Scimitar syndrome patients birth month and surface water pesticide usage

Scimitar syndrome is a rare congenital heart disease. Recently I read of the following research and thought of some possible connection between this disease and surface water pesticide usage in the US.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090330130235.htm
Month Of Conception Linked To Birth Defects In United States

"the researchers found a strong association between the increased number of birth defects in children of women whose last menstrual period occurred in April, May, June or July and elevated levels of nitrates, atrazine and other pesticides in surface water during the same months."

For those that need more academic details, read
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2667895/

So I thought it would be very interesting to see what month a Scimitar syndrome patient was born in. To that end, I set up a poll at Yahoo Scimitar syndrome group (health.groups.yahoo.com/group/scimitarsupport/surveys?id=2263924).

As of today there're 13 data points. (One person told me the child was prematurely born so the actual number of valid points is 12.) The data are as follows

Month - Count of Patients - Percentage
January - 1 - 7%
February - 3 - 23%
March - 1 - 7%
April - 1 - 7%
May - 2 - 15%
June - 0 - 0%
July - 1 - 7%
August - 2 - 15%
September - 0 - 0%
October - 0 - 0%
November - 2 - 15%
December - 0 - 0

I wish I had more data points. But it looks like there's a trend: more scimitar syndrome patients are born early in a year. Let's say it's February. That means the mother's conception time is May. That fits well with the US surface water high pollution period in a year.

Oil for mouth ulcer

Mouth ulcer, or canker sore according to Wikipedia, has no easy cure. But not mentioned in any article I know of is that you can simply apply any edible oil to the ulcer to greatly ease the pain, and in fact expedite recovery, rather like putting a bandaid on wound. I think the way this works is oil covers the ulcer to prevent water (mostly saliva) to get to the spot. Since you would move your tongue onto the ulcer accidentally or intentionally during the day, covering the ulcer with oil at night before you sleep is the best.

According to Dr. Weil, if the ulcer is a cold sore, you may also want to avoid chocolate, beer, grain cereals, nuts, etc.

All tunas are bad

http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/early/2010/04/13/rsbl.2010.0156.full

Too much mercury. If you must eat tuna, maybe yellowfin tunas are less dangerous to eat, because they're caught younger so they have accumulated less mercury in their bodies. But then do you eat more of them to satisfy your appetite? If you do, the same amount of harm is done. Just avoid tunas.

New "golden" ratios for facial beauty

January 2010 issue of "Vision Research" has an interesting paper:
New "golden" ratios for facial beauty. If you look at these faces (source from their article):



don't you think the two in the black frames look better? That's because, as the researchers find out, given a specific person, i.e. not comparing one person with another, there is something you can do to beautify yourself. Specifically, when the vertical distance between the line connecting two pupils and your mouth is 36% ("length ratio") of the distance between the lower edge of the frontal hair and the chin, the face looks the most attractive. Similarly, a most attractive image is achieved when the distance between the pupils is 46% ("width ratio") of the face width (measured between inner edges of ears). Since both widths can be controlled with hairs, these findings should be exciting news for people seeking natural beauty.

Doctors may have given you too much X-ray

I've known this for years. Your doctor may have ordered too many X-ray's or CT scans on your body, increasing the risk of cancer, particularly leukemia, thyroid, and breast cancers. Children are at significantly higher risk, because (as a medical professional friend told me) their bone marrows are still developing. Next time when you visit your doctor, refuse or question the decision to take X-ray. Read Dr. Weil's latest article at
http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/QAA400702/Too-Many-CT-Scans.html

"doctors order all these scans not for medical reasons but to protect themselves from the ever-present threat of malpractice litigation... the owners of for-profit health care centers must use them [X-ray or CT scanners] a lot to recoup their investment."

Unfortunately, there's nothing you can do once the genes are already damaged by the X-rays.

CT's are much stronger X-rays, in case you don't know. For the dosage and their risk, see "Table: Average Radiation Doses Associated With Common Imaging Studies" at

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/523000_3

(It needs an account, which is free.)

For your convenience, this is the interesting part of that article,

Table: Average Radiation Doses Associated With Common Imaging Studies

Diagnostic Examination, Effective Dose (mSv)
X-rays
Chest (PA film), 0.02
Head, 0.07
Cervical spine, 0.3
Thoracic spine, 1.4
Lumbar spine 1.8
Abdomen, 0.53
Pelvis/hip, 0.83
Limbs/joints, 0.06
Upper GI, 3.6
Lower GI, 6.4
Screening mammogram, 0.13
CT
Head, 2.0
Abdomen, 10.0
Chest, 20-40
Pulmonary angiography, 20-40
PET - CT, 25

Other interesting readings:
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/523000_4
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/523000_10