Dr. B's Finest Kind Medical clinic and Fish Market

Ah, the things we learn in the news.

The NYTimes has discovered fevers go up at night.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/28/health/28nigh.html

They note a lot of stuff about cycles. Duh. Any woman knows about cycles. There are monthly cycles. And there are daily cycles where energy goes up and down and then we sleep.

Body temperature is low in early morning, which is why women trying to get pregnant have to take the first morning termperature on a thermometer that measures down to 95 degrees, since many women have "basal body temperatures" of 96 or 97 degrees, which go up once you get up and around.

But the article's implication that night time asthma is due to the low levels of hormones may not be true...

 Researchers link the narrowing of airways at night to low nighttime levels of two important hormones: cortisol (a steroid hormone) and epinephrine, also known as adrenaline, which relaxes the airways, among its many important roles. Both these substances reach peak levels in the blood during the day, then taper off in the evening, reaching a nadir in the post-midnight hours.

This overlooks other causes of asthma. Acid reflux when the body is flat is a major cause of nightly wheezing and even aspiration pneumonia in the elderly and in some babies.

And whether dust mite in mattresses cause asthma is also a hot debate in medicine...

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on another issue, I am reading Kass' book on human perfection, a free download here:

http://www.bioethics.gov/reports/beyondtherapy/index.html

The NYTimes discusses if teenagers should get nose jobs etc. here...

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/28/health/28cons.html

The emphasis on physical beauty is assumed to be good...look at botox and the golden promises to look and feel young.

In the Philippines, beauty is celebrated. But unlike here, age is also venerated, which is why we plan to retire there.

We give our children $20 000 nose jobs. Would we give them money to, say, spend a year helping poor people in Haiti? Or working at an orphanage in Kenya?

Finally, we have an article on why people laugh...

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/28/science/28toon.html

One is reminded of when that question was asked, and a famous comedian answered: Because I can't cry all the time...

The saying goes: Man is the only animal who cries, or needs to...

Laughter comes from hope: The idea that even though things are bad, there is still hope to be found...Pandora finding hope in her box, Sam in the Tower singing of stars, the last survivor pulled from the wreckage...the resurrection of the christ.

 And Mr. Eisendrath noted that "depression is a major health problem in the United States," adding, "So anyone who questions the value of a study of humor literally needs his head examined." ... Mr. Mankoff preferred to paraphrase E. B. White, who said dissecting humor was like dissecting a frog: nobody is much interested, and the frog dies.

Perhaps the reason that depression is such a major health problem is that we are so busy seeking health, wealth, and beauty that we forget the reason for life.

But, of course, in a secular world, the catechism answer "to know love and serve God...and love our neighbor like ourself" is not on the radar screen of the NYTimes...

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