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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).
People with high total cholesterol have about two times the risk for heart disease as people with ideal levels.
Cancer has been around as long as humankind, but only in the second half of the twentieth century did the number of cancer cases explode.
The people with the highest levels of LDL are Mexican American males and non-Hispanic black females.
Addicts to opiates often avoid treatment because they are afraid of withdrawal. Though unpleasant, with proper management, withdrawal is rarely fatal and passes relatively quickly.