UF Health Podcasts

The New World screwworm (NWS) is forecast to reach the United States later this year. Eradicated from the country in 1966, this flesh-eating parasitic fly affects all warm-blooded mammals and animals, has the potential to cause massive harm to the livestock industry, and would cost millions, potentially billions, of dollars to eradicate again. Animal owners throughout the southern U.S. are urged to stay vigilant to identify potential cases. In this episode, Dr. Sally Denotta, UF Veterinary Medicine equine medicine specialist, and Dr. Ted Burgess, UF/IFAS veterinary entomologist, discuss the NWS, what to look for in identifying a screwworm infection and who to call if they suspect their animals or livestock may be affected.

Baseball, hot dogs and apple pie. Does it get any better?

Perhaps unsurprisingly, these American summertime staples aren’t the best for your health — especially when it comes to the humble hot dog.

A study published in Nature Medicine emphasizes that there is no safe amount of processed meat to eat. In fact, nutrition experts say that the habitual eating of processed meat leads to an elevated risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, ischemic heart disease and colorectal cancer.

The cost of eating one hot dog a day is a steep one, equaling an 11% greater risk of Type 2 diabetes and a 7% increased risk of colorectal cancer compared with those who don’t eat any.

The fizzy companion of most processed meat meals is no stranger to health complications, either. Even one 12-ounce soda per day can be linked to an 8% increase in Type 2 diabetes risk.

There are several reasons why these foods are associated with health issues. Sugary beverages and processed meat, which includes bacon, salami and burgers, can increase inflammation, which plays a big part in a variety of chronic diseases.

These foods can also contain trans fatty acids, which reduce your good cholesterol and increase the bad type. This leads to the risk of plaque buildup in your arteries and heart disease.

If you’re worried about avoiding what we’ve come to know as the good stuff, there are plenty of tasty alternative options. Roasted vegetables pack a savory punch, and smoothies heavy on fruit are an easy way to visit some of the most nutrient dense tiers of the food pyramid.

An occasional hot dog won’t be the end of the world, but you might find you miss them less and less.

In the 1940s, comic book ads urged “97-pound weaklings” to spend 10 cents on bodybuilder Charles Atlas’ famed workout, bulk up and defend themselves against musclebound beach bullies.

Some 85 years later, it seems young men, especially, still feel intense pressure to sport a muscular physique.

A University of Westminster researcher wrote recently that a social media culture that pushes the idea of having a perfect body via exercise, diet and supplements is leading some to a new kind of disordered eating.

Muscularity oriented disordered eating, or Mode, is a set of problematic eating habits hyperfocused on building muscle. It mostly affects young men and, like anorexia or bulimia, can have serious negative consequences.

Social media produces endless “fitspiration” content, often made by those selling muscle-building supplements, diets or workouts.

Mode-disordered eating includes binging and orthorexia nervosa, a pathological focus on “healthy eating.”

One U.S. study from 2022 showed that more than 80% of male college students reported having used whey protein powders or shakes and more than 50% had used creatine monohydrate, a muscle-building supplement.

Other research estimates that between 3 and 4 million American men have used anabolic-androgenic steroids. That’s synthetic testosterone.

Not all workouts require a protein boost and not all protein supplements are good for you.

It’s a safe bet that most men who sent away for a Charles Atlas workout back in the day didn’t become bodybuilders. And likely, neither will most who guzzle protein shakes today.

Maybe the biggest threat isn’t a sand-kicking bully, but our own egos.

A fluffy, long-necked cousin of the camel might be the key to protecting against SARS-like viruses. Yes, you heard that correctly.

In a new study from researchers in Belgium, a team discovered a special antibody that could help protect against a wide range of SARS coronaviruses, including variants of COVID-19.

But what makes these antibodies different? For starters, they’re tiny. And they come from llamas — specifically, one named Winter.

