5 Shocking Facts You Didn’t Know about Nikola Tesla

Nikola Tesla was an electrical engineer, inventor and one of the most outstanding physicists in the history of science. But beyond his brilliant work, some aspects of his life remain hidden in the pages of history.

Recently a new statue in honor of Tesla was unveiled in Long Island of New York, which, according to historical data, was the final resting place of the brilliant scientist.

Tesla won more than 700 patents and became famous for developing AC (alternating current), while his work became the basis of developments in wireless communications, radar, laser X rays, lighting, robotics, and many other areas.

Beyond the scientific heritage that made him famous worldwide, his life had some aspects of it remain unknown to most people.

Read the secrets of Tesla’s life as presented by Jane Alcorn, president of the Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe.

In May, the Wardenclyffe was purchased by the Tesla Science Center for $ 1,370,000 donated by the website IndieGoGo. The campaign was started by Matthew Inman, creator of the popular comic Oatmeal.

In 1943, when Tesla died, the Office of Alien Property took his stuff. Most of these things were given to his family, and many were taken to the Tesla Museum in Belgrade. However, some documents still remain classified by the U.S. Government.

As Alcorn said, Tesla was “worried about the fact that people consume the Earth’s resources too fast, so he wanted to make sure that these resources were renewable“. Thus he studied the ways to gather the natural energy from the ground and air. He created artificial lightning in his lab and detected differences in electrical potential on Earth and on high objects.

Except of being environmentalist, the famous inventor was also a humanist. According to Alcorn, “he did what he did for the sake of the betterment of mankind and wanted to give people an opportunity to have a better quality of life. Thus, he never seemed to care about monetary gain and never had enough money for his research.” Although he had famous friends such as Mark Twain and French actress Sarah Bernhardt, he was never a wealthy man, unlike Edison and Westinghouse who proved much more successful entrepreneurs.

He claimed that he needed only two hours of sleep a night, although he occasionally took an afternoon nap. Tesla hated round objects and jewelry and could not bear to touch hair. Also he was obsessed with the number three and had a habit of polishing each point of the dining room before dining, using precisely 18 napkins.

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7 Optical Illusions That Will Blow Your Mind

This optical illusion was created by Chris Westall. There is a tea cup on the table, next to which there is a cube with a small cup. However, on closer inspection, we can see that in fact the cube is drawn, and the cups are of the same size.

Here are two images of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. At first glance, it appears that the tower on the right leans more than the one on the left, but in reality, these two pictures are the same. The reason lies in the fact that the information from the left and the right sides of the image is processed by different hemispheres of the brain, which “does not like” symmetry.

Does the face on the left show more angry than the one on the right? Well, step 5-6 meters away and you will see the angry face turn into the kind one and vice versa.

When you are looking at these two people you think the one on the left is female and the one on the right is male, right? In fact, it is exactly the same person. This is the famous illusion by Richard Russell from Harvard called “The illusion of sex”.

The created illusion is very simple: the contrast in the image with the seemingly male face was reduced. More contrast face looks feminine, less contrast – masculine. That is why women use cosmetics: to increase the contrast of their face.

There is no animation in this picture. It is nothing but an optical illusion.

Which way do you see the wheel turning? It is a brain-teasing illusion similar to the famous “spinning girl”. If the wheel is turning clockwise, your left hemisphere is more active at the moment and vice versa. See more about brain hemispheres here.

Stare at the picture for about 10-20 seconds (not more, otherwise you will have a headache) and then look at someone’s face or simply around you.

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20 Interesting Facts You Didn’t Know About Human Behavior

1. People with high levels of testosterone get pleasure from the anger of others.

2. People with low self-esteem tend to humiliate others. Subjects who were told that the results of their IQ test were poor expressed more national and religious prejudices, than those who reported higher results.

3. People sincerely believe that their negative opinions about others are truthful and have no connection with them and their self-confidence. In fact, the humiliation of others helps them restore their own self-esteem.

4. The behavior of people is affected by bodily sensations. For example, there is a strong association between heaviness and such features as “importance” and “seriousness”. A person is assessed as more serious and sustained, if his CV was applied in a heavy folder, and vice versa.

5. Similarly, the feeling of rigidity and hardness makes people inflexible. People sitting on hard chairs were more uncompromising in the negotiations. Feeling a rough surface causes in people a sense of the complexity of human relations, and cold is tightly connected with the feeling of loneliness.

6. People tend to commit immoral acts or do not fulfill someone’s request for help, if no effort is needed and they do not have to refuse a person directly.

7. However, more people behave “as expected” if they have to take a moral decision in front of someone.

8. Lying requires a lot of mental effort. A person who is lying has to keep in mind at the same time the lie – that it to say, and the truth – in order to hide it. As a result, he uses simple sentences and finds it more difficult to cope with mental tasks.

9. When people are being watched, they behave better. And the illusion of being watched works, too. It was enough to hang a picture of human eyes in a self-service cafeteria, so that more people began to collect their dishes.

10. Behavior affects morality. People who lied, betrayed someone or committed other immoral act begin to perceive what is good or bad in another way.

11. Attractive and honest appearance can easily be misleading. People tend to trust appearance more than sincerity.

12. Appearance plays an important role even when voting during elections. Maturity and physical attractiveness of politicians were mostly important for voters’ choice (unconsciously, of course).

13. More successful and rich people are considered to be more intelligent and wise, and vice versa. Often, people tend to think that those who are successful or those who suffer deserve it.

14. Happier is not the one who has a lot of money, but the one who has more than his neighbor does. People constantly compare themselves with others and feel satisfied if they are superior in some respect.

15. Anger increases the desire of possession in people. People make more efforts to obtain the object that is associated with angry faces.

16. The more complex the decision to be taken is, the more people tend to leave things as they are. If the store has too much choice and people cannot immediately find out which of the products is better, most probably they will leave without buying.

17. When people feel they have no control over what is happening, they tend to see non-existent patterns in unrelated pictures and believe in conspiracy theories.

18. People regret quick decisions, even if the results are satisfying. Not the actual time allotted for the decision matters, but the feeling that the time was enough.

19. Not all risks are the same. The same person can fearlessly jump with a parachute, but be afraid of his boss. Or to train tigers, but feel embarrassed when talking to a pretty woman.

20. Boredom has a bright side. Bored people are often looking for ways to do good things as the entertainment bores them and does not bring meaning to their lives.

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Ten Body Functions Retained After Death

It is interesting to learn about the functions of the human body that are still performed even after several hours or even days after clinical death.

Despite the fact that the body does not generate tissue for growth of hair and nails after death, they continue to elongate. In fact, this is easily explained by the fact that the skin loses moisture and shrinks while exposing the hair. Nails also appear longer. Due to the fact that the length of a nail is usually measured from the tip to the point of contact with the skin, when the skin shrinks, nails seem to be longer.

