On Dec 18, 11:14*pm, PeterL > wrote:
> http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news...rbation-and-we...
> findings/story-e6frfkui-1225811061204
>
> Ghosts, masturbation and weird findings
>
> * * * From: AAP
> * * * December 16, 2009 4:13PM
>
> WEIRD, wild and decidedly offbeat research findings have emerged in 2009.
>
> Among the most bizarre medical discoveries we.
>
> - Pulling a tick off the wrong way can lead to meat allergy. An Australian
> doctor found the link while studying rising cases of the allergy among
> people who live on Sydney's tick-prone northern beaches. "I now tell
> everybody I see who lives anywhere near ticks to use `Aerostart' (spray-on
> engine cleaner) or another high-alcohol substance," said Dr Sheryl van
> Nunen. "Stun the tick before you scrape it out and it can't inject what it
> injects."
>
> - Serial coffee drinkers are more likely to feel "the presence of dead
> people", British researchers found. They asked students about their
> caffeine intake and those with the highest were also most likely to report
> seeing, or hearing, things that were not there.
>
> - The hotter a common laser printer gets, the more likely it is to spew
> out potentially hazardous "ultrafine particles", Australian scientists
> warned. The particles can be as toxic as cigarette smoke, and 60 per cent
> of printers in one study were found to emit them.
>
> - British scientists have created a custom-made bacteria that glows green
> when it comes into contact with chemicals leaked by buried explosives,
> meaning it can be used to safely detect the presence of landmines.
>
> - A UK study found men who reported more frequent masturbation and sex
> during their 20s and 30s went on to have an increased risk of prostate
> cancer. However this was at odds with Australian research prompting claims
> "bashful" Brits may have skewed the result. "Men who haven't got the
> disease ... are less likely to admit to high levels of self-
> satisfaction," said Melbourne's Professor Graham Giles.
>
> - They provide relief from the body's aches and pains but they can also
> burn, doctors from an Adelaide hospital's emergency department warned
> after treating a string of "wheat bag" injuries.
>
> - The first US case of "cannabinoid hyperemesis" was recorded in the
> medical literature. The syndrome was first described in 2004 in 20 South
> Australian men. Sufferers experience nausea and vomiting as a result of
> chronic cannabis use, but these ill effects are relieved by taking a very
> hot shower. "Grown men, screaming in pain, sweating profusely, vomiting
> every 30 seconds and demanding to be allowed to use the shower. It's a
> very dramatic presentation," an Adelaide-based doctor said.
>
> - US surgeons successfully restored a woman's sight by pulling out one of
> her teeth, placing a lens inside the tooth and then implanting the tooth
> in her eyeball. The technique can only be used when a person has a scarred
> cornea on an otherwise healthy eye.
>
> - Australian medicos found a new use for saline solution. The hospital
> staple is very effective at removing a leech from an eyeball. A Sydney
> hospital treated a woman who had a leech "tucked up underneath her upper
> eyelid". "Our little fellow started off at about half a centimetre and by
> the time we removed it, it was about 2cm long - it had quite a good
> lunch," said doctor Toby Fogg.
>
> - Caffeine does temporarily dull the body's ability to feel pain,
> according to a US study that looked at how long cyclists could maintain
> maximum exertion.
>
> - A study of children taken to emergency departments in Australia and New
> Zealand has found boys were over-represented, even when accounting for
> their higher accident rate. "All of the nurses in my department think it
> is because males are the weaker sex," said Dr Jason Acworth.
>
> - A 62-year-old cancer survivor was temporarily denied entry into the US
> because the drug he was taking had wiped out his fingerprints. The journal
> Annals of Oncology issued a travel warning for the drug capecitabine,
> which lists inflammation of the hands and peeling palms among its side
> effects. "Patients ... may have problems with regards to fingerprint
> identification when they enter US ports or other countries," it warned.
>
> - Brain scans on 30 Brisbane-based mums showed that some experienced a
> "natural high" when looking at photos of their crying child, while for
> others the same scenario inspired feelings of "disgust".
>
> - A paper in the Journal of Clinical Practice listed cases of people who
> drank up to nine litres of cola a day. One man was confined to an electric
> scooter as a result. Another saw his GP for muscle weakness, and admitted
> to drinking more than four litres a day during a trip to the Australian
> outback. Excess soft drink consumption can cause "mild weakness to
> profound paralysis", researchers warned.
>
> - Many smokers feel more compelled to quit when asked to ponder the impact
> of their habit on their pet's health, a US study revealed.
>
> - Having a hook worm in your stomach was found to be an effective
> treatment for coeliac disease. The parasite reduced the sensitivity of the
> immune system, which would otherwise malfunction and attack the stomach
> lining. Despite the "yuck factor", 20 study participants opted to keep
> their hookworm at the end of an Australian trial.
>
> - Research into a 17 per cent jump in Australian men who sought tests for
> prostate cancer found the cause was Sam Newman. The controversial AFL
> identity went public with his diagnosis in early 2008, and it had a
> similar impact on prostate cancer testing as Kylie Minogue had on breast
> screening following her 2005 diagnosis.
>
> - A testosterone patch designed to pep up a woman's sex drive received the
> thumbs down in a study published in the UK's Drugs and Therapeutics
> Bulletin. The side effects included acne, excess hair, breast pain, weight
> gain, insomnia, voice deepening and migraine. "Significant numbers" of
> women placed on a placebo patch reported an increase in sex drive.
>
> --
> Peter Lucas * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
> Brisbane * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
> Australia * * *
>
> If we are not meant to eat animals,
> why are they made of meat?

You need to get out more :

Lovely weird stuff though.

John Kane Kingston ON Canada