THE FEET CAN MEASURE THE HEIGHT ( Forensics )

The bones of the feet can tell a lot about a person. What do feet reveal about a person's height? Forensic anthropologists team up with law enforcers to help solve crimes.

Bones of the feet can reveal an interesting fact about an individual. Let's combine math with forensics to see how.

Create a spreadsheet.

List the individuals name, height, and foot length.

Have some adults remove their shoes and measure their height.

Measure the length of the adult's left foot from the wall to the tip of the big toe.

Examine the numbers. Do you see a pattern?

Divide the length of each person's left foot by his/her height. Multiply the quotient by 100. What do you get? You may also want to use the calculator on a computer for this activity.

The results of your calculations should be about 15, illustrating that the length of a person's foot is approximately 15 percent of his or her height.

Find out the approximate height of each of your classmates by measuring their foot and charting it on a spreadsheet. Use this proporation for your calculations: 15/100 = Length of Foot/x (person's height)

When a forensic scientist has the length of a foot, the forensic scientist will be able to approximate the height of the individual. This works best on a full grown individual for the ratio of body parts is slightly different in growing children.

Reference Cyberbee

Sterile environments anything but routine

"There is no such thing as a sterile operating room environment," said Dale Bratzler, MD, of the Oklahoma Foundation for Medical Quality, who helped write national guidelines for reducing infection after surgery. "We make things as clean as possible, but most hospital surfaces still contain bacteria."

This chilling quote comes from a November Boston Globe article about a series of infections at a New England hospital. One of the infections may have been responsible for a patient's death. And this hospital, it should be noted, has a national reputation for an aggressive approach to infection control, according to the article.

In the situation cited in the Globe, the surgeon unknowingly had a staphylococcal infection, which went into his nose. The bacteria then went through his surgical mask and into the patient's lower back through the incision.

Podiatry Source Journal : Foot care

Foot care is quite essential, even for those holidaying and relaxing at beaches and resorts in Southern Europe for the winter. If taking the occasional walk on the beach or a leisurely swim in the ocean is the extent of your vacation activity, be sure to listen to your feet. The following footcare tips are by Steve Kite will help you to live enjoy yourself safely when travelling in Southern Europe.
Always wear shoes or sandals while walking on sand, in order to prevent foot injuries from hot sand and objects that may be hidden beneath the sand. Make sure your sandals are well secured too, especially around the ankle.
Be sure to apply sunscreen to feet while basking in the sun; the skin on the feet is very sensitive and needs to be protected against the sun's harmful rays and you should wear a sunscreen no less that 30 Spf.
When buying sandals, be sure to look for ones that are comfortable and have plenty of arch support to prevent foot problems such as tired, achy feet and corns, calluses and blisters. . Fungus infections, which are responsible for Athlete's Foot, thrive in warm, moist environments including pool decks.

Podiatry Source Journal : Agility

Agility:In sport, agility is characterised by fast feet, body coordination during change of direction and sports skill performance, and reaction time/ ability. It is an amalgam of balance, speed, strength, flexibility and coordination. Although a performer’s agility relies heavily on the acquisition of optimum sports technique, it can also be enhanced by specific conditioning.

A variety of performance-enhancing agility drills, systems and items of equipment are available to the sportsmen of today and their coaches. The ‘science’ of agility (and speed and power) training has made rapid strides recently, especially in terms of its accessibility to the mainstream sporting world.

Podiatry Source Journal : Foot Ulcers

Foot Ulcers
A 31-year-old man from northern Ontario had acute swelling, purpura and pain in his left lateral forefoot region, which increased progressively over 10 weeks until he became bedridden. A clinical diagnosis of gout was made, but the pain did not improve with NSAIDs. One month later, a small pustule developed that progressed to an ulcer with purulent drainage. On presentation 1 month later, his left foot was swollen, and the lateral forefoot was exquisitely tender to palpation. A 2-cm ulcer, which probed to bone, was present on the lateral aspect of the foot (Fig. 1). The patient was afebrile, and findings on general medical and pulmonary examinations were unremarkable. A plain radiograph of the foot revealed dystrophic calcification in the soft tissues, with osteopenia and periosteal reaction along the fifth metatarsal bone consistent with active osteomyelitis (Fig. 2). The chest radiograph appeared normal.