Modern technologies have erased the line between life and death, sometimes the brain may be dead, but the heart will continue to pump blood. After a cardiac arrest, doctors pronounce the patient dead only after the brain is dead. Immediately following the cardiac arrest, the brain starts searching for oxygen and nutrients needed for its functioning. This condition can be extended using medication up to several days. Sometimes, this can save the patient’s life, but most often not.

This is another function of the human body, showing that different parts of the body cease to exist at different speeds. Upon termination of blood circulation, the brain dies almost immediately. However, other cells of the body can still function due to the fact that they can be sustained on their own for some time. Skin cells can remain alive for several days.

According to common knowledge about anatomy, urination is a function of our will, except for some funny or frightening cases. However, our ability to control urinating is an involuntary function. This function is controlled by a certain area of ??the human brain. This very same locale is responsible for regulation of breathing and heart functioning. Which easily explains why people who are intoxicated often experience incontinence. Alcohol inhibits the activity in part of the brain responsible for keeping the bladder sphincter closed. Rigor mortis causes muscles to stiffen, and within a couple of hours after death, the muscles relax, causing urination after death is occurred.

In times of emotional stress, human body is capable of getting rid of waste products. The body relaxes certain muscles, resulting in defecation. After death, this mechanism is triggered by gases accumulating inside the body.

After the death of the body, metabolic processes inside do not fade away right away. For some time, the gut bacteria will continue to function normally.

The blood, which the body stops to deliver to body parts upon death, mostly accumulates in the areas located lower. Relaxation of muscles after death does not last forever. Some types of muscle cells are activated due to the presence of calcium ions. Energy-demanding cells exude calcium ions. Cell membranes after clinical death become more permeable, and they contract. Rigor mortis occurs. Muscle contraction can also cause ejaculation.

Despite the death of the brain, many areas of the nervous system can remain active. Commonly, muscle flexing can be observed, which is a direct result of transmission of nerve signals to the spinal cord, leading to muscle cramps and spasms.

Our bodies are filled with gases and liquids, which are encased by muscles and bones. When the bacteria begin to take over after death, decay takes place, and the amount of gas inside the body increases. One of the ways for gases to escape the body is through trachea. Rigor mortis can affect the vocal cords. Very often, scary sounds like moans, sighs and whistles emanate from the dead.

In the past, when death rates exceeded today’s rates, women often died while being pregnant. The gases accumulating inside the body and relaxation of tissues led to the expulsion of non-viable fetus from the body. Such cases are very rare, but documented.

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8 Little Known Inventors Who Changed the World

This week the photocopier celebrates its 75 years birthday. In the late 1930s, this invention made a splash. Employees were delighted: before that, they had to reprint copies of documents by hand.

The inventor of the photocopier Chester Carlson was denied funding in 20 companies, and in 1944 a small company-manufacturer of photographic materials Haloid ventured to sign a contract with him. In 1961, the company changed its name to Xerox, and soon began to earn billions of dollars. Carlson himself became a rich man, although few people know that the world is indebted to him for the first photocopier.

Below are 8 inventors whose names are not well known, but most of people use their inventions every day.

In 1770, Addis got to a British jail for inciting to riot. At that time, people used a cloth with salt and coal dust to clean their teeth. Addis drilled a hole in a piece of bone, put some tufts of bristles in it and fixed them with glue. Upon his release, he made a fortune from the industrial production of toothbrushes. In 1808, after the death of the inventor, his son inherited the company, which still exists today under the name of Wisdom Toothbrushes.

Before this invention, people used to take medications in the form of powders or drops. In 1880, Upjohn invented a pill that dissolves easily in the stomach. Four years later, he created a machine to produce the pills in large quantities, and in 1886 founded the Upjohn Pill and Granule Company. The company existed for more than a century, and in 1995 it merged with the Swiss Pharmacia. Subsequently, this company was bought by Pfizer.

Whitcomb Judson made about three dozens of registered inventions. The most famous of them is the zipper, which was patented in 1892 as “the buckle for shoes.” Judson hoped that it would be used instead of laces. The inventor died in 1909, before his creation became popular. For the first time the zipper was used in sewing uniforms of the U.S. army during World War II. In 1923, the American company BF Goodrich released boots with Judson buckle. It was then when the name “zipper” appeared.

Who invented the coat hanger is still being debated. Many believe that the first wooden model was invented by Thomas Jefferson, one of the authors of the American Declaration of Independence. But most agree that the hangers in their contemporary form are the invention of Parkhouse. He worked in a wire factory in the city of Jackson and decided to help his colleagues who never had enough hooks for clothes. Parkhouse curved a piece of wire so that it could hang a jacket and trousers, and in 1903 patented his invention.

American engineer and inventor developed the first machine capable of cooling air using a non-toxic and non-flammable refrigerant. In 1902, Carrier added to it a mechanism to control the humidity. This unit was the world’s first air conditioner. In 1915, the successful engineer founded Carrier Engineering Corporation, which sold air conditioning systems.

Morgan invented the traffic control system after witnessing a terrible car accident. It switched manually and, in addition to the signals “stop” and “go”, had another one – “stop everybody”, which completely stopped traffic at the crossroads. Morgan filed for the patent in 1922.

He later sold the copyrights for $ 40,000 to General Electric, which developed the electric traffic light. In addition, the inventor designed the “protective hood“, which became the forerunner of a gas mask.

A native of Budapest, Laszlo Biro made his living from journalism. One day he noticed that the printer ink dries faster and makes less blots than the conventional ink. Biro decided to use it for his fountain pen. This attempt failed – the paint was too thick. Then he came up with a ball head, which rotated and evenly distributed the ink on the paper. The invention was patented in 1938, and seven years later, Marcel Bich bought the patent and made the ballpoint pen with a trademark symbol of Bic.

The idea of Velcro or hook-and-loop fastener came to a Swiss engineer Georges de Mestral, when after another walk with his dog he had to remove thistle heads from its hair. De Mestral examined them under a microscope and saw tiny hooks. The same principle was used by the inventor in the hook-and-loop buckle.

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The Most Funny and Absurd Scientific Discoveries of 2013

Beetles that find their way by the stars, mice that live longer after a heart surgery when they listen to opera, and walking on water on other planets are among the funniest, or most unnecessary scientific research that were awarded with Ig Nobel Prizes this year, which are a kind of Nobel prizes for ‘mad scientists’.

Each winner will get $10 trillion Zimbabwe dollars, which unfortunately are only four dollars.

Ten Ig Nobel Prizes 2013 were awarded at the 23rd annual ceremony at the U.S. Harvard University, which is traditionally organized by the humorous journal «Annals of Improbable Research», according to the «New Scientist» and «British Guardian».

The Ig awards aim to highlight research and discoveries that “first make people laugh and then make them think.”

The Ig Prize in Astronomy and Biology was awarded to Eric Warrant and his team at the Swedish University of Lund for their discovery that the dung beetles find their way at night using the stars of our galaxy as a reference. The beetles not only push their dung balls in straight lines using the moon as a celestial “navigator”, but in moonless nights they use the light of distant stars. This discovery can help – as strange as it may sound – to design autonomous vehicles and robots.

