“I think it’s really important to take the stigma away from mental health. ... My brain and my heart are really important to me. I don’t know why I wouldn’t seek help to have those things be as healthy as my teeth?”This week in 1861, English biochemist Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins was born.
Hopkins fed young rats a basic diet which, in addition to the necessary salts, contained a carefully purified mixture of lard, starch and casein . After some time, the animals ceased to grow. Then Hopkins demonstrated that it was only necessary to add a very small daily amount of whole milk to their diet for growth to recommence, proving that the presence of other nutrients in the milk was necessary for growth and health.
Writing in the Journal of Trauma in 1984, a doctor reviewed four years of trauma admissions at the Provincial Hospital in Alotau, Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea. He determined that 2.5 percent were due to being struck by falling coconuts, and because coconuts can weigh up to 10 pounds and fall from trees as high as 100 feet, the impact when hitting a person’s head can exceed 1 metric ton.
Four cases of patients with coconut-caused head injuries were described. Two required craniotomies, a surgical operation opening the skull to relieve internal pressure from bleeding and swelling, and two died instantly.