Has someone gifted you with some bear meat? Are you wondering what to do with it? Whatever you decide, be very, very careful to cook it till it’s completely done. Not medium rare. Done. Use a meat thermometer.

If you don’t, you might get trichinellosis (also known as trichinosis), a nasty infection formerly associated with eating undercooked pork. Just because the meat was frozen doesn’t mean it’s safe. At least one species of this parasitic roundworm can survive for a long time in a freezer.

Note that this is under the ‘medical’ category.

Bear releases tend to be somewhat mundane events. Open the door, let the bear out, drive off. But sometimes, there’s a slight glitch. And when things go wrong, they go wrong fast.

It lingers, the bug. Just when I thought I was free, back it comes this afternoon, a vague queasiness, tiredness, a froggy throat. The runs came back as well.

At dinner, I watched as a family member ate leftover barbecued baby back ribs and hash brown patties. It smelled good, but I was having none of it, even though my stomach was beginning to rumble. Nothing in the fridge appealed, most of it being raw.

We had to run out to Whole Foods, whose pastry department is the best place to get a surprise gift for someone who’s done something very nice for you and isn’t going to send a bill. After I picked out three of the big fancy desserts, including the one shaped like a coffee cup, I headed for the soups/stews island. Rejected most, settled for the turkey.

All this wearing my heaviest coat, which is heavy indeed, the kind with two layers of fasteners. I was happy to see other shoppers wearing overcoats, though none quite as extreme as mine. Then I saw something that made me feel much better, and finely dressed at that.

Over by the fresh mozzarella, highly favored by another family member, a couple was talking to a clerk. The guy was dressed in a light jacket, the woman had on black furry boots that looked to be made of bear. At least six inches thick. I must find these online and post a picture.

The turkey stew/soup was most excellent, I should have gotten the big container.

The good news is that it’s not the vomiting thing going around. The bad news is I sound like Alec Baldwin. I chugged half the jug of Tropicana yesterday until my stomach complained of acidic conditions. My errand running ended when I realized I’d best be near a bathroom.

I sent a family member out for toilet paper, because even though I generally stock up, the apocalypse does tend to arrive now and then.

Today, food is not real welcome, which I guess is a good thing.

One patient showed remarkable results within ten minutes after the drug was injected. Experts say that Etanercept, usually prescribed for rheumatoid arthritis, might not have this effect on all Alzheimer’s patients.

If it’s pointed up, and you’re fumbling around for a paring knife, forgetting that you put the razor in there, you might get a finger that keeps bleeding. Two days later. Maybe I need a stitch or two. Now the finger next to it is complaining that it too needs a bandage. Chapping, I think, and trying to open stubborn screw-tops that the other finger normally handles. Why does this happen when I’m supposed to be Christmas shopping.

Your hands, your feet too. Oh, and your eyebrow ridge will get all bulgy. Your hair might fall out though.

But don’t try this at home. Or anywhere else for that matter.

No way, says you? I beg to differ.

Here is an example of clothing to accommodate the truly nurturing man. No comment on the facial expression of the child.

I had a cracked tooth that needed rebuilding.

At this office, one is not allowed to sit and calm down by reading about starlets and other Beautiful People in rehab. The dentist came right out, rubbing her hands in glee. (I really was supposed to get this done three years ago.) They got the nitrous mask on right away. Two of the ceiling panels have been replaced with photos of billowy clouds and blue sky. I spent much of the time watching my floaters (an unusually large number) drift by these clouds. Whenever I felt something sharp, I took a deep breath, and thought, ‘That might be hurting, but I sure don’t care.’ There was a whole cabinet of dental tools in my mouth. About halfway through, the dentist got my attention:

Dentist: Why are you watching me?
Me: Awaaa?
Dentist: Your eyes are following me around the room. You’re not supposed to be able to do that.
Me: Ohaaaaa.
(She and the hygienist confer, and make adjustments to the tanks behind me.)
Dentist: There, that should be better. You were out of nitrous.
Me: Ohiiiiaaaa.

Today around lunchtime, I’ll be sedated. My very excellent dentist, Dr. Amy, will be working on teeth she has worried about for a long time.