These llama antibodies are much smaller than human antibodies. Appropriately referred to as nanobodies, the tiny protectors pack a big punch. Instead of going after parts of the virus that constantly mutate, like the receptor binding site of a spike protein, the part of the virus that enables it to infect human cells, these nanobodies take a different approach. They latch onto a hidden, essential section at the base of the spike protein. This section is vital because the virus can’t change it without weakening itself.

One way to think about it is to consider these nanobodies like clamps. Once attached, they lock the spike protein into a closed shape, stopping the virus from fusing with and entering human cells. Thus far, they have worked in lab animals at low doses, making it difficult for a virus needing to mutate to escape. Notably, the few successful variants that did escape were less infectious.

While most antibodies are outmaneuvered by new variants, these llama-derived nanobodies might just be one step ahead. By targeting a stable, hard-to-mutate region, researchers say they offer a promising path toward long-lasting antiviral therapies.

How’s that for interspecies collaboration?

Much like the belief that artists must suffer for their craft, the idea that left-handed people are born brimming with more creativity than their right-handed counterparts has endured for decades. Now, a new analysis from Cornell University suggests this urban legend is just that — more myth than fact.

After analyzing over a century of studies on handedness and creativity, researchers found no solid evidence that lefties have an edge in creative thinking. In fact, in some lab tests, right-handed individuals scored slightly higher. And when researchers looked at careers that demand the most creativity, like writing, architecture and design, righties were overrepresented.

So why has the lefty-creativity link held on for so long? Well, the study points to a few likely culprits. One is what researchers call “left-handed exceptionalism,” or the idea that rare traits, like being left-handed and being a creative genius, must somehow go together.

Another is the romanticized “tortured artist” stereotype. Since the study found lefties are more likely to work in the arts and to experience conditions like depression or schizophrenia, it’s tempting to connect the dots.

But like most things that come together too easily, those faulty links are a classic case of cherry-picking, according to the study. By focusing on a handful of left-handed painters and musicians and ignoring the broader data, people draw the wrong conclusion. When you zoom out and look at many kinds of jobs, study authors said, the supposed creative advantage disappears.

The takeaway? Being left-handed doesn’t make you more creative. It just makes you, well, left-handed. And sometimes, that’s all there is to it.

The summer sun is beating down on you as you wipe the sweat from your brow. You passed thirsty a mile ago and you’re headed straight for parched. You need liquid — fast.

Your first thought is a cool glass of water. It’s tried, true and certainly reliable. But is that your best option?

Researchers from St. Andrews University in Scotland believe otherwise.

While the study found that water, both still and sparkling, offers quick hydration, certain drinks with a slight amount of sugar, fat or protein perform a more adequate job of replenishing us for longer.

It all has to do with how our bodies digest. The more liquid you drink, the faster it empties from your stomach before being absorbed into your bloodstream.

Another aspect to consider is a beverage’s nutrient composition. In the case of milk, for example, the study found it to be more hydrating than water because it contains a sugar (lactose), protein and fat. These three elements digest slowly and lead to longer-lasting hydration, rather than the tidal wave of rapid absorption associated with drinking water.

You might be wondering how sugar-heavy drinks, like fruit juices and sodas, measure up. Yes, the sugar spends more time in your stomach compared with unmodified water, but its contents and calories don’t fill us up nearly as well. Avoid these beverages, along with alcohol, which acts as a diuretic, causing you to urinate more.

Though more sobering than a martini, caffeine has a similar impact on hydration. More than 300 milligrams of coffee could cause a short-term diuretic effect, leading to lost fluids.

So as the summer ends, consider what you choose to quench your thirst. And if you panic, a glass of water will still do the trick.

The University of Florida’s Veterinary Community Outreach Program provides valuable synergy between veterinary education and supporting local animal welfare. Veterinary students gain crucial hands-on surgical and medical experience while simultaneously offering services that reduce pet overpopulation, improve shelter animal health, facilitate adoptions and educate the community on responsible pet ownership. On this archived episode, Dr. Simone Guerios will discuss how the program benefits not only the students’ clinical training but also the local sheltering community.

