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Patients who cannot swallow may receive nutrition via a parenteral route—usually, a catheter is inserted through the chest into a large vein going into the heart.
Approximately 500,000 babies are born each year in the United States to teenage mothers.
Human stomach acid is strong enough to dissolve small pieces of metal such as razor blades or staples.
In the United States, an estimated 50 million unnecessary antibiotics are prescribed for viral respiratory infections.
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.