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Critical care patients are twice as likely to receive the wrong medication. Of these errors, 20% are life-threatening, and 42% require additional life-sustaining treatments.
Asthma cases in Americans are about 75% higher today than they were in 1980.
Human stomach acid is strong enough to dissolve small pieces of metal such as razor blades or staples.
Medication errors are more common among seriously ill patients than with those with minor conditions.
For about 100 years, scientists thought that peptic ulcers were caused by stress, spicy food, and alcohol. Later, researchers added stomach acid to the list of causes and began treating ulcers with antacids. Now it is known that peptic ulcers are predominantly caused by Helicobacter pylori, a spiral-shaped bacterium that normally exist in the stomach.