The bright side is that this will be the last lengthy appointment (no more root canals). But I’m having a lot of difficulty focusing on work this morning. I ate pancakes laden with El Rey chocolate. Should have gotten a shot of the oozing, molten chocolate, the light this morning is lovely and diffused by fog.

A family member has dined at some of the fanciest SF restaurants, and still keeps a Totino’s or two in his freezer. For you, Chris - be sure and read all the comments.

All this time, as scientists tried to devise ways to kill the antibiotic-resistant superbug MRSA, the solution was simple and close at hand. Thousands have died when they encountered MRSA in hospitals, especially the elderly and others with suppressed immune systems.

Garlic is powerful medicine.

When a patient tried to commit suicide via antifreeze (the ethylene glycol in it being the culprit), Australian doctors ran out of the antidote - medicinal alcohol. They improvised a drip of vodka to the comatose man, and he survived.

This afternoon at a very awkward time, I felt an intense need to throw up.

Thankfully, this sort of thing doesn’t happen very often. Only once before, as a matter of fact, about three weeks ago. What precipitated that episode was something of a mystery since I had eaten several questionable items. Just before I got sick, I ate a small bowl of pistachios.

Today was more of a clear-cut matter since I had not eaten that much by 5:30 p.m. The only thing different from my normal foods was a homemade (by me) frosted chocolate cupcake sprinkled with a small bit of chopped up pistachios. It was delicious. It made me terribly sick.

So there I was at someone else’s house, clutching my stomach, wondering if I would be able to drive the five minutes home where my faithful bathroom was. It was the worst stomachache I’d had since I don’t know when. The salivating thing had set in, so once again, that insidious question of which end arose.

Five hours later, I’m still shaky. Sipping a diet coke helped. From now on, I’ll remember that pistachios are related to mangos and poison ivy, both of which are my natural enemies.

It can afflict a player or a spectator, and affects more men than women.

Perhaps you’ve noticed if you live here in the Bay Area. It’s front page news in the local paper, and if you’re suffering, you’re definitely not alone.

I went to a library book sale Sunday, and in the fiction section, went through all eight tissues in my purse. In less than five minutes. Some of those around me were sniffing loudly.

In the nursery at Lowe’s last night, I was fine, but the clerk was a soggy mess. Hello, spring.

Maggots win. Where antibiotics have been largely ineffective, maggots step in (squirm in, perhaps) and cure a group of diabetics with MRSA-infected foot ulcers.

Not the shingles eye, but the one that now has a sty on the inside of the lower lid. Applying a hot teabag is supposed to help.

Wearing my usual contact lens is impossible. Getting used to glasses again is a slow process since the world looks very different without much peripheral vision. Straight-ahead vision is not bad, but tough when taking photos.

But now I can do something useful with all that tea I didn’t like.

Am I done yet? Well, no.

In the third week, you’d think it would be a smooth coasting to the finish, when the bumps are mere scabs, and the whole thing is just a bad memory. Last week, the opthalmologist was very reassuring about the stuff only affecting the right quadrant of my face. That’s all good, but no one said anything about the itching or the crawling sensation on the scalp.

The pharmacy is temporarily out of the cream the dermatologist prescribed.

To keep from going mad, I’ve been working longer hours than usual. The beauty of a trackpad is that I need both hands to work in PhotoShop. If I had a third hand, it would be scratching. Scratching is how my cornea might get infected. But if I had a fourth hand, I could really get the P/S work flying out of here.

What’s that? No, I haven’t done my taxes yet.

That’s a tough one. I’d say they were equal, except with shingles, there’s no reward at the end of the ordeal.

Watching a movie with eyes still semi-dilated can be taxing. The opthalmologist assured me my corneas are fine despite the shingles, but that could change. She launched into a description of a retinal tear (which thankfully I don’t have) that made me wonder if she thought I needed more fearsome images of calamitous conditions.

I needed the movie to erase the pretty pictures from the handout given by the dermatologist yesterday. Some unfortunate souls have much worse cases of shingles, and there are many photos to prove it.

The movie was diverting, Brandon was handsome, the cape should have gotten an award, and the leftover beef stew was perfect. What I really want is a large piece of chocolate cream pie with a big dollop of whipped cream on top.

