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The average older adult in the United States takes five prescription drugs per day. Half of these drugs contain a sedative. Alcohol should therefore be avoided by most senior citizens because of the dangerous interactions between alcohol and sedatives.
The calories found in one piece of cherry cheesecake could light a 60-watt light bulb for 1.5 hours.
Medication errors are more common among seriously ill patients than with those with minor conditions.
Vaccines prevent between 2.5 and 4 million deaths every year.
As many as 28% of hospitalized patients requiring mechanical ventilators to help them breathe (for more than 48 hours) will develop ventilator-associated pneumonia. Current therapy involves intravenous antibiotics, but new antibiotics that can be inhaled (and more directly treat the infection) are being developed.