A man swimming offshore near Sydney was bitten by a two foot long Wobbegong shark. When the shark refused to let go, he swam to shore, walked to his car, and drove to the local surf club with the shark still attached. On seeing the spectacle, a lifeguard said, “There's nothing in our procedure manual for that type of thing.” The swimmer had only puncture wounds and didn't need stitches, but was given prophylactic antibiotics (http://news.bbc.co.uk/ 11 February 2004).

The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute family heart study reports in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2004;79: 213-7) its attempt to discover the true link between eating fruit and vegetables, and low density lipoprotein cholesterol. Regression models using data from almost 4500 people show that consumption of fruit and vegetables is inversely related to low density lipoprotein in both men and women, independent of age. The data are self reported, so a reporting bias may have affected the estimates of the effect.

More fruit and veg: the time bomb of obesity is being tackled in the …