Posts Tagged: ‘heart’

It’s Valentine’s, and this reef says “I love you.”

See? How it made itself into the shape of a heart all by itself, to let you know it cares?

You’ll find this lovable reef off the coast of Queensland, Australia, in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area and the Whitsunday Islands. If you ask me, the Whitsunday Islands sound pretty ideal …

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The technique known as CPR (Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation) has saved thousands of lives since it was invented and promoted several decades ago. Millions of people have gone through training classes with the Red Cross and other organizations. But CPR is now getting a facelift, and it no longer requires formal training. It is now called Continuous Chest Compression (CCC), and you do not need to do the mouth-to-mouth part. Just watch this video…

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If you have been to the hospital recently, they have probably clipped a little device to your finger that made your finger glow red. The device is called a Pulse Oximeter and it is able to display the oxygen level of your blood. It is nice because it is non-invasive. How do they work?

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There was a time, back in the 1980s, when artificial hearts were big news. There was daily, front-page media attention around implantable artificial hearts. In 1982, Barney Clark received an artificial heart designed by Robert Jarvik and installed by Dr. William DeVries. Clark lasted almost four months before dying. (The Jarvik heart still exists and [...]

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So this slightly disturbing survey came out yesterday on CNN.com. The medical journal “BMC Family Practice” surveyed 722 Britons (people from England) about where various body organs where located. The participants were shown four body diagrams with the organs depicted in varying sizes and locations in the body. They were then asked to choose which one was correct, organ by organ.

Turns out only 46.5 percent could pinpoint the correct size and location of the heart. That would be the human heart. Not only that, but only 31 percent could identify the lungs, 39 percent found the stomach and 32 percent for hit the kidneys. What’s more, 589 of these folks were outpatients in a hospital. The same survey was performed in 1970 and researchers today expected better results thanks to the dawn of the information age. Unfortunately the results were about the same, despite the wonders of the Internet.

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Since the heart is a muscle, it relies on the oxygen and nutrients contained in blood. This blood is supplied by arteries on the exterior of the heart — when these arteries are blocked, a heart attack results. Take a look at our HowStuffWorks article to

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