superior sense of humor that is characteristic of the human male. I am humbled, Mr. Hitchens. My hat's off to you.
In the latest Vanity Fair, Hitchens writes about his experience at the spa of the Four Seasons Biltmore Resort in Santa Barbara, CA: On the Limits of Self-Improvement, Part I.
It's an entertaining - and funny - article on the micro-economy of self-improvement. Be sure to check out the slide show!
jfiore | August 25, 2007Runners have a tendency to track their workout times. This can be both misleading and dangerous if you don't figure in the effect of weather, a trap both newbies and experienced runners can fall into. Consider long runs.
Last week, I went down to the local canal trail for a long run. I ran 16 miles and comfortably averaged about 7:00 minute per mile pace. In fact, my first few miles were a bit easier and I had no problem running the last few in the upper 6's. It was mid 50's F, clear, and low humidity. A downright refreshing and pleasant run.
This morning, my training partner and I ran down…
jfiore | August 8, 2007"He won't hurt you". Check out this thread which popped up after a report of a child being killed in a pit bull attack. We can thank commenter scorp1101 for jumping right into it with the pit bulls are just fine and I know because I own one argument. The remainder of the thread is interesting for two reasons. First, a major theme among many posters seems to be that training (or lack thereof) is the root cause of problems, not something inherent in the breed. Second, it took until the second page of comments before someone said anything about the child who was killed. I guess there's nothing…
jfiore | August 6, 2007Is walking to the store "greener" than riding there in your car? Here's an interesting article from The Times UK arguing for the car. The upfront argument is specious. Consider:
"Driving a typical UK car for 3 miles [4.8km] adds about 0.9 kg [2lb] of CO2 to the atmosphere," he said, a calculation based on the Government's official fuel emission figures. "If you walked instead, it would use about 180 calories. You'd need about 100g of beef to replace those calories, resulting in 3.6kg of emissions, or four times as much as driving.
This is damning information regarding beef production, but…
jfiore | July 16, 2007Last Sunday was the 30th annual Boilermaker 15k road race in lovely Utica, NY. This is perhaps the biggest event in central NY during the summer. This year, the Boilermaker attracted over 12,000 entrants along with an elite field of national and international talent. In other words, it's not your average Sunday morning 5k benefit run won in a blistering 19:36 by a guy wearing Teva sandals. If you're interested in the results, you can find them here or use the database found here to find results from prior years along with news clips and such.
One of the things I like about this race is the…
jfiore | July 11, 2007There is a darkly humorous thread at letsrun.com, a very popular site for runners, which may be of interest.
The upshot is that a surprising number of people are saying that they do not wash their hands after using restrooms and arguing that they are better off because of it. I don't think there is anything unique about the running population with regards to this topic except for the fact that runners seem willing to openly discuss anything that has to do with their bodies. All I can say is that it makes me happy that I seldom dine out.
bushwells | June 7, 2007
So the notion that human semen may act as an antidepressant is rearing its semi-flaccid head again.
Broadsheet from Salon.com (May, 2007) asks are you addicted to semen?
Someday they'll have a patch for that. Dr. Gordon G. Gallup theorizes (via Feministing) that women have a "chemical dependency" on semen. He's based this conclusion on a survey that found that women who regularly had sex without condoms became increasingly depressed the longer they went without sex (read: semen). Women who regularly used condoms didn't have this experience. So, it could be that if you consistently have sex…
jfiore | June 5, 2007The 2005 Energy Policy Act is known by some as being written by the energy lobby and by others as containing things down right goofy. One provision creates what are known as energy transmission corridors. Supposedly, the idea is to lower energy costs and increase security (is there anything that's done by the government these days that doesn't have the word security thrown in?) Here is a map of the draft Mid-Atlantic corridor. You will note that most of New York State is within the corridor with the exception of the southwestern portion and a chunk of the Adirondack Mountains.
Now I'm all…
jfiore | December 18, 2006Every now and then I come a cross an advertisement that makes me say "What the #&$!?" I have seen the ad for the ROM machine in the back of Scientific American for some time but I never bothered to read it. Until yesterday. Then I went to their website. Yeow. My head is still spinning.
The ROM (Range Of Motion) machine promises a complete workout in only four minutes per day. Yep. Four, count 'em, four minutes per day. It's a bizarre looking device with a central seat, pedals, handles, chrome tubing and what appears to be a large flywheel or friction wheel, all for the amazing price of…
jfiore | October 13, 2006According to Purdue researcher Ken Ferraro, the answer is yes, sort of.
To be more precise, Ferraro found a 14 percent increase in obesity among women who use religious media resources. Ferraro studied the religious habits of over 2500 people to reach this conclusion. Interestingly, he found that frequency of attending services was correlated with lower likelihood of obesity and that men did not show an increased tendency. Here's an interesting outtake:
...this (study) follows subjects over eight years to help explain why religion and obesity are related. For instance, (Ferraro) tested…
jfiore | October 4, 2006As an electrical engineer and college professor, I often have to correct my students' use of the words ironic and optimize. Lots of people use ironic when they're referring to what might be better called a curious or interesting coincidence. No, it's not ironic that Larry died on his father's birthday. Irony involves something producing a result the exact opposite of what was expected. Meanwhile, many people use optimize as a synonym for efficient or best. To an engineer, to optimize something means to trade off performance in areas deemed unimportant in order to improve performance elsewhere…