The Medicine award was given to the Japanese Masanori Niimi, University of Tokyo, for the discovery that mice after the heart surgery live longer when they listen to particular music. While the mice normally die after seven days, but when listening to the opera “La Traviata” by Verdi, they live for 27 days and when listening to the Irish singer Enya, they live 11 days.

The Psychology award was given to Brad Bushman of the American University of Ohio for the discovery (or rather confirmation) that many people feel more attractive when they have drunk too much alcohol! “A drunk person thinks he/she is more attractive, but in reality he/she is not,” said Brad Bushman.

The Probability prize was given to a group of zoologists of the Scottish Agricultural College in Bert Tolkamp for the (shocking) discovery that the longer a cow is lying down, the more likely it is to get up soon and, secondly, that from the moment it stands up, no one can easily predict how soon it will lie down again.

The Physics award was taken by Alberto Minetti of the University of Milan for the study that concluded that people – thanks to the small gravity – will be likely to walk on lakes of liquid water on the Moon, but probably not on Mars.

The Engineering prize in the field of security was awarded to Gustano Pizzo for the invention of an electromechanical system that traps an airplane hijacker in a bag, throwing him automatically out of the plane.

The Chemistry prize was awarded to a Japanese research team led by Shinsuke Imai for the discovery that the biochemical processes that make people cry when cleaning onions are more complex than scientists thought until now.

The Peace award was given to the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, who has forbidden public applause in his country, and to the Belarus police, who arrested a one-armed man for applauding…

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5 Amazing Facts about Human Brain and Memory

Examining the patient who is afraid of tickling, doctors usually try to have his or her hands over their own to prevent such feelings. This happens because your brain keeps your senses focused on the important things, such as signals from the outside world, which should not sink into the bottomless sea of sensations caused by your own actions. For this purpose, there is a part of the brain that generates a signal that distinguishes our own touch from someone else’s. It occupies about 1/8 of the total brain size and weighs about 4 ounces (113g).

It is very difficult to define what a sense of humor is, but we know it very well when we face with it. One theory suggests that the effect of humor is based on a surprise provoked by the outcome of the situation that is different from what standard logic and experience say, with an unusual interpretation of rather ordinary things.

To make it perceived as a joke and not as a logic puzzle, it should be a coherent story with an unexpected, but not too reasonable in the usual sense outcome. Some patients with damage to the frontal lobe of the brain do not understand jokes. Typically, it happens due to the problems with the interpretation of the process. For example, getting a joke with a choice of endings, they cannot determine which of them is funny.

Constant jet lag can be dangerous for the health of your brain. People who do long flights associated with crossing many time zones are at risk of brain damage and memory problems. This, apparently, is the result of stress hormones that damage the temporal lobe and memory, and are produced during the jet lag.

The presence of a song or, more likely, part of a song firmly stuck in your head is incredibly disturbing but, unfortunately, the risk of catching such a “neuroparasite” is directly related to the mechanism of functioning of our memory.

We constantly have to remember a number of sequences, from the movements of signing your name or preparing the morning coffee to a sequence of turns on the highway on your way home.
The ability to reconstruct these and other sequences enables most aspects of our daily lives, as we do it automatically, without thinking. Sometimes at the time when you are thinking about a song or speech, your brain can repeat a certain sequence, thus strengthening the ties with this phrase and associating it with a set of actions or movements. Next time, this sequence can automatically push a recollection out of your memory, that is, a phrase or a portion of a song. Thus, repetition and recollection lead to the strengthening of the reflex.

Despite the fact that we usually associate yawning with sleepiness and boredom, in fact it is a means to awaken us and to refresh our brain. Yawning is an expansion of the pharynx and larynx, which lets more air in and, respectively, more oxygen flows through the lungs into the bloodstream, bringing your body to a state of readiness.

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15 Unbelievable Psychiatric Syndromes You Didn’t Know About

The nature in general and our own psyche in particular are very crafty in creating states we know little about. People constantly experience something unusual, and a lot has already been studied and named in honor of famous writers, artists, book characters, psychiatrists and other individuals. And it is not a bad idea for us, as educated people, to learn about when and what kind of trick our body will come up with next.

This article presents 15 interesting syndromes, and this information will help us in becoming more knowledgeable and understanding of the way in which the human body functions.

The Stendhal Syndrome involves dizziness, fainting, heart palpitations and sometimes hallucinations when an individual is surrounded by fine artwork or incredibly beautiful scenery.

The name of the syndrome is based on one of the books by the French writer Stendhal, in which he described his emotions while visiting Florence: “When I left the Church of the Holy Cross, my heart was pounding, I thought that life had slowly drained out, I walked being afraid to fall on the ground … I had seen masterpieces born by the energy of passion, when everything else becomes meaningless, unimportant, limited, just as when the wind of passion stops pushing on the sails, which move the human soul, then it becomes devoid of passion and, therefore, its vices and virtues”.

We bet you are thinking about the artist’s ear? And you are almost correct. This syndrome is expressed by the fact that a patient is very insisting on going through a surgery, or even, frightful to know, will attempt to perform surgery on himself.

It is an amazing ability of women that spend a lot of time together to synchronize their menstrual cycles after a short period of time spent together. Scientists say that pheromones that the women detect in the air are the culprit. And one more interesting fact. Cycles of all women adjust to the cycle of the alpha female, even though sometimes this female does not even exist.

This kind of megalomania, which occurs only in Jerusalem. A tourist, who arrived in the ancient city for religious purposes, or on pilgrimage, suddenly decides that he or she is endowed with divine and prophetic abilities. He or she is the one who has to save the world. An indispensable addition to a variety of symptoms is their theatricality in speech and gestures.
This syndrome is ranked as a psychosis and requires involuntary hospitalization.

Another trick of an unstable nervous system is also played out in a special place. It most commonly affects calm and polite Japanese tourists. They go to the proverbial land of dreams, shrouded in an aura of romance and street cafes, but end up in a quite aggressive city with swarms of immigrants, no one really wants to pamper them, people are rude and streets are filled with theft. Because of this, about 20 Japanese a year suffer from acute delirious thinking, feel being stalked, detached from reality, or their own personality, experience anxiety and other mental issues. The best way to treat the Paris syndrome is to immediately send the sufferer home.

Also known as “bystander effect.” People who witnessed extraordinary circumstances often try to stay away from helping the victims. The likelihood that any of the witnesses will help the victim decreases as more people will just stand there and watch. One of the main ways to cope with this effect and hope for help is picking a person randomly from the crowd and personally asking him for help.

This is a consuming love obsession or longing for love and romance, hurtful passion without reciprocity. This syndrome got its name because of a real story that happened to the daughter of Victor Hugo, Adele.

