Motivating or just plan bizarre?

Post from: Healthbolt

Pay patients to go to the doctor? – in England, Health Service Managers are looking at ways to get people in unhealthy people in the lower social economic rankings to visit the doctor. The thinking is that if you can get people to the doctor earlier, before chronic illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease set in, the government health system would save money. It makes sort of makes sense. But the idea is getting flack from politicans and medical experts alike who say that the government shouldn’t be bribing people to stay healthy.

‘World’s Fattest Man’ to Marry After Massive Diet – after two years of dieting, Manuel Uribe, the world’s heaviest man and his girlfriend are set to wed this month. Originally weighing in a couple of years ago at 1,235 pounds, the 43 year old Manual has shed around 700 pounds.

Something of a celebrity, Manual has been giving telephone advice to Jose Luis Garza, another determined dieter who weighs in at around 990 pounds.

Discover the surgical tools of Ancient Rome at the Historical Collections & Services of the Health Sciences Library, University of Virginia. Excavated from the House of the Surgeon at Pompeii, looking at this collection of instruments makes you realize how far medical science has come (and how lucky we are that it has advanced so far).

As for the bizarre, how about this cookbook by a Russian chef called ‘Cooking with Balls’. Featuring testicle pizza, battered testicles and barbecued testicles with giblets recipes made from the sex organs of ostriches, bulls, pigs, turkeys and stallions, this e-book is definitely ‘one of a kind’ and not for the faint hearted.

And that’s it for this week’s Monday Sidebar…

Post from: Healthbolt

Could you take a knife to your throat and cut? Not sure I could, but this man has done so, not once but twice. And in doing so, has become his own savior. Seems his throat swelled up to the point where he could not breathe and afraid that the emergency services would not arrive in time, decided to perform a little ‘life saving’ surgery.

Dead, not Dead…

Her heart stopped despite intensive medical treatment following two heart attacks. She had no brain waves for 17 hours and rigor mortis seemed to be setting in. The family said their goodbyes and the patient remained hooked up to the ventilator while possible organ donation was discussed. But it seemed Val Thomas had other ideas. She suddened ‘awoke’ and started talking. She is, according to the doctors, a medical miracle.

Solar Powered Bra…

Japanese inventors are at it again with another bizarre invention. This time they have come up with a unique way to raise awareness of global warming – an environmentally friendly bra. Designed to conserve energy, it’s able to generate enough power to charge an iPod or cell phone. There’s a few hitches though. You can’t wear clothing over it, it cannot be washed, and will get damaged in the rain.

Underwear that monitors blood pressure…

The Philips consumer electronics company want to create underwear that can constantly monitor a person’s blood pressure. Apparently, the sensors embedded in the waist of the underpants would be able to measure the ‘electrical impedance of the tissue beneath it – a property that changes as the pulse wave passes by.’

And finally…

How about a real life iron man that would be able to keep the body active and safe while it’s recovering from injury. That’s the idea behind this robotic suit, a sleek white ecoskeleton that is in the works at Cyberdine, Inc.

Post from: Healthbolt

But for two Belgian beer fans, that’s simply not enough. Seems that they think you should be able to relieve yourself and shot aliens or slalom down ski slopes at the same time.

To that end, they designed and have recently released the ‘Place to Pee’ video game. It’s set up in a booth and caters for two users at a time. Gamers (ie pee-ers) score by aiming and hitting sensors positioned on either side of the urinal.

And ladies, if you think that it’s just a ‘man thing’, think again. Seems that they have created a paper cone allows women to play too. Lucky us!

Personally, I think these guys have more than one beer too many!!!

(source – Reuters)

Post from: Healthbolt