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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.
Vampire bats have a natural anticoagulant in their saliva that permits continuous bleeding after they painlessly open a wound with their incisors. This capillary blood does not cause any significant blood loss to their victims.
Human kidneys will clean about 1 million gallons of blood in an average lifetime.
More than nineteen million Americans carry the factor V gene that causes blood clots, pulmonary embolism, and heart disease.
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends that all women age 65 years of age or older should be screened with bone densitometry.