Adele met an English lieutenant Albert Pinson and immediately decided that he is a man of her life. We cannot say for sure whether he was a heartless scoundrel who betrayed her feelings, or a victim of erotic inclinations. In any event, Pinson has not reciprocated, regardless of her beauty, nor her father’s fame. Adele chased him around the world, lied to everyone that they are already married, and in the end became completely insane.

This is a kind of hypochondria, when everything hurts or aches and nothing helps, but it is only an
illusion. It is a psychological disorder when a person pretends to be experiencing or exaggerates or knowingly creates symptoms of a disease to undergo medical examination, treatment, hospitalization and so on. The conventional explanation for Munchausen syndrome states that the simulation of the disease is a way to get attention, care, affection and emotional support.

From Hollywood films, we know that Stockholm Syndrome is a situation in which a hostage begins to understand the perpetrator, and even sympathize with him and provide various forms of assistance. Psychologists call this “protective subconscious traumatic relationship.”

However, it is not a psychological paradox or a mental disorder, but rather a normal reaction of the psyche. Moreover, it is a very rare situation, happening in about 8% of the cases related to hostage-taking.

Diogenes is famous for deciding to live in a barrel and behaving as an inveterate sociopath and misanthrope. This syndrome is named after him (and is also referred to as a senile squalor syndrome) and manifests itself more or less resembling this situation. It involves extremely dismissive attitude toward oneself, isolation from society, apathy, hoarding and absence of shame.

It can be said that this syndrome is experienced by those who actively try to remain young, devoting a lot of time and energy to look young and beautiful at any cost. It manifests itself in using items intended for younger generation, wearing clothes in a youth style, and can lead to abusing plastic surgery and cosmetic products. Sometimes this disorder ends with depression and even suicide attempts.

If you meet someone who suddenly starts to complain that he has rotted guts, no heart, he cannot ever sleep, telling you about nihilistic-depressive or hypochondriac delusions, combined with the ideas of self-importance or greatness unprecedented in the history of mankind, or that he or she is an offender, who had infected countless partners with syphilis or AIDS, poisoned the whole world with fetid breath, or reporting with drama that he or she would soon have to pay for what he or she has done, and all the pain in the world will seem nonsense compared to the suffering that he or she is about to face as a punishment, then call an ambulance and make it known to the health workers that this is a case of the Cotard’s syndrome.

It is another syndrome in psychiatry, also known as syndrome of mental automatism. Something related to “I see little green men telling me what to do” or “My legs direct me where I need to go, I have no control over them”.

Often referred to as “coprolalia“, an abnormal and irresistible urge to shout out obscene words, although this is only one side of Tourette’s syndrome. Often used in movies. Interestingly, the word “coprolalia” can be translated from Greek as “verbal diarrhea“.

If you watched the last part of “Harry Potter”, you will remember how Peter Pettigrew was strangled by his own hand. In many other films and cartoons something similar also happens, but it is not a work of fiction writers. The alien hand syndrome does exist, and is complex and not a treatable disorder.

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5 Really Scary Optical Illusion Paintings That Will Astonish You!

Normally I don’t post the articles like this, but these pictures really astonished me so I decided to share them with the readers of my blog who love optical illusions and are fond of the paranormal.

A private collector from Spain has a unique collection of old paintings with stereo effect, which makes the image change at an angle.

At first sight, you can see a depiction of people from the past times. However, once you change the view angle, a scary picture of an evil creature will appear before you. These paintings are really creepy! Enjoy!

[These are *gif images that contain animation, so you should wait a bit until the whole page is loaded]

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4 Shocking Stories of Researchers Who Risked Their Lives for Science

What can be put in danger for the sake of science? Maybe a few hours in the lab or one’s personal life… However, some researchers did much more, risking their physical integrity in order to contribute to the advancement of science.

Read the shocking stories of four scientists who played “all or nothing” to advance their research.

1. According to legend, the Chinese Wan Hu tied himself to a chair with 47 rockets because he wanted to be the first to visit the moon. When the wicks were lit, there was a terrible crash and a lot of smoke, but there was no longer Wan Hu! A small crater on the moon was named in honor of the ambitious Chinese, who is remembered as the first astronaut.

2. Isaac Newton plunged a needle in his eye in order to better understand how human vision works. The British physicist known for his work concerning the laws of gravity was at the same time a pioneer researcher in the field of ophthalmology. He conducted a number of experiments with mirrors, but it was not enough to understand the anatomy of the eye and color vision. So he took a needle and, according to the manuscripts, “pierced it between the eye and the bone near the back of the eye, and, pushing the eye with the tip of the needle, saw white, dark and colored circles.”

3. The Romanian doctor Nicolae Minovici wanted to know how it feels when one is hanged so he decided to… hang himself. In the early 20th century, Minovici conducted a series of experiments, one of which put a loop on the ceiling, passed his head through it and asked his assistant to raise him up. Although his legs were not removed completely from the ground, he said he felt a terrible burning. After that, he found it hard to swallow for a whole month. His findings were published in 1904 in his native language and a year later in French under the title “Study on hanging”.

4. The Australian Franz Reichelt tested a parachute by jumping from the Eiffel Tower. Thus, on 4 February 1912 he decided to test if the designed parachute could save lives in the case of an aircraft accident.

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The Most Funny and Absurd Scientific Discoveries of 2013

Beetles that find their way by the stars, mice that live longer after a heart surgery when they listen to opera, and walking on water on other planets are among the funniest, or most unnecessary scientific research that were awarded with Ig Nobel Prizes this year, which are a kind of Nobel prizes for ‘mad scientists’.

Each winner will get $10 trillion Zimbabwe dollars, which unfortunately are only four dollars.

Ten Ig Nobel Prizes 2013 were awarded at the 23rd annual ceremony at the U.S. Harvard University, which is traditionally organized by the humorous journal «Annals of Improbable Research», according to the «New Scientist» and «British Guardian».

The Ig awards aim to highlight research and discoveries that “first make people laugh and then make them think.”

The Ig Prize in Astronomy and Biology was awarded to Eric Warrant and his team at the Swedish University of Lund for their discovery that the dung beetles find their way at night using the stars of our galaxy as a reference. The beetles not only push their dung balls in straight lines using the moon as a celestial “navigator”, but in moonless nights they use the light of distant stars. This discovery can help – as strange as it may sound – to design autonomous vehicles and robots.

The Medicine award was given to the Japanese Masanori Niimi, University of Tokyo, for the discovery that mice after the heart surgery live longer when they listen to particular music. While the mice normally die after seven days, but when listening to the opera “La Traviata” by Verdi, they live for 27 days and when listening to the Irish singer Enya, they live 11 days.

The Psychology award was given to Brad Bushman of the American University of Ohio for the discovery (or rather confirmation) that many people feel more attractive when they have drunk too much alcohol! “A drunk person thinks he/she is more attractive, but in reality he/she is not,” said Brad Bushman.

The Probability prize was given to a group of zoologists of the Scottish Agricultural College in Bert Tolkamp for the (shocking) discovery that the longer a cow is lying down, the more likely it is to get up soon and, secondly, that from the moment it stands up, no one can easily predict how soon it will lie down again.

