The Medical Thread

I need a plausible official medical name for a fictional condition that has a congenital form and a non-congenital form (the latter involving Body Horror-esque Painful Transformation), with the same end result of giving the afflicted person a natural Glasgow Grin a la Mileena in Mortal Kombat X (samples: [1] [2]◊ [3]◊ [4]◊ [5]◊).

edited 19th May '15 11:46:21 AM by MarqFJA

Genes may influence leadership in the workplace: "A researcher has found that the dopamine transporter gene DAT1 can have both positive and negative effects on leadership in the workplace. The researchers found that people who had the 10-repeat allele in the dopamine transporter were most likely to engage in adolescent mild rule-breaking behavior, which is positively associated with leadership. Such mild rule-breaking behavior may include actions such as skipping class, but it is not serious deviant behavior such as shooting."

Cancer drugs may hold key to treating Down syndrome and other brain disorders: "A class of FDA-approved cancer drugs may be able to prevent problems with brain cell development associated with disorders including Down syndrome and Fragile X syndrome, researchers have found."

Study may explain mysterious cancer–day care connection: "For years, scientists have noticed an interesting pattern of cancer among children. Those who went to day care early in life were less likely to later develop the most common childhood cancer: acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Now, a 7-year study appears to have unraveled the molecular mechanism driving ALL. The work may explain why early exposure to infections in places such as day cares seems to protect against the disease and why unrelated vaccines help guard against this cancer."

Hi! I've got a story-related question: What kind of injuries are most likely to happen if the driver of a motorcycle were to throw themselves off their motorcycle in a controlled manner, following the proper techniques of falling to minimize damage? I'm thinking about 50 to 60 km/h on a dirtroad. Also, what kind of treatment would be needed?

Well, there's a reason why leather jackets are so popular for cyclists, it helps protect against road rash for one.

New light on impact of video gaming on the brain: "Video gamers now spend a collective three billion hours per week in front of their screens. In fact, it is estimated that the average young person will have spent some 10,000 hours gaming by the time they are 21. The effects of intense video gaming on the brain are only beginning to be understood. New research shows that while video game players exhibit more efficient visual attention abilities, they are also much more likely to use navigation strategies that rely on the brain's reward system."

After watching part of the documentary Sicko today, I talked to someone about Obamacare, and they told me how health insurance costs rose for her entire family, and she had to hold off treatment of an issue because of that.

I'm wondering how that happened.

Does Hypercynodontic macrostomia sound like an accurate official name within professional medical/scientific circles for the condition I've described here? "Hypercynodontic" is supposed to represent how almost all of the teeth have become essentially exaggerated canine teeth.

I figured assuming the right sort of equipment, jackets, helmets and such was a given, though perhaps I should have mentioned that.. Anything else?

They'd get scratched up, at the very least.

Blood to feeling: Scientists turn adult human blood cells into neurons: "Stem cell scientists can now directly convert adult human blood cells to both central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) neurons as well as neurons in the peripheral nervous system (rest of the body) that are responsible for pain, temperature and itch perception. This means that how a person's nervous system cells react and respond to stimuli, can be determined from his blood."

Hiding your true colors may make you feel morally tainted: "The advice, whether from Shakespeare or a modern self-help guru, is common: Be true to yourself. New research suggests that this drive for authenticity — living in accordance with our sense of self, emotions, and values — may be so fundamental that we actually feel immoral and impure when we violate our true sense of self. This sense of impurity, in turn, may lead us to engage in cleansing or charitable behaviors as a way of clearing our conscience."

Infections can affect your IQ: "New research shows that infections can impair your cognitive ability measured on an IQ scale. The study is the largest of its kind to date, and it shows a clear correlation between infection levels and impaired cognition."

Cold weather kills far more people than hot weather: "Cold weather kills 20 times as many people as hot weather, according to an international study analyzing over 74 million deaths in 384 locations across 13 countries. The findings also reveal that deaths due to moderately hot or cold weather substantially exceed those resulting from extreme heat waves or cold spells."

