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I Inhaling nitrous oxide from pressurized canisters, commonly called doing “whippets” or “ballooning,” filling balloons with the gas, can damage your mouth, voice box, and respiratory tract. A case report from the University of Virginia in the New England Journal of Medicine documents the nasty side of laughing gas use.

A 23-year-old man presented to doctors there with a 2 day history of painful swallowing and hoarseness just following use of a “whippet” canister. Examination revealed swelling, redness, and peeling mouth and throat linings and a nasty ulceration on his right vocal cord.

The cause of these injuries: frostbite. Nitrous oxide, stored in pressurized liquid form, rapidly cools when released and converted to a gas. Inhaling it directly from a canister can expose your mouth and throat to extreme cold with partial or complete freezing and tissue damage similar to what you’d get from frostbite.

The patient in question received oral and topical painkillers as well as an oral anti-inflammatory paste. He never returned for follow up so we don’t know how his injuries healed.

Recreational nitrous oxide use is popular but not without its dangers when the gas is directly inhaled from an aerosol canister. The common wisdom is that laughing gas is harmless, but, in addition to frostbite, its use can trigger nerve damage, vitamin B12 depletion, and multiple neurological issues with repeated use.

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMicm2502232

#nitrousoxide #laughinggas #whippets #ballooning #frostbite

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Two-thirds of us in the United States drink coffee every day and three-quarters of us drink it at least once a week. Coffee and the caffeine it contains can be a problem for a number of medications prescribed by your medical team or bought by you on your own.

Most common are cold and flu drugs. Coffee’s caffeine turbocharges the effects of the decongestant pseudoephedrine, branded as Sudafed, or systemically-absorbed decongestant nasal sprays such as Afrin. That will give you the jitters, headaches, restlessness, insomnia, an elevated heart rate, temperature bump, and a even a higher blood sugar.

The caffeine in coffee, chemically similar to the amphetamines in ADHD - hyperactivity suppressing medications, raises your heart rate and keep you from getting to sleep.

Then too, drinking coffee within an hour of taking the thyroid drug levothyroxine, branded as Synthroid, or the anti-osteoporosis medications biphosphonate drugs Fosamax, Actonel, or Boniva reduces their absorption into your body by half.

Coffee also throws off medications taken for depression and other psychological and psychiatric conditions. It reduces the absorption of SSRIs, selective serotonin reuptake inhbitors such as sertraline, Zoloft, and citalopram, Celexa, On the other hand, coffee increases the effects of tricyclic antidepressants such as amitriptyline, Elavil, and imipramine, Tofranil. Consistent coffee drinking can almost double the blood levels of clozapine, Clozaril, taken for psychotic disorders.

Let’s return now to the most common drugs in your medicine cabinet, the pain killers. For the large number of us who take pain pills, the caffeine in coffee increases absorption of acetaminophen, Tylenol, and aspirin by speeding stomach emptying. Coffee also adds to the irritation effect of these drugs on your stomach linings.

As coffee’s caffeine increases both your heart rate and blood pressure, it interferes with the effects of your blood pressure lowering medications,

I’m not suggesting that you stop drinking your cup of morning joe. I am reminding you to be on the lookout for its adverse effects as you take the prescription and over-the-counter drugs that I have just mentioned.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-06-coffee-medication.html

#coffee #caffeine #deongestants #asthma #adhd #thyroid #depression #anxiety #pain #osteoporosis

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The bioengineering wizards at MIT’s Yang Center for Bionics have developed the most advanced prosthesis for above-knee amputees. Termed the osseointegrated mechanoneural prosthesis or OMP, it combines a sophisticated bionic knee with a titanium implant in the femur and connections into the wearer’s thigh muscles and nervous system permitting thought control of the units motions.

The clinical trial participants using the OMP walked faster, climbed stairs more readily, and were able to avoid obstacles better than those using more conventional prostheses. Users also reported that their limb felt like a part of their body due to improved sensory feedback.

This prosthesis represents a new level of integration between human and machine. Fitting with this prosthesis requires special surgical considerations at the time of amputation.

Further refinements and clinical trials lie ahead, and the developers expect this cutting edge prosthesis will be widely available in about 5 years or less. Considering its complexity, this is literally…….someday soon

https://mcgovern.mit.edu/2025/07/10/a-bionic-knee-integrated-into-tissue-can-restore-natural-movement/

#osseointegration #mechanoneural #aboveknee #prosthesis #mit

Vidcast: https://www.instagram.com/p/DMYbs7tJz7Q/

A new so-called “tetra-functional” diet compound has added power and its effects match the weight loss result of bariatric surgery. Chemists at Boston’s Tufts University have engineered a next-generation compound that mimics the action of four different gut hormones involved in appetite control, metabolism, and energy use. They are GLP-1, GIP, glucagon, and the uncommonly mimicked PYY.

This novel chimeric peptide could deliver up to 30% body weight loss. That effect exceeds the effects of our current crop of weight loss drugs semaglutide and tirzepatide, marketed as Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro. Semaglutide mimics only GLP1 while tirzepatide mimics both GLP1 and GIP.

