The Skeptics Guide to the Universe Forum

Quote from: Tassie Dave on November 20, 2023, 08:24:35 PM

Quote from: Harry Black on November 20, 2023, 04:36:27 AMHeadgear in boxing seems likely to cause more brain damage.

I have the same view of helmets in American Football. It can be argued that the players are sustaining worse long term brain injury (CTE) by wearing the helmets. They go in much harder and faster than they would if they weren't wearing a helmet.





 

Chronic traumatic encephalopathy is caused by repeated concussion.  Concussion is caused by rotation injuries.  Helmets are good at preventing direct injuries, such as scalp lacerations, bruises and skull fractures, not so good at preventing rotation injuries.

I'm bemused by the rare AFL player who wears a very light helmet, thinking that he's protecting himself from serious injury.

Quote from: CarbShark on November 20, 2023, 04:46:04 PM

Quote from: bachfiend on November 20, 2023, 04:35:00 PMIt's a relatively non-contact sport, with the referees giving yellow (a warning) and red cards (sending the offending player off the ground) for illegal tackles.

No, it's a contact sport.

And "tackles" are just one thing that can earn a foul, caution or send-off. (A "tackle" in soccer is not the same as a "tackle" in Rugby, Aussie or American football. "Tackle" in soccer means to take the ball away from an opponent who is in control of the ball, which is legal, but if it's done with a foul then the foul is illegal).

Referees call fouls for careless contact, like hitting, pushing, charging or kicking someone. If the referee deems the foul reckless (worse than just careless) they caution the player (a yellow card) and if it's done with excessive force they send-off the player (a red card). There are other reasons for yellow and red cards, most not involving contact or "illegal tackles," which really isn't a thing. There's no list of tackles that are illegal.

I said it's a relatively non-contact sport not that it's a non-contact sport.  It's possible to sustain chronic traumatic encephalopathy without being tackled by opposing players, by soccer players heading the ball, which is part of the game.

I've recently started watching soccer, and I wondered whether chronic traumatic encephalopathy occurs in soccer too owing to the players heading the soccer ball.

It does:

https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/sports/what-is-cte-and-how-often-are-soccer-players-diagnosed-with-it/2870811/#:~:text=While%20blows%20to%20the%20head,are%20prone%20to%20the%20disease.

It's a relatively non-contact sport, with the referees giving yellow (a warning) and red cards (sending the offending player off the ground) for illegal tackles.

Quote from: xenu on November 01, 2023, 11:11:27 AMMy shoulder has been hurting for about a year. I had the doc look at it and there is no tear or anything like that. I can do shoulder presses and all and it feels fine during the day but at night after a few hours it will ache and wake me up. Not every night but it will hurt. It's just frustrating. I think it is a bicep tendon strain.

It might be adhesive capsulitis:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adhesive_capsulitis_of_the_shoulder

It's in the midpoint of a spectrum of disorders of the shoulder - at one end there's acute capsular tears affecting usually younger people, and at the other end there's chronic frozen shoulder usually affecting older people with severely restricted range of movement.

Quote from: daniel1948 on October 28, 2023, 08:21:53 PM

Quote from: bachfiend on October 28, 2023, 07:30:30 PM

Quote from: daniel1948 on October 28, 2023, 06:55:26 PMThe problem with planning to die broke is the difficulty of coordinating your (unknown) death date with the date on which you run out of money. If you run out of money too soon you'll regret it.

If I run out of money before I die, I'll just go on the old age pension.  Currently, I have too many assets (shares, investment properties, superannuation funds, cash in the bank) to get the pension.  I could get the pension even owning considerable assets, so I wouldn't even be penniless.

Recently the share market had one of its 'corrections' and I 'lost' around $800,000.  Not that it worried me.

You live in a civilized country. If I run out of money my government won't give me fuck-all. (Not that I'm worried. Barring a total economic collapse I'm probably okay. And if there's a total economic collapse everybody's fucked.) If you lost AU$800,000 in one market correction you've probably got a LOT more than I have, but I'm well-off enough not to be worried.

Agreed.

Quote from: daniel1948 on October 28, 2023, 06:55:26 PMThe problem with planning to die broke is the difficulty of coordinating your (unknown) death date with the date on which you run out of money. If you run out of money too soon you'll regret it.

If I run out of money before I die, I'll just go on the old age pension.  Currently, I have too many assets (shares, investment properties, superannuation funds, cash in the bank) to get the pension.  I could get the pension even owning considerable assets, so I wouldn't even be penniless.

Recently the share market had one of its 'corrections' and I 'lost' around $800,000.  Not that it worried me.

