The Medical Tent
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 | 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…
bushwells | May 30, 2007Nigh on two weeks ago, O my brothers and sisters, your Faithful Narrator went under the microtome and the laser beam so that my starry glazzes might viddy the cruel, cruel world dobby-like. Grazhny contact lenses are no longer in my present day; cally remembrances of the far, far distant past, they are. I was faced with the potential of needing two pairs of otchkies, one for distance and the other for reading and mid-range viddying, "Yarbles!" to that, I skazated. So I got it into my gulliver that having my glazzes shived to perfection was the way to go.
So you, my Science Blog droogs,…