Last Gasp ========= Rank of doctors among professions with most bacteria in their work environments: 5 Rank of accountants: 2 No. of spoons an office lunch room will have to buy in a year to ensure always having 70 on hand: 250 No. of vacation days taken by the average Canadian worker in 2006: 19 No. of vacation days taken by the average French worker in 2006: 39 Estimated number of hours the Canadian economy loses annually due to insomnia: 48 000 000 Percentage increase in 10-pin bowling scores attained by subjects exposed to the scent of jasmine: 27 No. of percentage points by which each daughter in a family raises the likelihood of parents voting for a left-leaning political party: 2 Percentage of liberal women who say they dream about same-sex encounters: 14 Percentage of conservative women who say so: 4 No. of seconds it takes a university-age man to become sexually aroused when exposed to pornography: 30 No. of seconds it takes a university-age woman: 30 Proportion of Canadian women who say, in a first encounter with a man, that they prize wit over looks: 3/4 Proportion of Canadian men who say, in a first encounter with a woman, that they prize looks over intelligence: 3/5 Percentage by which the human head and face have shrunk over the past 10 000 years: 30 No. of years younger an affluent, 40-something married woman who has avoided excessive sun exposure will appear compared to a single, jobless woman who has devoted too much time to tanning: 7.2 No. of years younger an affluent, 40-something married man with no more than 3 children will appear as compared with a single, jobless man who has reduced his body mass index by 2 points: 10 Average number of years it would take a person eating a raw egg a day to fall ill with salmonella poisoning: 55 No. of excess cancer deaths per 100 000 people who eat farmed salmon: 24 Reduction in number of deaths from heart disease per 100 000 people among those who regularly eat any kind of salmon: 7125 Gallons of water it takes to produce 250 g of beef: 8000 No. of grams of salt in a Big Mac served in Canada: 2.55 No. of grams of salt in a Big Mac served in Portugal: 0.50 Percentage of Canadians, given current sodium intake, who will develop hypertension: 95 Average weight of an American woman, age 20–29, in 1960, in kg: 64 Average weight of an American woman, age 20–29, today, in kg: 77 Average weight of a Montreal Canadiens hockey player in 1917, in kg: 75 Average weight of a Montreal Canadiens hockey player in 2003, in kg: 92 Percentage of American Baptists who are considered obese: 30 Percentage of Canadian Baby Boomers who are considered obese: 30 Percentage of Americans with no religious affiliation who are considered obese: 6 Percentage increase in hip and knee replacement surgeries 1995–2005: 87 Percentage of patients receiving artificial knees who were overweight or obese: 87 Percentage of Canadians who believe their weight has little or no effect on their heart health: 58 Percentage increase in positive health outcomes of heart-bypass surgery patients being prayed for by others: 0 Percentage of Canadians who listen to a weather report before leaving home: 93 Percentage increase in heart attacks for every 10-degree drop in temperature: 13 No. of polar bears resident in the Greater Toronto Area who succumbed to West Nile virus in 2006: 1 *Compiled by David McDonald, an Ottawa filmmaker and writer.* ## Footnotes * A list of sources is available at [www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/175/12/1648/DC1](http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/175/12/1648/DC1)