The Physics award was taken by Alberto Minetti of the University of Milan for the study that concluded that people – thanks to the small gravity – will be likely to walk on lakes of liquid water on the Moon, but probably not on Mars.

The Engineering prize in the field of security was awarded to Gustano Pizzo for the invention of an electromechanical system that traps an airplane hijacker in a bag, throwing him automatically out of the plane.

The Chemistry prize was awarded to a Japanese research team led by Shinsuke Imai for the discovery that the biochemical processes that make people cry when cleaning onions are more complex than scientists thought until now.

The Peace award was given to the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, who has forbidden public applause in his country, and to the Belarus police, who arrested a one-armed man for applauding…

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Vets With Gulf War Syndrome Show Brain Changes, Study Finds

TUESDAY, Oct. 22 (HealthDay News) -- A new study shows changes in the brains of Gulf War soldiers who are believed to have been sickened by exposure to chemical weapons and may provide insight into why they often report memory problems.

The study appeared online Oct. 15 in the journal Clinical Psychological Science.

"More than 250,000 troops, or approximately 25 percent of those deployed during the first Persian Gulf War, have been diagnosed with Gulf War Illness," study co-author Bart Rypma, principal investigator at the Center for BrainHealth at the University of Texas at Dallas, said in a journal news release.

"Although medical professionals have recognized the chronic and often disabling illness for almost two decades, brain changes that uniquely identify Gulf War Illness have been elusive until now," he said. The condition is also known as Gulf War Syndrome.

The brain changes revealed by the study are linked to "working memory," which allows people to store memories in the short term. Compared to healthy veterans, people with Gulf War Illness were slower on tests of working memory that examined accuracy, speed and efficiency. Efficiency declined as the test became tougher.

"Difficulty remembering has been the most common, unexplained impairment resulting from service in the 1991 Persian Gulf War," study co-author Robert Haley, chief of epidemiology at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, said in the news release. "This functional MRI study provides the first objective evidence showing the exact malfunctions in the brain's memory circuits that underlie these chemically induced memory problems."

Rypma said the findings "support an empirical link between exposure to neurotoxic chemicals, specifically sarin nerve gas, and [thinking ability] deficits and neurobiological changes in the brain."

"Implementing interventions that improve working memory could have positive effects on many aspects of daily life, from the ability to complete a shopping list to [matching] names with faces, all the way to elevating mood," he said.

-- Randy Dotinga
Copyright © 2013 HealthDay. All rights reserved. SOURCE: Clinical Psychological Science, news release, Oct. 15, 2013

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Smartphones May Help Nursing Home Docs Spot Drug Mishaps

TUESDAY, Oct. 22 (HealthDay News) -- Doctors who use their mobile device to look up drug information while prescribing medications for patients in nursing homes can help prevent adverse drug events, a new study says.

Researchers found that almost 90 percent of doctors said they avoided at least one potentially harmful drug reaction in the previous month. They said additional drug events could be avoided if more doctors took advantage of the drug-reference software that is available on the devices.

"Most U.S. nursing homes do not have electronic medical record systems and, as a result, physicians frequently do not have access to current medication information at the point of prescribing," lead investigator Dr. Steven Handler, an assistant professor of biomedical informatics, geriatric medicine and clinical and translational sciences at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, said in a university news release.

"The lack of accurate and timely medication information can lead to adverse drug events and drug-drug interactions," Handler said. "Our hypothesis was that if physicians could look up drug information first, many of these mistakes could be avoided."

In conducting the study, the researchers surveyed more than 550 nursing home doctors about whether they owned a mobile device. If they did, they were asked how and when they used it, as well as what type of drug reference software they used and how often. The researchers also asked how the information obtained from drug reference software affected adverse drug events and drug interactions.

The study, published recently in the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, revealed that 42 percent of the doctors said they used a mobile device to check drug information. The researchers found that this behavior was more common among the doctors who had been in practice for fewer than 15 years.

Of the doctors who used a mobile device, the study also showed that 98 percent reported using drug-reference software on a daily basis for the past four weeks. Meanwhile, 75 percent said they referenced current drug information through their device an average of three or more times each day.

The researchers also found that 88 percent of these doctors said using their mobile device to look up drug information had prevented at least one adverse drug reaction in the past four weeks.

"Those who did look up medication information on their mobile devices clearly felt that this was helpful and improved medication safety," Handler said. "However, we found that fewer than half of the nursing home doctors were doing this, which suggests that there is a lot of potential to reduce adverse event rates further if more of them took advantage of these tools."

Drug events are linked to roughly 93,000 deaths in nursing homes every year, about half of which are thought to be preventable, according to the study. These drug events also are responsible for $4 billion in extra health care costs every year.

-- Mary Elizabeth Dallas
Copyright © 2013 HealthDay. All rights reserved. SOURCE: University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences, news release, Oct. 16, 2013.

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Health Tip: When Athletes Smoke

(HealthDay News) -- Among the many reasons for kids to stay away from tobacco: it can significantly affect performance if you're an athlete.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention explains how:

Tobacco can cause extra strain on your heart from narrowed blood vessels caused by nicotine.Tobacco can damage lungs, decreasing oxygen that muscles need to function well.Tobacco can increase shortness of breath.Tobacco can slow running speed and hinder your ability to run longer distances.

-- Diana Kohnle
Copyright © 2013 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

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Just 12 Percent of Women Over 50 Are 'Satisfied' With Their Bodies

By Brenda Goodman
HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Oct. 22 (HealthDay News) -- Be it muffin tops, saddlebags, chicken wings or thunder thighs, there's a lot that most women can find to dislike about their bodies.

A recent survey of 1,700 women over age 50 found that a paltry 12 percent said they were satisfied with their size and shape. So researchers wondered what these rare women who actually feel OK with their bodies might have in common. The new study was published online recently in the Journal of Women & Aging.

For starters, most of them, 88 percent, were in the normal weight range. Their average body-mass index (BMI) was 21.4, compared with a BMI of 28.3 for women who reported dissatisfaction. (BMI is a measurement of body fat that takes height and weight into account.) And they were more likely to have been slender over the course of their lives than women who said they didn't like how they looked.

The survey also found that satisfied women work hard to stay slim. They exercised an average of about five hours a week, about two more hours than women who said they disliked their figures. They also weighed themselves often, at least a couple of times a week.

"This is an active, effortful process for them," said study co-author Cristin Runfola, a postdoctoral research fellow at the UNC Center for Excellence for Eating Disorders, at the University of North Carolina, in Chapel Hill.

But there were some things that satisfied women generally didn't worry about. Only 10 percent reported frequent dieting in the last five years, compared with 39 percent of dissatisfied women. They were also less likely to have symptoms of an eating disorder than those who were frustrated with their weight.

But the peace they'd come to about their bodies seemed to be a fragile one.

