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But once the ammonia dissaptes into the atmosphere there is no lasting, negative effect. This cannot be said of HFCs and CFCs. Heck, this probably can't be said for most of the chemicals under your sink or in your auto. Farmers plow thousands of pounds of ammonia into the ground every year. Thats what I meant about environmentally safe.

With respect to the rail car, with ammonia you will think you are going to die from the pungent odor long before you suffer any ill health effects. i.e. ammonia causes lawsuits long before it causes any health problems. OSHA's Permissible Exposure Level is 50ppm. That means the average Joe could work 8 hours/day 40 hours/week for a lifetime with no ill health effects at 50ppm. To give you some referece, chopping a strong smelling onion is similar to exposure to about 10-15ppm of ammonia.

With respect to your serin gas analogy, consider water. Water is also fatal in certain quantities but I am certain that it is still environmentally safe.

Hyponatremia can be a problem, though rarely in a normal person (IIAD, BTW).

The most common scenario where I've seen symptomatic hyponatremia in a non-athlete is in a syndrome called SIADH (AKA: Syndrome of Inappropriate Anti-Diuretic Hormone). I've rarely seen it in psychiatric patients who compulsively drink massive quantities of fluids as part of their psychosis... Believe it or not, it's actually possible to drink enough water that you dilute out your electrolytes.

Anti-Diuretic Hormone is what determines the final concentration of your urine (ie. how much free water your kidneys scavenge from the filtrate in your kidneys)... it works in the kidney's distal tubules. Interestingly, ADH is inhibited by ethanol. Ever wonder how beer seems to go through you so quickly? Well, the answer is that it really doesn't... part of that massive urination is from the alcohol inhibiting ADH secretion, your kidneys start dumping free water, and you start peeing like a racehorse. The result? You get dehydrated; one of the major contributors to the discomfort of hangovers. Heh... a bag or two of IV fluids does wonders for a hangover.

Dilutional Hyponatremia is relatively easy to fix (obviously depending on severity)... just restrict fluid intake. In the case of SIADH, you also have to hunt for the cause... some lung cancers are notorious for secreting excess Anti-Diuretic Hormone.

Note that severe hyponatremia is life-threatening... you can have refractory seizures, coma, and profound mental status changes. Fixing it too quickly is also dangerous, and can cause a nasty (and permanent) condition called Central Pontine Myelinolysis... definitely not on the top-ten-diseases-to-have list.

In addition heavy metals are toxic waste. Here is a web-page devoted to Argyria -- the medical term for silver poisoning. What the heck are you doing throwing something out that is both toxic and valuable?

Yeah, iron absorption is much higher from breast milk. Also, it contains IgA (secreted antibodies from the mother).

Basically, you drink too much water (or don't pee enough) and you wind up diluting the electrolytes in your blood. This causes disruptions in the transmissions of nerve impulses, muscle contractions, etc. Like I said, very, very rare, and hard to get simply by drinking too much water. You'd have to drink insanely massive quantities in a very short period of time.

uptime is nothing to brag about, unless you're talking about your penis.

61.5 days uptime isn't something to brag about, it's a medical condition.

Ex-User. Education is the key.

Not true, check out what eMedicine has to say about LSD:
LSD also is sold as tiny tablets (microdots), thin squares of gelatin (windowpanes), liquid, or powder. It may be insufflated, smoked, injected, used sublingually, or instilled into the conjunctiva.

LSD can also be administered rectally; it's the most common non-oral form of acid administration in my experience.

...right here(scroll down to the bottom for mpeg)[warning! not for the squeamish!].

If your clot was in the portal venous system, a sedentary lifestyle should have had absolutely nothing to do with that particular thrombosis.

So they never came up with anything? Most people that get PVTs have cirrhosis (probably why they did the liver biopsy), some kind of intraabdominal infection... something.

Check out this article

What you had is extremely rare in normal people...I'm not presuming to tell you what to do; your doctor knows you better than I do. Still, you might consider following up on it sometime, just to make sure everything is kosher.

Cyanide facts:

There are 0.6 mg/g hydrogen cyanide (HCN) in dried apple seeds. Cite

Natural cyanide is called Amygdalin, chemically it is bonded to a glucose and readily converts to hydrogen cyanide in the body. Herbal places sell it as a miracle cure for cancer. "Amygdalin Tablets & Ampoules www.cytopharma.com" This was an ad that came up during a google search related to cyanide.

50 to 100 mg of cyanide is a lethal dose. Cite

This is about a half-cup to a full cup (80-160grams) of dried apple seeds.

An interesting site on cyanide.

Related:
Smoking of cigarettes commonly releases cyanide. Tobacco smokers have a mean blood cyanide level of 0.4 mcg/cc, which is 2.5 times greater than the level in nonsmokers. Cite

Cyanide facts:

There are 0.6 mg/g hydrogen cyanide (HCN) in dried apple seeds. Cite

Natural cyanide is called Amygdalin, chemically it is bonded to a glucose and readily converts to hydrogen cyanide in the body. Herbal places sell it as a miracle cure for cancer. "Amygdalin Tablets & Ampoules www.cytopharma.com" This was an ad that came up during a google search related to cyanide.

50 to 100 mg of cyanide is a lethal dose. Cite

This is about a half-cup to a full cup (80-160grams) of dried apple seeds.

An interesting site on cyanide.

Related:
Smoking of cigarettes commonly releases cyanide. Tobacco smokers have a mean blood cyanide level of 0.4 mcg/cc, which is 2.5 times greater than the level in nonsmokers. Cite

You might want to check up on new/upcoming surgeries which provide "super vision" - these new techniques correct for much finer imperfections in the cornea, making the limiting factor the quality of your retina. Also, supposedly this surgery does away with the risk of night vision haloing (It actually looks to improve night vision). Here's a couple of links -

Good Introduction
Super Technical

This is the stuff I'm waiting for.

I never understood why they chose that name for a car.

I did a little book-ish research on Botox last month. Here's what I found.

Botox is basically botulism toxin. Botulism works by imparing nerves from sending neurotransmitters, so your muscles don't work; when your muscles don't work, you can't breathe and you die from asphyxiation. Nice, huh?

Botox is a dilute protein extract of botulism. When injected under the skin, it works by paralyzing your muscles, thereby unabling the muscles from forming new wrinkles (I couldn't find how it actually erases existant wrinkles). I'm not terribly surprised people have fewer headaches, as it blocks nerve signals, although not sensory nerves.

The "problem" with Botox is that its effects disappear after a few months, so a fresh set of injections is needed.

Botox isn't new; as the article says, it's been used for a few years for treatment of other muscle problems, including palsies.

Check out some articles:

Botox

this one on botulism and medicinal uses

the product's site

Europe's Botox equivalent, Dysport

a nice technical pdf on botulism

a sort of faq-like series on botulism and Botox

Who needs smart tags? emedicine.com aleady does this. Just click on an "unexplained term" and a dictionary meaning pops up. Check it out in this Capral Tunnel article.

(btw, I am stuck with IE at work, ymmv...)

I agree, especically in this case, where a blood disorder could lead to leukemia. Also, it is worth noting that pediatric leukemia has a 70% cure rate (see here for example). Now I admit, chemotherapy for a child (or anyone) is unpleasant, but dealing with these sorts of adversities is what makes families closer together and is an important part of the human experience (IMHO, btw).

Where do you draw the line? If the disease is merely unpleasant but not life threatening, is that a situation where a technique like this could be applied? I am amazed at the scientific acheivement, but at the same time, I am concerned about the "slippery slope".