Over my right eye. Life has been strange lately.

It started with a throbbing headache about 10 days ago, which didn’t go away. For days. The pain made me jump with each throb when I was tired. Thanks to the age of information, I learned it could have been a migraine or several things much worse. My hair hurt. Aspirin didn’t help. A household member asked if I had a stiff neck. I decided I had an aneurysm. But without the symptoms other than the killer headache.

I kept working. It took my mind off things, but I did only the essential stuff. Didn’t blog. Started thinking it was something I ate. I began detoxing by eating right. It didn’t help. I slept badly because the headache kept waking me up.

I decided I had a brain tumor, but without the nausea and vomiting. Well, thank goodness for small blessings.

The night we watched Godfather I for the fourth time, I reached up and scratched my head. There were welts on my scalp. Big ones. As Al Pacino gazed off into space holding his godchild, I began to panic. Did I have botflies?

Family members became alarmed, and urged me to see a doctor. How on earth would I explain botflies to a suburban doctor? (These flies are not the result of poor housekeeping.) I decided to tough it out for a few more harrowing days.

The welts took on more sinister characteristics. My right eyelid became poofy. A large welt appeared toward the bridge of my nose. The area under the eye became a large ballooning sac of something. About then, I read a fascinating entry in Wikipedia about shingles, which is caused by the chickenpox virus lying dormant in the body.

When I walked into the dermatologist’s office today, I had a pretty good idea of what ailed me. It took her a couple of minutes to confirm. She suggested the peas to soothe the itch. The afflicted areas around my eye will most likely turn purple or dark brown in the next few days. I need to see an ophthamologist asap to make sure my cornea isn’t involved. Blindness is a possibilty. I’m to stay away from pregnant women and anyone else who shouldn’t catch chicken pox because I am contagious until the welts crust over.

The meds prescribed include acyclovir, an antiviral that the good doctor said might lessen my pain by a day or so. The main side effect? Both the doctor and the pharmacist assured me there was only one: headache.

The movie? I excused myself from the rope beating scene. But I kinda want to see the rest again. Minus the bag of peas.

My mom is beginning to slip away from us. She rallied at first, and just as the doctors were going to release her, has developed breathing problems. Time after critical time, in the past, she would brighten when my boys would show up, but today she slept through it all. The nurses are lowering their voices and the words “morphine” and “hospice” are being mentioned, although she is not in pain.

Cornell researchers say there seems to be a distinct connection between autism and TV watching by very young children. States where the study took place include California, Washington state, Oregon and Pennsylvania. The proliferation of VCRs and cable TV coincides with the alarming rise of autism starting in 1980.

The researchers are careful to state that they have not found the specific cause of autism. But what they do say should give anyone with kids under 3 serious food for thought.

We live in an age when infants watch videos, and youngsters are kept occupied with DVDs in the back seat during long trips.

Those who follow autism news might be wondering about the Amish, who have extremely low rates of the disorder. The Amish do not watch TV.

In Britain, the hospital superbug Clostridium difficile has claimed at least 49 lives in recent months. It is now considered to be more dangerous than MRSA.

So far, the only defense seems to be steam-cleaning wards, and asking visitors, patients and staff to wash their hands before touching anyone.

The young med student and a needy mother-to-be listen to the faint sounds of a new life.

Does your laptop or cell phone make you feel sick? Do you feel strangely warm, dizzy or nauseous around electrical equipment?

Perhaps you have electromagnetic hypersensitivity, the subject of a new study by the University of Essex. People who suffer from EHS find it next to impossible to work at their computers or use mobile phones without distress. Some resort to viewing their monitors with binoculars from a distance.

As we adapt to our high-tech lives, was this bound to happen?

A new study shows a link between the age of fathers and the probability of autism. Researchers say that gene mutations may be the culprit, although other factors could be involved.

Fans of Braveheart remember the vivid blue paint Mel Gibson and his followers wore into battle. That paint is derived from woad, a plant in the broccoli family that contains large amounts of glucobrassicin, a powerful anti-tumor compound that is especially effective against breast cancer.

If you regularly lift more than half your body weight, doctors advise that you’d best get your heart checked. Young and healthy lifters are in danger of torn aortas if they have an undiagnosed aneurysm or an enlargement of the aorta.