"Even the women who were satisfied said their weight and shape played a pretty prominent role in how they felt about themselves," Runfola said.

About 40 percent of satisfied women admitted that a 5-pound weight gain would make them moderately to extremely upset. And more than 50 percent of satisfied women confessed that they still didn't like their stomach or face. More than 70 percent said they didn't like their skin.

None of this surprised Joan Chrisler, a professor of psychology at Connecticut College, in New London. Chrisler has spent her career researching and thinking about the psychology of weight and eating disorders in women.

"Studies have shown that kindergarteners already know that they shouldn't like fat children or want to be friends with them. They know in first grade already what it means to be on a diet. So why should we be surprised that women in their 50s are not satisfied with their bodies?" she asked.

When Chrisler lectures to women's groups about how to feel better in their own skin, she offers the following tips.

Focus on health, not on weight. Eat a variety of foods, exercise and get enough sleep. Have a massage from time to time. Moisturize your skin. Wear clothes that fit. "A lot of women are not nice to themselves because they're disappointed in their bodies," she said.

Watch more foreign movies. "If you watch films from France and Japan, you'll see many more older women than you see in U.S. movies, and they're not all skinny as rails," she said.

Avoid fashion magazines. "They're full of young women and they're wearing clothes that don't look good on older women. They're not made for us," Chrisler said.

Don't consider it a personal failure if the jeans you wore in high school don't fit you in your 50s. "Women do gain weight at each reproductive milestone," she said. "We gain weight at menarche, with the birth of each child and we gain weight at menopause, so we're not going to have the same body size and shape at 50 as we had at 20. And if we don't expect that, that would be a help."

Copyright © 2013 HealthDay. All rights reserved. SOURCES: Cristin Runfola, Ph.D., postdoctoral research fellow, UNC Center for Excellence for Eating Disorders, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Joan Chrisler, Ph.D., professor, psychology, Connecticut College, New London; October-December 2013 Journal of Women & Aging

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FDA Probes Dog Illnesses Tied to Jerky Treats

TUESDAY, Oct. 22 (HealthDay News) -- Meat or plant-based "jerky" pet treats have been tied to mysterious illnesses in thousands of dogs, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which is asking the public for help in getting to the bottom of the issue.

"This is one of the most elusive and mysterious outbreaks we've encountered," Bernadette Dunham, director of the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine, said in a statement on the agency's website. "Our beloved four-legged companions deserve our best effort, and we are giving it."

In some cases, pets have become severely ill after eating the treats, which are sold as jerky tenders or strips made of chicken, duck, sweet potatoes or dried fruit. Since 2007, about 580 pets have died as a result of illnesses related to the products, the FDA said.

The agency said it remains unclear why these pets are getting sick. With the outbreak under investigation, the FDA is calling on pet owners to come forward if they have a pet that became sick after eating jerky treats.

Most of the treats involved in these incidents were made in China. The FDA said pet-food manufacturers are not required by law to reveal the country of origin for each ingredient in their products.

The agency said it has begun conducting DNA tests on jerky treats, as well as additional screenings for a variety of chemical and microbiological contaminants, including antibiotics, metals, pesticides and Salmonella.

After performing more than 1,200 tests, visiting manufacturers in China, and consulting with researchers and officials here and abroad, the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine still does not know the exact cause of the illnesses among pets that have consumed jerky treats.

In order to gather more information, the agency is asking veterinarians and pet owners across the United States for information that it hopes will provide insight into the deaths and illnesses linked to these treats.

Veterinarians are being asked for blood and urine samples from pets that are affected. Pet owners are being asked to cover the costs of these tests as well as the shipping fees involved.

As the investigation continues, the FDA said it will alert consumers about the issue through a fact sheet distributed with a letter to veterinarians. The agency also advised pet owners to remember that treats are not necessary and are not an essential part of a well-balanced diet. Pet owners are encouraged to report any illnesses that may be tied to jerky treats by calling the FDA Consumer Complaint Coordinator for their state.

The FDA advised pet owners to remain cautious about providing jerky treats to their pets and to be aware of potential symptoms of gastrointestinal or urinary problems, since about 60 percent of cases involved gastrointestinal conditions and about 30 percent involved kidney and urinary function.

To help pet owners recognize possible signs of trouble, the FDA provided information on symptoms that pets may develop within hours of eating jerky treats, including:

Decreased appetiteVomitingDecreased activityDiarrhea (sometimes with blood or mucus)Increased water intake or urination

In more extreme cases, pets have experienced kidney failure, bleeding in the GI tract and a rare kidney disorder. In some cases, the animals experienced other symptoms, including collapse, convulsions or skin issues.

In January, a number of jerky pet treat products were removed from the market after a New York State lab found evidence of up to six drugs in certain jerky pet treats made in China. The FDA pointed out, however, that the levels of these drugs were very low and it's not likely they caused the illnesses.

Although the number of reported cases has declined since these products were removed from store shelves, the FDA said that was probably because fewer jerky treats were available to consumers.

Pet owners who notice that their pet has become ill after eating jerky treats should stop offering these treats immediately. They also should consider taking the pet to the vet and saving the remaining jerky treats for possible testing, the FDA said.

The focus of the investigation into the cause of these illnesses may turn to the supply chain for certain ingredients in the treats, since the FDA has found that one firm used falsified receiving documents for glycerin, a jerky ingredient. Chinese authorities said they had seized products at the firm and halted its exports.

The FDA said it also plans to reach out to Chinese scientists at its veterinary research facility and U.S. pet food firms to increase scientific cooperation.

"Our fervent hope as animal lovers is that we will soon find the cause of and put a stop to these illnesses," Dunham said.

-- Mary Elizabeth Dallas
Copyright © 2013 HealthDay. All rights reserved. SOURCE: U.S. Food and Drug Administration, news release, Oct. 22, 2013

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Low Vitamin D Tied to Anemia Risk in Kids

TUESDAY, Oct. 22 (HealthDay News) -- Children with low levels of vitamin D may be at increased risk for anemia, according to a large new study.

Researchers analyzed blood samples from more than 10,400 children and found that vitamin D levels were consistently lower in youngsters with anemia, a condition involving lower-than-normal levels of red blood cells.

Kids with vitamin D levels below 30 nanograms per milliliter (ng/ml) were nearly twice as likely to have anemia as those with normal vitamin D levels.

Children with vitamin D levels below 30 ng/ml have mild vitamin D deficiency while those with levels at or below 20 ng/ml have severe deficiency, according to the study. Both require treatment with vitamin D supplements.

The researchers also found that 14 percent of black children had anemia, much higher than the 2 percent rate among white children. Black children also had lower vitamin D levels overall, but their anemia risk did not rise until their vitamin D levels were far lower than those of white children.

These racial differences suggest that current targets for preventing or treating these conditions may require further research, according to the authors of the study, which was published online recently in the Journal of Pediatrics.

