Health – Page 70 – Things Are Good

Doctors Perform Weightless Surgery

doctors French scientists rigged a plane for a special operation that would defy gravity. The plane performed swooping maneuvers that simulate low-gravity so the doctors can gain a better understanding how surgery can be done in outer space. Their tools used magnets to stay in place while the patient was under a special tent.

This is the first time that this has been done. The reason for this test is more than just a feasibility study since there could be spin-off benefits for health care. It looks like the next test will use a remote controlled robot to perform surgery.

Any volunteers?

California Sues Car Companies for Health Damage

thanks yahoo This is big news! Maybe this will have the same impact that suing tobacco companies had. The state charges that car companies have damaged people’s health because of the emissions of their products.

“California filed a global warming lawsuit on Wednesday against Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp., Toyota Motor Corp. and three other automakers, charging that greenhouse gases from their vehicles have cost the state millions of dollars.

State Attorney General Bill Lockyer said the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Northern California was the first of its kind to seek to hold manufacturers liable for the damages caused by their vehicles’ emissions.

The lawsuit also names Chrysler Motors Corp., the U.S. arm of Germany’s DaimlerChrysler AG, and the North American units of Japan’s Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. Ltd..

The lawsuit charges that vehicle emissions have contributed significantly to global warming and harmed the resources, infrastructure and environmental health of the most populous state in the United States.”

Madrid Fashion Week Projects Image of Health & Beauty

Its Fashion week in Madrid, but many of the models will be heading home rather than down the catwalk as organizers say they are too thin.

Although it provoked outrage in the modeling community, regional government organizes and sponsors of this international event say this year they want to portray an image of health and beauty rather than Heroine Chic. Organizers say they have a responsibility to project healthy body images and fear that waif-like models may negatively influence young girls. Said event organizer Concha Guerra: “Fashion is a mirror and many teenagers imitate what they see on the catwalk.”

Models are measured using the Body Mass Index, taking into account height and body type. Organizers of a similar event in Italy have vowed to continue the trend.

Carla also wrote in to tell us the fashion show was also mentioned on the CBC.

Sleeping pills for a wake up

Phire writes in to tell us that comas may not be so bad:

“60% of supposedly vegetative/braindead patients are waking up, recovering, getting better after being administered something as simple as a common sleeping pill.”

It’s rather ironic that when someone sleeps too long a sleeping pill can wake them up.

CSIRO Produces DHA

looking Joanne Bush has written us to let us know about DHA producing plants that can make us healthier.

“I can’t find a date on this page, so I don’t know how new this news is, but CSIRO, our national scientific research organisation here in Australia, has developed plants that produce DHA. Traditionally, this long-chain omega 3 fatty acid was only available from “lower plant forms” like microalgae (and more famously from the fish that feed on them).

The benefits include:
– Yet another reason why vegan doesn’t equal compromised health, &
– Reduced pressure on declining fish resources worldwide.”

I had no idea what DHA is, but wikipedia tells us all about DHA.