Quote from: Friendly Angel on October 27, 2023, 11:50:39 PM

Quote from: bachfiend on October 27, 2023, 05:39:11 PMBut I still wonder.  I don't think I have any of the other risk factors.

I have mild osteoporosis - been injecting Forteo for about 12 months. I don't have any risk factors either, other than my mother having it - but she's in her 80's. Getting another bone density scan next month to see if it's working.

I've just completed a 12 month course of monthly injections with a monoclonal antibody:

https://www.evenity.com/

which was very painful - paying for it.  It's been shown to have modest benefits in increasing bone mineral density in postmenopausal women, but not yet in men, so the manufacturer is doing a semi-trial in men with osteoporosis.  The participants have to pay the full price of $425 Australian a dose for the first 8 months, and then only the prescribing fee of $25 a dose for the final 4 months.

I see the osteoporosis doctor next month and undoubtedly he'll get me to have a repeat bone mineral density scan as would be required by the pharmaceutical company to add yet another data point to their trial.

I'm hopeful it's effective.  Otherwise I won't be able to achieve my life's ambition of dying poor after spending all my money before I kick the bucket, something, alas, that doesn't seem likely to happen. Spending all my money that is.

Quote from: arthwollipot on October 26, 2023, 07:50:55 PMI donate plasma routinely. Last weekend I made my 50th donation.

I used to donate plasma regularly fortnightly then monthly after I had my first episode of shingles (the resulting antibodies against herpes zoster are very useful in immunocomprised patients who contract chickenpox, which can be a very serious infection).

I continued for years afterwards even after the level of antibodies dropped to non useful levels (plasma is still very valuable), but I eventually stopped because the procedure was becoming inconvenient.

Last year I was diagnosed with severe osteoporosis.  I still wonder whether my donating plasma for so many years might have been the cause - plasma donation involves adding citrate, which binds to calcium in the blood to prevent it coagulating, to the blood cells before they're returned, and whether the citrate might have removed some of the calcium from my skeleton each time.

Apparently not - one study had volunteers donating plasma at two weekly intervals for a year, and bone mineral density scans showed no difference in the calcium level after the year, and in a large Swedish study there was no difference in the incidence of osteoporosis in regular plasma donors and the general population.

But I still wonder.  I don't think I have any of the other risk factors.

Quote from: Friendly Angel on October 11, 2023, 11:50:34 PM

Quote from: bachfiend on October 11, 2023, 05:36:07 PM

Quote from: Friendly Angel on October 11, 2023, 04:00:57 PMAnnual exam blood tests are in.
Bad news: my cholesterol is 202, should be <200
Good news: that's the worst news they found.

I don't know if your lipid profile included a lipoprotein-a level (it's usually not included, and usually you will be required to pay for it out of your own pocket - in Australia, it costs around $40 Australian), but I think you should consider having one done.

It's strongly genetic, not lifestyle related (diet or exercise), so you only need to have it done once in your life.  But it's strongly associated with coronary artery disease.  There are no good treatments for an elevated level, but if you do have an elevated level then it gives you an incentive to reduce other risk factors, such as being sedentary, consuming excess sugars, avoiding saturated fats as much as possible, smoking or being overweight.  And warning your relatives that they should think about having one done too.

Well, thanks... I have a layman's understanding of cholesterol but I like learning, so I'll post more details for consideration:

Total cholesterol:  202 (100-199)
HDL cholesterol:    74 (>39)
LDL cholesterol:    113 (0-99)
VLDL cholesterol:    15 (5-40)
Triglycerides:      87 (0-149)
Total-C / HDL :      2.7 (0-5)  (there's a note that this puts me in a very low risk category)

There's a doctor note that says the total is high enough to start me on statins - I think it's an autogenerated thing he didn't really consider, but I'll bring it up at my next annual.
I don't see Lipoprotein-a in there but I see there are lots of medical articles about it; I'll do some reading. Not a lot of heart disease in my family.

At the age of 67 one of my doctors ordered a lipoprotein-a level (it's not included in the usual lipid profile), and to my surprise it came back very elevated.  So my doctor put me on statins and low dose aspirin, and since according to Professor Wikipedia high dose vitamin B3 might also cause a modest reduction in its level, I started taking that too.

I also had a cardiac calcium score done too (for other reasons) which came back very high at over 1000 (anything over 100 is of concern, and predictive of coronary heat disease).

So I then had coronary angiography, which came back completely normal, with no narrowing anywhere at all.  So my cardiologist advised to just continue what I was currently doing - exercising daily and watching my diet.

I had the lipoprotein-a level repeated, and it had actually increased on treatment.  So I stopped the stains (they were causing side effects), the vitamin B3 and the low dose aspirin - I couldn't see any point point in the three if I didn't have coronary artery disease.