This compound is newly discovered and not yet ready for clinical application. When it is, this powerful agent will be an invaluable help for those suffering from excess weight and weight-induced health problems including diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. The hope is that it will quickly move from the laboratory bench into preclinical and clinical trials…..someday soon.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/06/250612081323.htm

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jacs.5c04095

#obesity #semaglutide #tirzepatide #diet #glp1 #gip #glucagon #pyy

Vidcast: https://www.instagram.com/p/DMYbAAEvCa2/

The trend in the US and elsewhere around the globe is for children to enter puberty at earlier ages. Researchers are searching for an explanation, and the sweet and sweetened foods that preteens consume may hold at least a partial answer.

It turns out that, for boys, the artificial sweetener sucralose, found in Splenda and many foods and drinks, increases the risk of so-called precocious puberty. For girls, glycyrrhizin, found in licorice, herbal teas, and other drinks as well as sucralose and natural sugars all increase a preteen girl’s likelihood of earlier puberty.

Chinese researchers presented studies supporting these conclusions recently to the Endocrine Society’s 2025 annual meeting. Their research included data from 1,407 teens. The early puberty diagnosis was based on medical exams, hormone levels, and scans The teens' sweetener and sweets intake was quantitated via validated questionnaires and urine tests.

These findings, if confirmed, could lead to modifications of dietary recommendations for young children and preteens. Meanwhile, these highly suggestive data are excellent reasons for parents to limit their children’s intake of sugars, both artificial and natural.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/07/250714052231.htm#google_vignette

#sugar #puberty #sucralose #glycyrrhizin #precocious #boys #girls

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Up to 12% of women are allergic to male fluids released during intimacy leading not only to painful and embarrassing rashes and itching but more often to systemic symptoms. A meta-analysis by OB-GYN investigators at Brooklyn’s University Hospital at Downstate analysed 53 studies with women aged 18 to 45 and an average age of 29.

A full 60% of the women reported generalized systemic symptoms including widespread itch and rashes, cough, shortness of breath, heart racing, blood pressure drops, dizziness, fainting, facial swelling, nasal congestion, and gastrointestinal symptoms. The other 40% reported more localized skin reactions. A small number of cases progressed from local to systemic.

This phenomenon, known to doctors as Seminal Plasma Hypersensitivity, is not new having been first described in 1967. It is not due to sperm but rather causes by the fluids suspending them. Localized versions are often misdiagnosed as infections. This hypersensitivity, while annoying, does not reduce fertility.

There are several work-around solutions to this problem. For safe intimacy: condom use. For starting a family without triggering allergic reactions: insemination using washed sperm.

https://www.sciencealert.com/semen-allergies-arent-rare-after-all-and-yes-men-have-them-too

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/aji.13865

#allergy #semen #fertility #condom #washedsperm

Vidcast: https://www.instagram.com/p/DMYZfCgvjNU/

The use of LED lights significantly improved acne with a nearly 50% reduction of unsightly skin lesions. Dermatology researchers from Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital report this result following their meta-analysis of 6 studies covering 216 participants with ages ranging from 12 to 50 years.

Compared with controls, those using LED lights for one to three months enjoyed a 45% reduction of inflammatory lesions, a 48% drop in non-inflammatory lesions, and a 46% improvement in general appearance as assessed by professional observers. Red and blue wavelengths as well as combinations of these two were most effective. There were no adverse reactions to this light exposure.

These devices are widely available online with prices ranging from 150$ for face masks to 250$ for more extensive light arrays. For safety’s sake, these devices should be used as directed by your dermatologist. They make an effective medication-free alternative for acne management.

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamadermatology/article-abstract/2830694

#acne #LED #lighttherapy #athome #red #blue

Vidcast: https://www.instagram.com/p/DMYYGQHJoa9/

Those consistently eating healthy plant-based foods were half as likely to fall victim to cardiac disease as those on a typical western diet. Johns Hopkins epidemiologists reviewed data from 7,708 respondents, mean age 45 years, replying to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The participants were divided into 4 groups according to their reported consumption of health plant-based foods, and their susceptibility to cardiac disease was quantified by measurement of their circulating cardiac troponins and n-termination natiuretic peptides.

The results showed that the risk having of elevated circulating cardiac biomarkers, a sign of cardiac disease, was 49%% lower for those eating the most healthy plant-based diets compared with those consuming the least. The healthiest plant-based foods included fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, and olive or canola oils.

On the other hand, those eating the worst diets containing red meat, fried foods, and palm oils bore a 65% higher risk of heart issues. Somewhere in-between are the plant-based meats sold under the Beyond and Impossible brands. These offerings, while lacking meat proteins, are highly processed containing excess salt and saturated fats due to the addition of coconut or palm oils to improve texture.

The bottom line: stick with natural sources of plant-based proteins and you’ll likely live longer.

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/unhealthy-plant-based-diets-may-significantly-raise-heart-disease-risk

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666667725001047

#plantbased #westerndiet #processed #cardiac #diabetes