Unfortunately, death often occurs because doctors do not think to look for a torn aorta when fit young men show up in the emergency room with chest pains.

The legend goes like this: when infertile women came to a local shrine and asked that they be blessed with children, the wish might be granted. However, the first child will be a ‘chua’, or what is referred to by residents as a ‘rat person’ due to the skinny face, sloping forehead and protruding teeth. This firstborn must be given to the shrine or else the woman will only produce chuas. These facial characteristics are also indicative of microcephaly.

Some said that priests might be guilty of retarding the growth of otherwise healthy babies by attaching clamps on their heads. Experts disputed this, saying that such deformities cannot be caused by human tampering. They pointed out that a certain percentage of Pakistanis living in Britain also suffered from this condition.

Then a Leeds geneticist stepped in, resulting in an encouraging future for families who carry the genetic mutation.

Designed for use in hospitals and nursing homes, it looks like a Gund bear, but has cameras in its eyes, microphones in its ears, and a PC within its stuffing. Huggable can interact with its primary human, and give important information on its human’s condition to doctors and other caregivers.

High levels of testosterone were found after the testing, which occurred after stage 17 of the Tour de France. He denies using drugs, saying the find is either a mistake or due to ‘a natural process’.

Things not usually considered include not getting enough sleep and air-conditioning. What?

On one of these dog days of summer, I’d gladly swap a/c in return for being hungrier.

How drug research at St. George’s, University of London might wipe out allergy problems in five years.

The device came about when Ken Armitage, a geophysicist, and his wife Anne, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, were hurrying to a pub that served an excellent cream tea. Because she walked so slowly, Ken worried they would miss the tea.

After putting his backpack on Anne, he attached one end of a bungee cord to the pack and the other to her foot.

Result? They made it for the tea, and MuSmate was born.

A variation of the idea might be of tremendous help to the elderly.

Especially if you access the helium in a hot-air balloon.

Since getting her own cell when she was six, the child has been sending up to 30 text messages each day.

The boys of summer slip deeper into the void.

. . . boy you had chemicals boy . . .

Via Briefing.com, an alert at the House of Commons.

Years ago, my dad went in for cataract surgery and emerged, as his surgeon quipped, ‘with sharpshooter vision’.

In this article, a writer recounts his colorful (and remarkably swift) journey to vision correction.

Those who sleep less than six and a half hours a night are at a much higher risk for diabetes and other diseases later in life.

In a study from Woodcock Institute in Sydney, researchers found that those who continually deprived themselves of sleep were raising their chances of getting a chronic disease by 40 percent

Scientists are studying the fish that can survive without oxygen for months at a time. Its blood and gill structure have evolved to survive low-oxygen situations in a remarkable manner.

Parents of autistic children have been reporting for some time that development was normal up until the child received the MMR shots. Now comes news that the particular strain of measles used in the vaccine has been found in the guts of children with repressive autism and bowel disease.

History assumes that Cortes and his army infected natives with European microbes, decimating the population. An epidemiologist challenges this belief, and offers up his own explanation for the massive numbers of deaths.

He believes that the plague known as cocolitzli could well be a form of hemorrhagic fever spread by rodents.

The malaria pathogen and the potato famine pathogen both use the same protein code to infect their hosts.

This does not mean that one day you will have to be excused from work because you have come down with Irish potato famine. But researchers may be able to produce a single drug that could attack both microbes that cause malaria and potato famine.

How is it that a bear can hibernate all winter, barely moving, and emerge from its den with stronger bones in the spring?

When humans are inactive for long periods of time, such as during illness, our bones grow weaker. Scientists are studying the way that bears recycle the calcium in their bodies to keep their bones strong.

Drug researchers find a compound in a scoop of soil that is effective against a strain of Staphylococcus aureus when tested in mice.

Amazed by the alligator’s ability to heal quickly from traumatic wounds, Henry F. Gomez, M.D. and professor at the University of Texas-Houston Health Science Center Medical School, is conducting studies in a field that few have chosen.

The average alligator is submerged in a pathogen-ridden environment of water and mud, yet this is no deterrent to its ability to rise above disastrous injuries. As Dr. Gomez gathers information, it is necessary to get blood samples from a large number of alligators.

