| 2741/
The correlation between two siblings in weight, according
to one study, is 34 percent. The similarity between parents
and children is a little lower, 26 percent. How much of this
similarity is due to the fact that they live together and
eat similar food, and how much to the fact that they share
many of the same genes? Well, identical twins reared in the
same family have a correlation of 80 percent while fraternal
twins reared together have only 43 percent similarity, which
suggests that genes matter rather more than shared eating
habits.
2742/ What about adoptees
when it comes to weight? The correlation between adoptees
and their adoptive parents is only 4 percent, and that between
unrelated siblings in the same family is just 1 percent. By
contrast, identical twins reared apart in different families
are still 72 percent similar in weight.
2743/ According to the
US Department of Agriculture cement dust may become a particularly
attractive feed supplement in the future, “Because it
produces a 30 percent faster weight gain than cattle on regular
feed.” Yummy.
2744/ A 1959 US federal
law requires inspectors from the Agriculture Department's
Food Inspection and Safety System to inspect all slaughtered
animals before they can be sold for human consumption. In
1998, the inspections and safety system reclassified an array
of animal diseases as being "defects that rarely or never
present a direct public health risk" and said "unaffected
carcass portions" could be passed on to consumers by
cutting out lesions.
Among animal diseases
the agency said don't present a health danger are:
Cancer;
A pneumonia of poultry called airsacculitis;
Glandular swellings or lymphomas;
Sores;
Infectious arthritis;
Diseases caused by intestinal worms.
In the case of tumours,
the guidelines state: "remove localized lesion(s) and
pass unaffected carcass portions."
"They just cut off
the (diseased) areas,'' said Carol Blake, spokeswoman for
the Agriculture Department's inspection and safety system.
2745/ Less than 1% of
the meat and poultry that is available is produced according
to organic
guidelines.
2746/ Chlorine was first
isolated in 1774 by the Swedish chemist, C W Scheele. It is
a pale green gas at normal temperature and pressure, but because
it is highly reactive it is not found as a gas in nature.
Instead, it appears as naturally - occurring organochlorine
compounds and salts.
2747/ When the Human
Genome Project began in 1990, scientists had discovered fewer
than 100 human disease genes. Today, more than 1,400 disease
genes have been identified.
2748/ One peanut butter
sandwich contains 76 mcg of folic acid (including the bread).
2749/ The prevalence
of allergy to peanut products is approximately 1% of the U.S.
population, and one out of four allergic individuals has severe
allergy, with severe respiratory or gastro-intestinal symptoms.
2750/ The umbilical cord
is a narrow, tube-like structure that connects the developing
fetus to the placenta. The cord is sometimes called the fetus's
“supply line” because it delivers the nutrients
and oxygen the fetus needs for normal growth and development
and removes waste products.
2751/ Since the mid-1980s,
about 1 million babies in the United States have been born
to mothers who used cocaine during pregnancy, according to
the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
2752/ Low-birthweight
babies are 20 times more likely to die in their first month
of life than normal-weight babies.
2753/ According to the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), each year
between 1,300 and 8,000 babies in the United States are born
with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), a combination of physical
and mental birth defects. FAS occurs in about 6 percent of
the babies born to women who are alcoholics or chronic alcohol
abusers. These women either drink excessively throughout pregnancy
or have repeated episodes of binge drinking.
2754/ About 12 percent
of women worldwide smoke cigarettes. In developed countries,
about 15 percent of women smoke, and in developing countries,
about 8 percent smoke, according to the World Health Organization.
In the United States, about 15 to 30 percent of women smoke.
2755/ If all pregnant
women in the United States stopped smoking, there would be
an estimated 10 percent reduction in infant deaths, according
to the U.S. Public Health Service. Currently, about 12 percent
of women in the United States smoke during pregnancy.
2756/ Stem cells are
unspecialized blood cells that produce all other blood cells,
including blood-clotting platelets and red and white blood
cells.
2757/
Nearly 13 percent of all U.S. births in 1997 were to teens
(ages 15 to 19). Almost 1 million teenagers become pregnant
each year, and about 485,000 give birth.
2758/ When fetal death
occurs after 20 weeks of pregnancy, it is referred to as stillbirth.
(A fetal death prior to 20 weeks is a miscarriage.) Stillbirth
occurs in about one in 200 pregnancies.
2759/ According to the
Spina Bifida Association of America (SBAA), between 18 and
73 percent of children with spina bifida are allergic to latex
(natural rubber), possibly due to intense exposure during
surgeries and medical procedures.
2760/ Between 1980 and
2000, the number of twin births increased 74 percent, and
the number of higher order multiples (triplets or more) increased
fivefold in the United States, according to the National Center
for Health Statistics. Today, about 3 percent of babies in
the US are born in sets of two, three or more, and about 95
percent of these multiple births are twins.
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