The woman who looked at faces and saw dragons: "In July 2011, a woman presented at a psychiatric clinic in the Netherlands reporting something truly bizarre: for her entire life she’d seen multiple peoples’ faces change into dragon-like faces - an hallucination that occurred many times a day."

Bacteria cooperate to repair damaged siblings: "A certain type of soil bacteria can use their social behavior of outer membrane exchange to repair damaged cells and improve the fitness of the bacteria population as a whole, new research demonstrates. This is the first evidence that a bacterium can use cell-content sharing to repair damaged siblings, the authors say."

Intuitive control of robotic arm using thoughts alone: "Through a clinical collaboration between Caltech, Keck Medicine of USC and Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center, a 34-year-old paralyzed man is the first person in the world to have a neural prosthetic device implanted in a region of the brain where intentions are made, giving him the ability to perform a fluid hand-shaking gesture, drink a beverage, and even play 'rock, paper, scissors,' using a robotic arm."

Modern alchemy: Chemists devise synthesis of valuable exotic compounds: "Chemists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have discovered a broad and strikingly inexpensive method for synthesizing "amines," a class of organic compounds prominent in drugs and other modern products.

The new reaction is particularly useful for synthesizing complex amines that would be highly valuable in pharmaceuticals, but are impractical—or impossible—to make with standard methods. Yet the reaction requires little more than the mixing of two abundant compounds, a nitroarene and an olefin, with an iron catalyst."

Thunder god vine used in traditional Chinese medicine is a potential obesity treatment: "An extract from the thunder god vine, which has a long history of use in traditional Chinese medicine, reduces food intake and causes up to a 45% decrease in body weight in obese mice. The weight-loss compound, called Celastrol, produces its potent effects by enhancing the action of an appetite-suppressing hormone called leptin. The findings, published May 21 in Cell, are an early indicator that Celastrol could be developed into a drug for the treatment of obesity."

Using healthy skin to identify cancer’s origins: Cancer-associated DNA changes in 25 per cent of normal skin cells: "Normal skin contains an unexpectedly high number of cancer-associated mutations, according to a study. The findings illuminate the first steps cells take towards becoming a cancer and demonstrate the value of analyzing normal tissue to learn more about the origins of the disease."

Partly human yeast show a common ancestor's lasting legacy: "Despite a billion years of evolution separating humans from the baker's yeast in their refrigerators, hundreds of genes from an ancestor that the two species have in common live on nearly unchanged in them both, say biologists. The team created thriving strains of genetically engineered yeast using human genes and found that certain groups of genes are surprisingly stable over evolutionary time."

Study finds cells that become sperm or eggs in humans are vulnerable during pregnancy: "A new study, published online today by Amander Clark, Ph.D., at the UCLA Eli & Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research, significantly furthers the understanding of the human germline – the cells that create eggs or sperm in humans during prenatal development in the womb. The highly specialized cells of the germline, called germ cells, are the only cell type in the body capable of passing parents' genes on to their biological children. Abnormalities in the germ cells can cause infertility as well as diseases such as germ cell tumors in young boys and primary ovarian insufficiency in young girls. Published by the journal Cell, the study looks closely at how the genetic information of prenatal germ cells is shielded from harm during prenatal life, showing that these important cells lack protection during a phase of development, leaving them vulnerable to damage."

I see. Thank you.

Can you see what I hear? Blind human echolocators use visual areas of the brain: "Certain blind individuals have the ability to use echoes from tongue or finger clicks to recognize objects in the distance, and use echolocation as a replacement for vision. Research shows echolocation in blind individuals is a full form of sensory substitution, and that blind echolocation experts recruit regions of the brain normally associated with visual perception when making echo-based assessments of objects."

Very overweight teens may double their risk of bowel cancer in middle age: "Being very overweight in your teens may double the risk of developing bowel cancer by the time you are middle aged, suggests new research."

Scientists reverse aging in human cell lines and give theory of aging a new lease of life: "Can the process of aging be delayed or even reversed? Research has shown that, in human cell lines at least, it can. They also found that the regulation of two genes involved with the production of glycine, the smallest and simplest amino acid, is partly responsible for some of the characteristics of aging."

