autopsy-related stories
Cause of death in for UCF football player
Finally, autopsy results are in for University of Central Florida football player Ereck Plancher, who died during spring drills in March -- see previous post here. The cause of death: A pre-existing medical condition worsened by physical stress.The Orange County Medical Examiner's Office said Plancher, 19, had a sickle cell trait that caused problems with his red blood cells during physical exertion. Apparently, Plancher's heart began beating abnormally, and blood flow to the wide receiver's muscles and organs slowed or stopped. There was no evidence of trauma or illegal drugs or toxins in Plancher's body.
UCF school official says the health of students is top priority. And they may need to do a little investigating -- about a month after Plancher's death, the Orlando Sentinel reported that a group of anonymous students indicated the football player was struggling during practice, that perhaps the coach was singling out Plancher for not trying hard enough. The coach and the school say the newspaper's report is false.
A diet of waffles and sausages?
Diet & Weight Loss, Fitness, Nutrition & Supplements
The oldest living Californian, George Johnson, died this week at the age of 112. Johnson was born in 1894 in Philadelphia and moved to California with his wife in 1919. In 1935, they built a house in the city of Richmond, in Northern California, which Johnson continued to live in up until his death. As amazing as his life undoubtedly was, the thing that has people rehashing his story is that his diet, at least in his later years, consisted primarily of waffles and sausages.
The cause of his death was pneumonia and an autopsy was conducted, with the permission of his family, to see if science could gain some insight into his longevity and whether there was anything beneficial about his diet.
A researcher from UCLA who participated in the autopsy reported that "all of his organs were extremely youthful. They could have been the organs of someone who was 50 or 60, not 112" and ultimately, Johnson's good health was chalked up to good genes. But it surely couldn't hurt to have an extra waffle every once in a while - just in case.























