Prescription puppies
I’d like a script for a golden retriever who loves fetch and has a super sniffer, please. Turns out, man’s best friend can be especially friendly for patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus.
jonathandavidsteele/iStock/Getty Images Plus
Dogs have been trained to detect seizures, lead the blind, and even call 9-1-1, and now they are increasingly being used as glycemia monitors for people with diabetes. Obviously, people don’t get a prescription for their helpful furry friends, but one can dream about an all-puppy pharmacy, right?
A recently published study took a look at how glycemia-alert dogs improve the quality of life of people living with type 1 diabetes, and assessed the reliability of the dogs to respond to hypo- and hyperglycemic episodes.
Researchers concluded that, overall, a trained pup’s response to these episodes is more sensitive than previously thought. In addition, researchers also found that 100% of the study participants were extremely good dogs.
Really selective hearing loss
A woman in China is experiencing something straight out of a movie – she woke up one morning and couldn’t hear men’s voices anymore. Some might say this is a tragic loss. Others might contend that she is living the dream.
Toa55/iStock/Getty Images Plus
The woman was diagnosed with reverse-slope hearing loss, a very rare type of hearing loss that makes the patient unable able to hear low-frequency sounds, such as a man’s voice. Only 1 in every 12,000 people with hearing loss has this kind, and it is most often caused by genetics.
In this case, the woman’s stress and extreme fatigue appear to be contributing factors to her newfound superpower. Her doctor expects her to make a full recovery, but I’d milk it for as long as possible: “What’s that? Something about the dishes, honey? Sorry I can’t hear what you’re saying!”