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When Gabriel Fahrenheit invented the first mercury thermometer, he called "zero degrees" the lowest temperature he was able to attain with a mixture of ice and salt. For the upper point of his scale, he used 96°, which he measured as normal human body temperature (we know it to be 98.6° today because of more accurate thermometers).
Ether was used widely for surgeries but became less popular because of its flammability and its tendency to cause vomiting. In England, it was quickly replaced by chloroform, but this agent caused many deaths and lost popularity.
People with high total cholesterol have about two times the risk for heart disease as people with ideal levels.
More than 2,500 barbiturates have been synthesized. At the height of their popularity, about 50 were marketed for human use.
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends that all women age 65 years of age or older should be screened with bone densitometry.