To get their attention, empty soda cans are tossed in the water. (Casual litterers might want to take note of this when taking refreshment near alligator-infested waters.) Then the gators are bled and released, snouts pointed toward the water. It takes 15 minutes from start to finish.

Details and pictures here.

If you spend long hours at the computer, as many of us do nowadays, there’s a compelling reason to get up and move around. Recent research shows that deep-vein thrombosis is not confined to jet travelers.

Perhaps those chillout playlists of yours could include some periods of . . . no music.

Bisphosphonate drugs such as Fosomax and Actonel can, in rare cases, cause irreversible jaw decay.

Factors include size of dose and length of time on the medication.

A new study shows that blood pressure readings of a person sitting on an examining table are 14 points higher than that taken while sitting in a chair.

Researchers suggest asking the doctor to allow you to sit quietly in a chair about five minutes before the pressure is taken. It can mean the difference in being put on medication for hypertension or deemed ‘normal’.

It’s not the H5N1 strain that is of global concern. Via Briefing.com via Reuters.

Daycare centers and prisons are also seeing the antibiotic-resistant strain of staph infections.

These places have three features that facilitate the spread of infections: crowding, shared use of materials, and hygiene that is less than optimal.

Don’t do it. A Canadian patient on anti-coagulant medication (warfarin) for a heart condition drank chamomile tea for a sore throat. She was admitted to the hospital with severe internal bleeding as a result.

Warfarin is a highly effective blood thinner, and comes from coumarin, which is found in plants. Chamomile also contains coumarin. Other chamomile products, such as lotion, should also be avoided.

Scientists discover that wallaby milk contains a potent substance that kills Streptococci, Salmonella, Staphylococcus aureus, and E. coli.

Dubbed Compound AGG01, it is also effective against a form of the antibiotic-resistant MRSA.

Why would wallaby joeys (or wallbabies, as a relative calls them) need such powerful milk? A researcher notes that the joeys are extremely immature when born, and have no immune systems.

Most probably the last word on the subject from these parts.

By the way, Katie and Tom gave birth to a girl last night.

U.S. scientists report that powdered ginger causes ovarian cancer cell death in the lab. Its effects are equal to chemotherapy currently used in treatment.

Researchers hope to isolate the beneficial substance in ginger in order to produce new drugs. They caution that the findings are in very early stages, and that no one should eat large quantities of ginger as a preventative.

Mmmmm. Raw placenta. Tom expects to chow down right there at the birthing gurney. Nothing like ‘nutritious’ food, freshly delivered.

No word from Katie. Surely, there’s enough to share.

It depends on what shape the person is in, among other things, and whether or not there is water.

A UK professor applies for approval of a study on the effects of dark chocolate on heart patients. He thinks the day is coming when chocolate will have a firm place in healthy dietary habits.

Using the patients’ own cells, scientists have grown entire bladders in the lab. These were transplanted successfully into the patients.

While skin, bone and heart valves have been produced through tissue engineering, this is the first time an organ has been created.

Almost 300,000 American kids are too fat to fit into their child safety car seats, according to a new study.

It can filter out Ebola and smallpox from the blood. Animal testing has been completed, human testing will begin possibly at the end of 2006.

Perhaps I should spell that ‘phobea’. But first, a shot of cortisol.

If you have an abnormal fear of needles, this is not the treatment for you.

In all fairness, no one in the article is claiming a cure. But it seems to work for some participants in a study.

It can increase the potency of many medications by interfering with an enzyme in our bodies that metabolizes drugs.

Why is so much food missing from the fridge? Why so many candy bar wrappers by the bed?

Some people who take Ambien were puzzled by their steady weight gain until researchers discovered an unexpected side effect.

In London, the men were injected with TGN1412. It was the first human trial of the drug, which was targeted for treatment of such diseases as rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis.

The doctors in the trial are appealing for international help in saving the men, who are now on life support.

Perhaps this will become a new category. In this case, How to Pop Your Eyeball Back In If It Falls Out.

You’d be surprised how often this might happen. And if you cringe easily, best to skip the link altogether.

Did I make you look?