"The clear racial variance we saw in our study should serve as a reminder that what we may consider a pathologically low level in some may be perfectly adequate in others, which raises some interesting questions about our current one-size-fits-all approach to treatment and supplementation," study lead investigator Dr. Meredith Atkinson, a pediatric kidney specialist at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center, said in center news release.

The study does not, however, prove a direct cause-and-effect link between vitamin D levels and anemia risk, the researchers said.

Added senior study investigator Dr. Jeffrey Fadrowski, also a pediatric kidney specialist at Johns Hopkins: "If our findings are confirmed through further research, low vitamin D levels may turn out to be a readily modifiable risk factor for anemia that we can easily tackle with supplements."

The researchers explained that several mechanisms could account for this association, including vitamin D's effects on red blood cell production in the bone marrow or its ability to regulate immune inflammation, a known trigger of anemia.

-- Robert Preidt
Copyright © 2013 HealthDay. All rights reserved. SOURCE: Johns Hopkins Medicine, news release, Oct. 21, 2013

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Many Kids With Autism on Multiple Medications, Study Finds

By Serena Gordon
HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Oct. 22 (HealthDay News) -- Children with autism in the United States routinely take one or more prescription medications, even though little evidence exists regarding the drugs' safety or effectiveness for treating the neurodevelopmental condition, a new study finds.

The study of almost 34,000 children with an autism spectrum disorder found nearly two-thirds were prescribed at least one medication. Within that group, more than one-third were given two medications, and one in seven took three drugs.

"There are a lot of children who are being treated with psychotropic medications with unknown effects for benefits and harms," said the study's senior author, Dr. Anjali Jain, a managing consultant with the Falls Church, Va.-based Lewin Group, a health care consulting firm.

"I hope everyone -- parents and providers -- will consider these medications with caution," she added.

Children with autism have impaired communication and social skills, and often exhibit repetitive behaviors. In the United States, about one in 88 children has been diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, which can range from mild, as in Asperger syndrome, to severe autism.

The study, released online Oct. 21 in Pediatrics, looked at the use of psychotropic medications, which includes seizure medications, antidepressants, antipsychotics, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) drugs, lithium (a drug that treats manic behavior), and Parkinson's drugs for kids and young adults with autism. The more commonly prescribed medications were antidepressants, antipsychotics and ADHD drugs, or combinations of them, Jain said.

Many of these medications are prescribed for other, co-existing disorders, such as depression or ADHD. The problem is that in people with autism, "it can be really hard to disentangle which behavior goes with which disorder," said Jain.

Dr. Paul Wang, senior vice president of medical research for Autism Speaks, an autism advocacy organization, agreed. "It's challenging to diagnose someone within the context of an autism spectrum disorder," he said. "They can't necessarily tell you if they're anxious or depressed. And if they're not paying attention, is that a sign of ADD or are they fixated on something else due to the autism spectrum disorder?"

It's also possible that something entirely unrelated is aggravating symptoms, Wang added. "Some of these kids may not have been thoroughly evaluated for a physical condition. You may have a child with an earache who can't express what's going on, and that might manifest as irritable or aggressive behavior," he noted.

Behaviorally based treatments, perhaps including parent training, are generally the first line of therapy for children with autism spectrum disorders. But because children with autism are such a varied group, "it's hard to come up with a treatment that covers every child," Jain said.

The only medications approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat autism spectrum disorders are risperidone (Risperdal) and aripiprazole (Abilify), antipsychotics that are prescribed for treating irritability and aggression. Other medications can be prescribed in what's known as an "off-label" use. However, that means there is likely little information on how they might affect someone with autism or on possible side effects.

The current study points to a need for more research into the effects these drugs have on children with autism, Jain and Wang said.

The researchers examined data on 33,565 children and young adults -- age 20 and under -- diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder and insured through a large commercial insurer in the United States.

The investigators found that 64 percent of the children had at least one prescription filled for a psychotropic medication. From this group, 35 percent had prescriptions filled for two or more psychotropic medications, and 15 percent had prescriptions for three or more psychotropic drugs concurrently.

Among the youngsters who took more than one medication, they did so for 346 days on average, according to the study.

Older children, kids who had seen a psychiatrist and those diagnosed with an additional condition, such as depression or seizures, were more likely to have been prescribed one or more psychotropic medications, the study found.

"The study couldn't tell why older children were more likely to receive psychotropic medication, but one reason could be that the doctor's comfort level with medication in older children is greater," Jain said.

"Another potential reason is that doctors may have started a younger child on behavioral therapy that hasn't worked for every symptom, and now they want to try medications for the remaining symptoms," she added.

Also, behaviors in an older, larger child might become harder to manage, these experts suggested. "A challenging behavior in a big teenage boy with an autism spectrum disorder will make a parent and a doctor more willing to try medication than the same behavior in a smaller 4-year-old," said Wang.

Copyright © 2013 HealthDay. All rights reserved. SOURCES: Anjali Jain, M.D., managing consultant, The Lewin Group, Falls Church, Va.; Paul Wang, M.D., senior vice president, medical research, Autism Speaks; November 2013, Pediatrics

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Flavored Cigars Gaining in Popularity With U.S. Kids: CDC

By Dennis Thompson
HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Oct. 22 (HealthDay News) -- More than two of every five teen smokers use flavored little cigars or cigarettes, according to a new report from U.S. health officials.

Regulators are concerned that these flavors, which mask the harshness of tobacco with tastes of candy or fruit, obscure the health risks of smoking and help draw young people into lifelong tobacco addiction.

Although the sale of most flavored cigarettes is banned in the United States, tobacco manufacturers have worked around the ban by producing these little cigars, which weigh slightly more than cigarettes and so avoid regulation.

Young smokers who use flavored little cigars are less likely to consider quitting tobacco use, researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found. Nearly 60 percent of those smoking flavored cigars are not thinking about quitting, compared with about 49 percent of all other cigar smokers.

"Flavored or not, cigars cause cancer, heart disease, lung disease and many other health problems. Flavored little cigars appeal to youth and the use of these tobacco products may lead to disfigurement, disability and premature death," CDC director Dr. Tom Frieden said in an agency news release. "We need to take comprehensive steps to reduce all tobacco use for all of our youth."

The study, based on data from a 2011 national survey on tobacco use, is the first to measure how many American youth are using flavored little cigars and cigarettes. The findings were published online Oct. 22 in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

Congress in 2009 prohibited the use of flavors, except menthol, in cigarettes with the passage of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.

However, flavored little cigars are still manufactured and sold with candy and fruit flavorings. They've also come to closely resemble cigarettes in their sizes, shapes, filters and packaging. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration currently does not regulate cigars.

"Many little cigars bear a remarkable resemblance to cigarettes. In fact, some youth who are smoking cigarettes may be smoking flavored little cigars that they've mistaken for cigarettes," said Dr. Tim McAfee, director of the CDC's Office on Smoking and Health. "The concern it raises for us is because little cigars are so similar to cigarettes, this represents a loophole in the FDA's ban on flavored cigarettes."

