|
|
In the United States, an estimated 50 million unnecessary antibiotics are prescribed for viral respiratory infections.
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.
The first successful kidney transplant was performed in 1954 and occurred in Boston. A kidney from an identical twin was transplanted into his dying brother's body and was not rejected because it did not appear foreign to his body.
Interferon was scarce and expensive until 1980, when the interferon gene was inserted into bacteria using recombinant DNA technology, allowing for mass cultivation and purification from bacterial cultures.
A recent study has found that following a diet rich in berries may slow down the aging process of the brain. This diet apparently helps to keep dopamine levels much higher than are seen in normal individuals who do not eat berries as a regular part of their diet as they enter their later years.
![The bobcat population has seen declines in the American Midwest, but is generally stable and healthy](https://biology-forums.com/gallery/47/medium_27638_22_04_12_8_48_59.jpeg)
![The S-curve in the human vertebral column--a result of the evolution of bipedality--makes humans hig](https://biology-forums.com/gallery/47/medium_273688_23_02_15_7_45_09_20852677.jpeg)