As I noted - elevated levels are strongly genetic.  There's suggestions that every child should be screened for it at around ages 9-11.  There's currently no good treatment for it, but knowing that your level is elevated gives you the opportunity to concentrate on reducing the other risk factors.  And advising your close relatives to have their levels checked too.

Quote from: Friendly Angel on October 11, 2023, 04:00:57 PMAnnual exam blood tests are in.
Bad news: my cholesterol is 202, should be <200
Good news: that's the worst news they found.

I don't know if your lipid profile included a lipoprotein-a level (it's usually not included, and usually you will be required to pay for it out of your own pocket - in Australia, it costs around $40 Australian), but I think you should consider having one done.

It's strongly genetic, not lifestyle related (diet or exercise), so you only need to have it done once in your life.  But it's strongly associated with coronary artery disease.  There are no good treatments for an elevated level, but if you do have an elevated level then it gives you an incentive to reduce other risk factors, such as being sedentary, consuming excess sugars, avoiding saturated fats as much as possible, smoking or being overweight.  And warning your relatives that they should think about having one done too.

Anyhow - here's an article in the British Medical Journal which is also arguing that ultra-processed food should be considered to be 'addictive' just like cigarettes:

https://www.bmj.com/content/383/bmj-2023-075354

Quote from: daniel1948 on October 09, 2023, 09:56:15 AM

Quote from: arthwollipot on October 08, 2023, 09:46:39 PMI think I was stung by a bee once. Australian native bees are very nonconfrontational. I was stung by a paper wasp once but I was actively bothering it. And once by a bull ant, but bull ants are just bastards. I have never been bitten by a spider, a scorpion or a snake and I've certainly never been eaten by a crocodile.

The danger of Australian wildlife is vastly exaggerated.

Honey bees are for the most part not aggressive at all. Even wasps are unlikely to sting unless they feel threatened.

The article posted above says that most bites and stings happen at home. Which is why I have my home sprayed as a preventative measure.

I spent two weeks in Australia, some ten or fifteen years ago, IIRC, and it was very nice. I didn't get killed even once. But I count myself lucky.    (The best was two nights and three days on a live-aboard dive boat on the Great Barrier Reef. I was not yet a scuba diver, so I snorkeled. Best snorkeling I've ever experienced.)

Most bites and stings happen at home because you spend most time at home, and also because any business or public place you visit will likely be overly cautious and eliminate any potential hazard, no matter how unlikely, just because of public liability.

You're lucky to have visited the Great Barrier Reef while it was in its relatively pristine state, which is no longer the case.

As an aside, I have been bitten by a fish snorkelling on the reef - apparently I'd intruded on its territory, and it was telling me to go away, so I did.  It wasn't a big fish fortunately.

Quote from: arthwollipot on October 08, 2023, 09:46:39 PMI think I was stung by a bee once. Australian native bees are very nonconfrontational. I was stung by a paper wasp once but I was actively bothering it. And once by a bull ant, but bull ants are just bastards. I have never been bitten by a spider, a scorpion or a snake and I've certainly never been eaten by a crocodile.

The danger of Australian wildlife is vastly exaggerated.

Here are some figures for deaths and hospitalisations:

https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/venomous-stings-and-bites-lie-close-to-home

More Australians are killed by horses than all the envenomations by snakes and spiders.

Quote from: Tassie Dave on October 05, 2023, 05:49:52 PMI know the term "Wooden Spoon" comes from one of the Oxbridge Unis.

A quick Google search shows it was Cambridge.I thought it was for the student who came last, but Google tells me it was for the student who came last of those that Graduated with Honours.

And while he lives, he wields the boasted prize
Whose value all can feel, the weak, the wise;
Displays in triumph his distinguish'd boon,
The solid honours of the Wooden Spoon
—"The Wooden Spoon" from The Cambridge Tart (1823)

It is a real wooden spoon



My beloved Tigers have won either won 6 or 7 Wooden Spoons, depending on how you view the 1916 season.

Richmond finished 3rd of 4 teams after the Home & Away season, but finished 4th of 4 after the Finals.

Some people say Fitzroy by finishing 4th after the H&A games won the Wooden Spoon, but then never lost a game and won the Premiership. Some say Richmond won by finishing last after all the games were played. I count it as being Richmond's. Under the playing rules of that season we finished last.

Interesting origin of the wooden spoon.

Can't really consider the 1916 season a real one owing to World War I.

Everyone's favorite author JK Rowling has a new book out 'the Running Grave' which is the 7th in the wildly successful Cormoran Strike series.  It's about a cult in Norfolk.  It's very long at 951 pages, but very readable.