Little cigars have become more popular in recent years, the CDC reported. Sales increased 240 percent from 1997 to 2007, with flavored brands making up almost 80 percent of the market share.

In response to the CDC findings, the American Lung Association released a statement denouncing fruit- and candy-flavored tobacco products as "a mainstay in the Big Tobacco playbook to addict kids and create lifelong tobacco users."

"This study shows that the tobacco industry will not quit its efforts to addict kids. I can't emphasize enough the importance of robust regulatory oversight of cigars and all tobacco products by FDA," Paul Billings, senior vice president of advocacy and education for the American Lung Association, said in the statement. "We need the Obama administration to take common-sense steps to eliminate the sale and marketing of flavored cigars and little cigars, as well as other flavored tobacco products."

The national tobacco survey involved nearly 19,000 students in grades six through 12 from 178 schools.

"The findings indicate that a considerable proportion of U.S. middle and high school students who smoke tobacco report using flavored little cigars or flavored cigarettes," the researchers wrote.

Overall, about 8 percent of the young people in the survey admitted to smoking cigars, while nearly 11 percent said they smoke cigarettes.

About 36 percent of young cigar smokers reported using flavored little cigars, while 35 percent of young cigarette smokers reported using flavored cigarettes.

About 42 percent of all young smokers reported use of either flavored little cigars or cigarettes. Whites, boys and high school students in particular were more likely to use flavored little cigars or cigarettes.

Flavored little cigars have other traits that can make them more appealing to young people, McAfee said.

Many states tax cigars at a lower rate than cigarettes, and in many jurisdictions they aren't required to be sold in packs and can be sold in singles or doubles. "This makes it more accessible financially for kids," he said.

Little cigars aren't the only way that the tobacco industry is using flavors to entice young smokers, the American Lung Association noted.

The CDC in September published a report that e-cigarette (electronic cigarette) use among young smokers has doubled, due in part to brands that come in flavors such as bubble gum, gummy bear, orange cream soda and cotton candy.

Copyright © 2013 HealthDay. All rights reserved. SOURCES: Tim McAfee, M.D., director, Office on Smoking and Health, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Oct. 22, 2013, news release, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Oct. 22, 2013, news release, American Lung Association; Oct. 22, 2013, Journal of Adolescent Health, online

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Weight-Loss Surgery Seems to Beat Diet and Exercise

By Serena Gordon
HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Oct. 22 (HealthDay News) -- For people who have a lot of weight to lose, weight-loss surgery appears more effective than diet and exercise, a new review suggests.

The one caveat to this study, however, is that the results only include two years of data, so the long-term outcomes are still unknown. This type of study, called a meta-analysis, attempts to uncover a common thread in a number of previous studies.

"Individuals allocated to bariatric surgery lost more body weight -- on average 26 kilograms [57.3 pounds] -- compared with nonsurgical treatment, and had higher remission rates of type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome," said study author Viktoria Gloy, a scientist at the Basel Institute for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at University Hospital Basel in Switzerland. Metabolic syndrome is a group of symptoms that increase the risk for type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

"After surgery, patients also reported greater improvements in quality-of-life measures, and had greater reduction in medication use than nonsurgical patients," Gloy added.

Gloy and colleagues published the findings online Oct. 22 in the BMJ.

Obesity is a significant public health risk, according to background information in the report. The incidence of obesity has more than doubled over the past 25 years in the United States, the United Kingdom and in Australia. More than two-thirds of the U.S. population is currently overweight or obese. Many European countries aren't far behind, with overweight and obesity rates of around 40 percent to 50 percent, according to researchers.

Obesity increases the risk of many serious ailments, including type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, cardiovascular disease, some types of cancer and musculoskeletal diseases such as osteoarthritis, according to the analysis.

Treatments for obesity include weight-loss surgery and nonsurgical options, such as changes in diet, medications, and increasing physical activity.

To see what treatments help people lose weight and improve their health the most, Gloy and her colleagues reviewed previously completed studies on weight loss, and found 11 studies with nearly 800 people who'd undergone weight-loss surgery or nonsurgical weight-loss treatments.

In addition to losing more weight, those who had weight-loss surgery had a rate of remission of type 2 diabetes that was 22 times higher than in the group that did not get surgery. Rates of metabolic syndrome also dropped more for those who had surgery, according to the analysis.

Triglycerides, a type of blood fat, dropped more, and levels of the good cholesterol (HDL) increased more for those who had surgery.

There were no significant differences in blood pressure levels and bad cholesterol (LDL) levels between the two groups, the investigators found.

"The evidence beyond two years of follow-up, in particular adverse events, cardiovascular diseases and mortality, remains unclear and calls for further research on the topic," noted Gloy.

Dr. Joel Zonszein, director of the clinical diabetes center at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City, said: "Weight gain is very easy, but to lose weight is very difficult. This was a careful meta-analysis, and I agree with what they've found. We don't yet understand exactly how bariatric surgeries cause remission of type 2 diabetes," he pointed out.

Another expert said weight-loss surgery should be happening more often.

"Bariatric surgery is underutilized. If we were talking about any other treatment with such a striking effect on diabetes, it would be offered to patients sooner," said Dr. Mitchell Roslin, chief of obesity surgery at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.

Of course, like any surgery, weight-loss surgeries don't come without risk. The most common complications reported in the current analysis were iron deficiency anemia and the need for re-operation. The surgery is also expensive. The U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases estimates that weight-loss surgery averages as much as $25,000.

Roslin and Zonszein both said that people undergoing weight-loss surgery need to be carefully chosen. Current recommendations recommend the surgery for anyone with a body mass index (BMI) above 40, or a BMI of 35 or higher if they have other conditions related to obesity, such as type 2 diabetes or high blood pressure. BMI is a measurement based on height and weight.

But, both experts felt that more people should be included in those recommendations. Zonszein said people with BMIs as low as 30, if they had evidence of other metabolic abnormalities, should be counseled on the surgery. Roslin also said that if people with type 2 diabetes can't maintain control on oral medications that they should be offered a surgical option.

Roslin said that people with type 2 diabetes should try to lose weight and exercise more first. "Give yourself a chance to make lifestyle changes. But, it's very hard to lose 5 percent of your body weight. If you don't think you'll be able to do it, then you owe it to yourself to learn about surgical options," he suggested.

"There are real risks with surgery that shouldn't be underestimated, but there are real risks from diabetes, too," Roslin noted. "Let's say we were talking about colon cancer instead of diabetes, and I said, 'There's a treatment that could reduce your risk by 22 times, but it's invasive, would you consider it?'"

Copyright © 2013 HealthDay. All rights reserved. SOURCES: Viktoria Gloy, Ph.D., scientist, Basel Institute for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland; Mitchell Roslin, M.D., chief, obesity surgery, Lenox Hill Hospital, New York City; Joel Zonszein, M.D., director, clinical diabetes center, Montefiore Medical Center, New York City; Oct. 22, 2013, BMJ, online

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