Interesting things learned while surfing the web today

"Nails grow at different rates depending on the nail and on the individual. Toenails take approximately eighteen months to fully grow out. Fingernails take nine months and the fastest growing nail on your body is your middle fingernail. Infected nails grow more slowly than normal nails. Toenails grow at a rate of approximately 1cm every six months. If your nails don’t seem to be growing at all, you could have a fungal nail infection."
http://www.ie.novartis.com/pdf/Lamisil_Nailcare_Guide.pdf


"Homeopathy, a form of medicine that relies on minute amounts of herbs, minerals and other substances to stimulate a person’s natural defenses and help the body heal itself, often tames illnesses with a single dose of medicine and causes virtually no side effects, proponents say. Worldwide, homeopathy is commonly practiced in many countries, including India, Mexico and Russia. About four in every ten people in France and one in three people in En gland—including the British royal family—use homeopathy, according to the National Center for Homeopathy."
http://www.mothernature.com/Library/Bookshelf/Books/21/25.cfm


"Ear wax is good for you...If water gets in your ear canal, while you're swimming or taking a shower, for instance, the earwax will cause the water to bead up and move away from your eardrum. The natural slipperiness of the earwax encourages the water to run out of the canal. Ear wax is also slightly acidic, which discourages bacterial or fungal growth in the moist, dark ear canal. Without earwax, it would be almost impossible to avoid ear infections. The ear wax that your body produces is part of a self-cleaning system.Most people don't need to do any ear maintenance at all. The ear wax slowly migrates toward the opening of the ear canal and is sloughed off. If you want, you can take a washcloth and, using your finger; gently wash the opening of your ear."
http://www.naturalhealthweb.com/articles/currie1.html


Uses for Tea Tree Oil


"a few key important facts about ringworm.
- Ringworm (also know as Tinea) is actually a skin or scalp disease caused by fungal infections. Ringworm can be infected on scalp, body or skin, nails & feet (also commonly know as athlete’s foot). Ringworm is not worm related at all.
- Ringworm fungus will cultivate on the surface of your outer skin as well as in the dermal layers on your skin. Hence, to get rid of ringworm effectively, you need to kill the fungus on and in your skin!
This is the reason why most ringworm treatment solution you see out there don’t work! All they do is to treat the surface of your outer skin only. They don’t kill the fungus in the dermal layers of your skin! Hence, the fungus in your skin will cultivate again and ringworm would recur or relapse in a matter of weeks!"
http://www.ringworm-cure.com/index.html


"Recently scientists discovered that crocodiles have the strongest immune system in the world. They stumbled on a substance in the crocodile that can kill bacteria which is immune to standard anti-biotics. BBC News..more....
Apparently the discovery was made during the BBC filming of crocodiles. The producer noticed that despite the horrendous injuries that crocodiles inflict on each other, their wounds rarely get infected. It was decided to get a samples of the croc blood and fat. From these samples researchers have since isolated what they termed a novel anti-microbial peptide.
Tests have found that the substance kills strains of virulent bacteria that are resistant to all standard antibiotics.
“A crocodiles chilly fat may save us from disease,” a few scientists announced. They say they have definitely discovered a powerful agent in a crocodile that may one day be used to fight off infection. Natural antibiotics have been found in various animals including frogs, but now we can add crocodiles to that. ""
http://www.crocodileoil.com/


"Traditional remedies for athlete's foot include tea tree oil or crocodile oil in a topical application on the affected area. Users report instant relief from itching allowing lesions to heal. Proponents of urine therapy claim that urine is very effective at killing athlete's foot. Urea, the "active ingredient" in urine, is already used in many drugs and treatments made by pharmaceutical companies to treat athlete's foot. This controversial treatment method recommends urinating on the infected area once a day in the shower. According to supporters, urine therapy not only kills existing fungi, it prevents new fungi from growing in the infected area."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletes_foot


"Kids get lost all the time – over 2000 times each day, affecting 90% of American families. 7 out of 10 children will get lost at least once in their lives. The Department of Justice reports that there are over 1.3 million children lost or missing each year. Of these incidents, there are approximately 100 kidnappings compared to 800,000 children lost for other purposes that are not of their own will (family-related snatchings, lost for benign reasons such as wandered away, etc.). However, Wander Wear research found that 90% of the time, lost child incidents are never even reported. "
http://www.wander-wear.com/faqs.html