Category: Medical
Freddy Flossisaurus
Cheap stuffed puppet: $10.00
Fake dentures from gag shop: $5.00
Toothbrush: $1.00
Total cost of teaching device: $16.00, max. And that's paying retail!
So why does Freddy Flossisaurus cost $316.00 at this medical-supply site!?!
The Surprise Question
In medicine the "surprise question" has a specific meaning. It refers to when a doctor asks himself this question: "Would I be surprised if this patient died in the next year?"A recent study published in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology found that the surprise question has high predictive value. Doctors classified 147 dialysis patients into "yes" and "no" groups on the basis of the surprise question. (i.e. No, I wouldn't be surprised if they died.) Sure enough, the No group died within the next year at a rate 3.5 times higher than the Yes group.
Conclusion: "The 'surprise' question is effective in identifying sicker dialysis patients who have a high risk for early mortality and should receive priority for palliative care interventions."
Foot in Brain
A colorado surgeon found a tiny foot, hand, thigh, and parts of an intestine growing inside the brain of a 3-day-old baby. DenverChannel.com has a picture of the brain-foot.It's not clear whether this was a case of "fetus in fetu" (a fetus growing inside its twin) or fetiform teratoma (a kind of tumor).
Wikipedia has a good article on Teratomas, noting that teratomas have been reported to contain "hair, teeth, bone and very rarely more complex organs such as eyeball, torso, and hand." There was even one case of a mature teratoma being "reported to contain a rudimentary beating heart."
For your entertainment, here's a photo (from Wikipedia) of a cystic teratoma containing hair.
Posted By: Alex | Date: Thu Dec 18, 2008 | Permalink |
Comments (9)
Category: Babies, Body Modifications, Medical
Category: Babies, Body Modifications, Medical
Self-Embedding Disorder
Teenagers have discovered a new method of screwing themselves up. Cutting and poisoning themselves is no longer enough. The new fad is to deliberately embed objects in their flesh. Doctors report that they've removed a variety of embedded objects from the arms, hands, feet, ankles and necks of teenage girls. These objects include: needles, staples, wood, stone, glass, pencil lead, crayon, and an unfolded metal paper clip more than 6 inches long.In cases of self-embedding disorder, objects are used to puncture the skin or are forced into a wound after cutting... At least two teens have disclosed instances of self-embedding, said Terry Ciszek, the hospital's director for outpatient services. Both girls had intentionally inserted pencils under their skin and then broke off the lead to keep it lodged there.
Goes without saying that the teenagers doing this have a lot of mental health issues. Link: Chicago Tribune
(I'm pretty sure someone forwarded us this link, but I can't remember who it was. Thank you, whoever you are!)
Piblokto
File this under Weird Medical Conditions. Piblokto is the Eskimo word for Arctic Hysteria. From Wikipedia:Symptoms can include intense hysteria (screaming, uncontrolled wild behavior), depression, coprophagia [feces eating], insensitivity to extreme cold (such as running around in the snow naked), echolalia (senseless repetition of overheard words) and more. This condition is most often seen in Eskimo women. This culture-bound syndrome is possibly linked to vitamin A toxicity (hypervitaminosis A). The native Eskimo diet provides rich sources of vitamin A and is possibly the cause or a causative factor.
From a 1965 newspaper article:
Scientists (lucky enough to see Eskimos with piblokto) listed these characteristics:
"Tearing off clothing.
"Fleeing, nude or otherwise, across ice and snow.
"Rolling in snow.
"Jumping into icy water.
"Picking up loose objects and tossing them in the air.
"Kicking all sorts of loose objects, particularly dogs.
"Tearing off clothing.
"Fleeing, nude or otherwise, across ice and snow.
"Rolling in snow.
"Jumping into icy water.
"Picking up loose objects and tossing them in the air.
"Kicking all sorts of loose objects, particularly dogs.
Between Piblokto and Windigo Psychosis the Arctic sounds like a great place to spend some time.
Couvade Syndrome
Wikipedia offers this definition of Couvade Syndrome:Couvade syndrome is a medical/mental condition which "involves a father experiencing some of the behavior of his wife at near the time of childbirth, including her birth pains, postpartum seclusion, food restrictions, and sex taboos".
Another term for it is a sympathetic pregnancy. But some cultures take the concept a step further. From The Art of Folly by Paul Tabori:
In Brazil the new father is deliberately made ill. They use the sharp teeth of the aguti to gash his body. Then the wounds are washed with poisonously burning tobacco juice or a liquid in which black pepper has been mixed. The "father/mother" suffers duly while playing his strange role. In some other tribes he is subjected to a strict diet, not for days, but for weeks, during which he gets so little to eat that he becomes skin-and-bone. Among the Vaga-Vaga tribe, for instance, he is forbidden to eat bananas, coconuts, mangoes, sugar cane, poultry, pork, and dog meat.
No dog meat. That's rough. But my favorite Couvade ritual comes from the Huichol Indian tribe:
During traditional childbirth, the father sits above his labouring wife on the roof of their hut. Ropes are tied around his testicles and his wife holds onto the other ends. Each time she feels a painful contraction, she tugs on the ropes so that her husband will share some of the pain of their child's entrance into the world.
The thumbnail shows a yarn drawing owned by the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco that depicts this ritual.
Brain Worms
Brain worms can be contracted by eating undercooked pork, as well as by coming into contact with someone who has worm eggs in their body and who hasn't washed their hands.But the good news about brain worms is that they're generally less dangerous than having a brain tumor. Which is why a Phoenix-area woman was relieved when her brain tumor turned out to be a brain worm. The reason I'm posting this on Weird Universe: because Fox 10 Chattanooga has a video of the worm being removed (still alive) from her brain.
Posted By: Alex | Date: Thu Nov 20, 2008 | Permalink |
Comments (9)
Category: Health, Disease, Medical
Category: Health, Disease, Medical
Epidemics
Some epidemics recently in the news, in declining order of magnitude (and importance):• The world is facing a global diabetes epidemic.
• The United States is realizing it has an epidemic of obesity.
• Great Britain is in the throes of a whiplash epidemic.
• Toronto has been hit by a bed bug epidemic.
• Plattsburgh, N.Y. complains that it has an epidemic of public urination. They say, "It happens all the time throughout the city streets, especially in the early morning hours after the local bars close."
Fonzarelli Syndrome
A 77-year-old man presented with a 1-year history of upper limb rest tremor, rigidity, and bradykinesia. He reported focal dystonia affecting the right thumb over the preceding 7 years, resulting in a constant "thumbs up" gesture reminiscent of the fictional television character Arthur Fonzarelli. Subsequent levodopa therapy reduced his bradykinesia and rigidity, but did not ameliorate the dystonia.
While foot dystonia is a common feature in late Parkinson disease (PD), dystonia may precede the development of PD by several years. Writer's cramp has been described as an early manifestation, with extension of the great toe also noted (the striatal foot).
While foot dystonia is a common feature in late Parkinson disease (PD), dystonia may precede the development of PD by several years. Writer's cramp has been described as an early manifestation, with extension of the great toe also noted (the striatal foot).
Medical Museum
Posted By: Paul | Date: Mon Nov 03, 2008 | Permalink |
Comments (15)
Category: Medical, Museums, Birth Control
Category: Medical, Museums, Birth Control
Category: Body, Education, Medical, Toys