Third-degree burns require medical attention
Getting the third degree from an angry spouse is nothing compared with getting a third-degree burn.
In the United States, about 2 million people a year need medical attention for burns and scalds, according to the Higuchi Biosciences Center and the Drug Information Center at Kansas University.
First-degree burns, which affect only the outer layer of skin, heal quickly. Second-degree burns cause blisters and can take up to two weeks to heal.
Third-degree burns can turn skin black and leathery. They destroy all layers of skin. Hospitalization can last for days, weeks or longer.
FDA approves pocket-sized electrocardiogram machine
The government approved the first pocket-sized EKG machine this week, so small that it promises easier, faster heart measurements in ambulances, the emergency room even a possible heart attack victim's bedroom.
It's also the first hand-held computer-based medical device, part of a growing trend to miniaturize some of medicine's most important equipment.
Electrocardiograms, also called EKGs or ECGs, are recordings of the heart's electrical signals used to diagnose heart attacks, irregular heartbeats and other cardiac problems.
The new PocketView ECG, right, works just as well as full-size electrocardiograph machines, the Food and Drug Administration determined but is the size of a handheld computer.
In fact, it's actually made from a Compaq hand-held personal digital assistant. Manufacturer MicroMedical Industries embedded that off-the-shelf PDA with miniaturized versions of the software and hardware that run full-size EKG machines.
Twelve leads the electrodes that stick to the chest and record electric currents during each heartbeat plug into a wire that in turn plugs into the top of the device.
The result is a machine that health workers can use to record EKGs anywhere the patient happens to be.
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