Survival after an intentional ingestion of crushed abrus seeds.

Abrus precatorius seeds contain one of the most potent toxins known to man. However, because of the seed's outer hard coat the vast majority of ingestions cause only mild symptoms and typically results in complete recovery. If the seeds are crushed and then ingested, more serious toxicity, including death, can occur.

Increases in heart failure visits after Christmas and New Year's Day.

The authors hypothesized increased emergency department (ED) visits for heart failure (HF) during a 2-week Christmas holiday period similar to a recent study showing increased cardiac death rates. A retrospective analysis was performed from a database of 18 EDs in New Jersey and New York from January 1, 1996, to November 30, 2004, analyzing HF visits from December 1 to January 31. The authors compared the mean daily visits for the 2-week holiday period of December 25 to January 7, as well as December 26 to December 30 and January 2 to January 5, using the Student t test.