ArcaMax

Researchers analyzed 16 years of race results from nine major marathons across the United States and found that races run on days with greater air pollution were associated with slower average finish times.

The concentration of an air pollutant is measured in micrograms per cubic meter of air. Analyzing all finish times, the researchers found that each 1 microgram/m3 higher particulate matter on race day was associated with 32-second-slower average finish times among men and 25-second-slower average finish times among women. The effects were more pronounced in faster-than-median runners.

That may not sound like much, but for competitive marathoners seeking new personal records, every second counts.

"Runners at that level are thinking about their gear, their nutrition, their training, the course, even the weather," said study author Elvira Fleury. "Our results show that those interested in optimizing athletic performance should consider the effect of air pollution as well."

Body of Knowledge

Your liver has a role in almost every bodily function. It's the only internal organ capable of full regeneration, requiring as little as 25% of original tissue to regrow completely regrow. It also changes size with body weight. Your body needs about one gram (0.03 ounces) of liver for every kilogram (35 ounces) of weight in order to effectively do its job.

Get Me That, Stat!

A Tufts University study in developing countries estimates that 2.2 million new cases of type 2 diabetes and 1.2 million new cases of cardiovascular disease occur each year globally due to the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages.

Stories for the Waiting Room

Fitness trackers and smartwatches are much touted as health tools, able to count your steps and heartbeats, measure blood oxygen levels and even call for help if you fall down.

But a new study reports that their watchbands often contain fluoroelastomer, a synthetic polymer used to make rubber material resistant to sweat, skin oils and lotions. Specifically, a type of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance, or PFAS, called perfluorohexanoic acid, or PFHxA. PFAS chemicals are known as "forever chemicals" because their chemical structures do not degrade or break down, posing a persistent contamination threat to soil and groundwater.

It's not known to what degree PFAS chemicals may be harmful to humans, but it's clear they can migrate from treated surfaces onto skin and into dust and air, creating multiple paths of exposure, including inhalation, ingestion and dermal absorption.

Elevated levels of PFHxA were more prevalent in higher-priced watchbands tested, specifically those costing more than $15.

Doc Talk

Myoclonic twitches: Brief, involuntary jerks or spasms of a muscle or group of muscles, such as hiccups, sleep starts and uncontrolled muscle movements in the inner ear that cause clicking, cracking or thumping sounds

Phobia of the Week

Stasiphobia: Fear of standing or walking

Best Medicine

It takes guts to be an organ donor.

Observation

"Pay mind to your own life, your own health and wholeness. A bleeding heart is of no help to anyone if it bleeds to death." -- American author and theologian Frederick Buechner (1926-2022)

Medical History

This week in 1902, Harvey Cushing, the first U.S. physician to practice exclusively as a neurosurgeon, performed his first brain operation. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Cushing's clinical contributions are legendary. Among them are the use of x-rays in surgical practice, physiological saline for irrigation during surgery, the discovery of the pituitary as the master hormone gland, founding the clinical specialty of endocrinology, the anesthesia record, the use of blood pressure measurement in surgical practice, and the physiological consequences of increased intracranial pressure.

Much honored, Cushing died in 1939 at the age of 70 of a heart attack, just days after receiving word that funds had been allocated to build a medical library, named in part after him, at Yale University.

Ig Nobel Apprised

The Ig Nobel Prizes celebrate achievements that make people laugh, then think. A look at real science that's hard to take seriously and even harder to ignore.

In 1998, the Ig Nobel Prize in biology went to Peter Fong of Gettysburg College for contributing to the happiness of clams by giving them Prozac.

Maybe it helped them get out of their shell?

Sum Body

Four things to know about your butt, er, posterior.

1. The three muscles that comprise your "glutes" make up the body's largest and strongest muscle group, based on maximum force generation.

2. Back pain can originate in the buttocks.

3. So can sciatica (pain, numbness and tingling that radiates down the leg) because the sciatic nerve typically lies atop the piriformis, a small muscle that lives deep behind the gluteus maximus.

4. Butt lifts aren't too far behind the popularity leaders in cosmetic surgery. In 2023, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons said its members performed 29,383 Brazilian butt lifts (buttock augmentation with fat grafting), 1,234 butt implants and 7,748 butt lifts.

Fit to Be Tried

There are thousands of exercises and you've only got one body, but that doesn't mean you can't try them all. Call it what you want -- belly fat, abdominal fat, visceral fat -- that excess padding around your middle is an obvious risk factor for many health issues, including heart disease, diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, osteoarthritis and fertility.

The good news is that there are lots of ways to reduce belly fat. All cardiovascular exercises, such as walking, running, biking, swimming and cycling, can reduce belly fat by simply burning up calories.

Lifting weights helps tone the body.

And there are plenty of belly-targeted exercises: planks, Russian twists, bicycle crunches, squat jumps, burpees and boat poses.

Start your workout by Googling these and more.

Epitaphs

"Poor John Scott lies buried here;

Tho' once he was both hale and stout,

Death stretched him on his bitter bier.

In another world he hops about." -- Headstone of a Liverpool brewer buried in the churchyard of Newhaven, East Sussex, England, by pun-loving family and friends

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To find out more about Scott LaFee and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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