Summertime is a great time to get outdoors, go hiking and explore nature. Kids are out of school and vacation season is in full swing.

But so is the heat.

High temperatures are no joke and can make any hike dangerous — even deadly. Each year, multiple people die from heat exhaustion during hikes and hundreds more are rescued.

By taking a few safety precautions to heart, you can greatly reduce your chances of injury or death when hiking in hot temperatures.

Be prepared physically. If you know will be undertaking a long, strenuous hike, be confident that you are in good enough physical shape to complete the trek. You can acclimate to the heat by taking shorter, low-impact hikes in warm weather and gradually work up to more difficult hikes in hot weather.

Hikers should also know their sweat rate, which can be determined by weighing yourself before and after a hike. Experts say you shouldn’t lose more than 2% of your body weight during a hike.

Speaking of sweating — an abundant amount of water is critical in high temperatures. A water filter and electrolytes, in the form of tablets or drinks, can also help replace salt and minerals lost from perspiration.

Hikers should wear light, loose clothing to help prevent sunburn and keep body temperatures down. Experts recommend bringing a fully charged phone, extra battery and a friend if possible.

It can be easy to underestimate just how challenging a hike can be when temperatures soar. The reward doesn’t outweigh the risk.

And don’t ignore what your instinct tells you. If you think it’s too hot to hike, turn back.

If you’ve ever swatted a fly, it’s unlikely you wondered before or after the act, “Do flies feel pain?” Scientists think they do, in a sense.

And this fact might help a species that doesn’t sport wings — humans.

Australian researchers discovered that fruit flies that have lost a leg begin to behave as if they are suffering pain. Injured flies will jump frantically off surfaces that wouldn’t normally trigger their escape response.

This behavior shows the fly sensing and avoiding what it perceives as stimuli that can be dangerous. Researchers say it mimics a state of chronic pain.

It isn’t the exact equivalent of human pain. But it’s close.

The heightened escape response even occurred when scientists stimulated the opposite, healthy leg. That made scientists think the fly’s chronic pain response was tied to their central nervous system, not the site of the injury. This, too, is true in humans.

Researchers discovered that the injury triggered the death of cells in the fly’s nervous system that worked to keep the insect’s pain responses in check. They learned that if they kept these specialized cells alive, the flies did not develop this chronic pain-mimicking response.

The biological mechanisms involved in a fly’s chronic pain are similar to those seen in humans. Scientists think that compounds and proteins involved in producing the fruit fly’s response might someday be used to alleviate suffering in people.

Which, when you think about it, is pretty good work for an insect that tends to spend most of its time investigating the clump of bananas you forgot about on your kitchen counter.

Some people swear by the keto diet. Others can’t make it past lunchtime without a carb-heavy snack. We know weight loss is far from a one-size-fits-all approach. Now, a new review of nearly 100 clinical trials is evaluating how certain methods measure up against each other.

Of note? Intermittent fasting, where you eat within a specific window of time, might work just as well as traditional calorie counting.

Researchers looked at data from more than 6,500 adults and found that all forms of intermittent fasting, like time-restricted eating, whole-day fasting and alternate-day fasting, led to small drops in weight and corresponding improvements in heart health markers. But one method stood out: alternate-day fasting.

This approach, which involves fasting every other day, showed slightly better weight loss results than both standard calorie restriction and other fasting methods.

Still, there’s a catch. Even the best-performing diets didn’t quite hit the minimum threshold for “clinically important” weight loss, which the study defined as about 4.4 pounds. And when it came to other health markers like blood sugar or “good” cholesterol, no clear winner emerged.

What’s more, most trials were short, about 12 weeks on average, and varied widely in quality. So, while the early results are promising, they’re not definitive.

The take home? Yes, intermittent fasting might work just as well as counting calories, and alternate-day fasting could offer a slight edge. But don’t ditch your diet just yet. The best plan is still the one you can stick with … and one that supports sustainable change.