This 'Lucky Iron Fish' is halving instances of anaemia in Cambodia: "Anaemia is the most common and widespread nutritional disorders in the world, affecting 2 billion people globally - or over 30 percent of the world’s population. But Canadian scientists have come up with an ingenius solution, and it’s so simple, it fits in the palm of your hand.

Meet the Lucky Iron Fish - a chunk of iron that’s thrown into the saucepan and boiled with lemon to give adults 75 percent of their daily recommended iron intake, and close to 100 percent for kids."

Diagnosing cancer with lumninescent bacteria: Engineered probiotics detect tumors in liver: "Engineers have devised a new way to detect cancer that has spread to the liver, by enlisting help from probiotics — beneficial bacteria similar to those found in yogurt. Using a harmless strain of E. coli that colonizes the liver, the researchers programmed the bacteria to produce a luminescent signal that can be detected with a simple urine test."

Brain signals contain the code for your next move: "Is it possible to tap into the signalling in the brain to figure out what you will choose to do next? Researchers can now say yes, and have published a description of how this happens."

Any dose of alcohol combined with cannabis significantly increases levels of THC in blood: "Cannabis plus alcohol is one of the most frequently detected drug combinations in car accidents, yet the interaction of these two compounds is still poorly understood. A study shows for the first time that the simultaneous use of alcohol and cannabis produces significantly higher blood concentrations of cannabis's main psychoactive constituent, THC, as well as THC's primary active metabolite than cannabis use alone."

DNA: Expanding code of life with new 'letters': "The DNA encoding all life on Earth is made of four building blocks called nucleotides, commonly known as 'letters,' that line up in pairs and twist into a double helix. Now, two groups of scientists are reporting for the first time that two new nucleotides can do the same thing — raising the possibility that entirely new proteins could be created for medical uses."

Sex chromosomes—why the Y genes matter: "Several genes have been lost from the Y chromosome in humans and other mammals, according to research published in the open access journal Genome Biology. The study shows that essential Y genes are rescued by relocating to other chromosomes, and it identifies a potentially important genetic factor in male infertility."

Researchers develop a novel device to image the minute forces and actions involved in cell membrane hemifusion: "Cells are biological wonders. Throughout billions of years of existence on Earth, these tiny units of life have evolved to collaborate at the smallest levels in promoting, preserving and protecting the organism they comprise. Among these functions is the transport of lipids and other biomacromolecules between cells via membrane adhesion and fusion—processes that occur in many biological functions, including waste transport, egg fertilization and digestion.

At the University of California, Santa Barbara, chemical engineers have developed a way to directly observe both the forces present and the behavior that occurs during cell hemifusion, a process by which only the outer layers of the lipid bilayer of cell membranes merge. While many different techniques have been used to observe membrane hemifusion, simultaneous measurements of membrane thickness and interaction forces present a greater challenge, according to Dong Woog Lee, lead author of a paper that appears in the journal Nature Communications."

Scientists retrieve lost memories using optogenetics: "Researchers have found that memories that have been 'lost' as a result of amnesia can be recalled by activating brain cells with light. They reactivated memories that could not otherwise be retrieved, using a technology known as optogenetics."

Estimating the global burden of cancer in 2013; 14.9 million new cases worldwide: "Researchers from around the world have worked together to try to measure the global burden of cancer and they estimate there were 14.9 million new cases of cancer, 8.2 million deaths and 196.3 million years of a healthy life lost in 2013, according to new research."

Long life: Balancing protein and carb intake may work as well as calorie restriction: "Cutting calories through dietary restriction has been shown to lower cholesterol, improve insulin sensitivity, and even prolong life in mammals. Now, new research shows that, at least in mice, low protein, high carbohydrate diets can provide benefits similar to those obtained with calorie restriction."

Unexpected brain structures tied to creativity, and to stifling it: "A surprising link has been found between creative problem-solving and heightened activity in the cerebellum, a structure located in the back of the brain and more typically thought of as the body's movement-coordination center."

A patient's budding cortex -- in a dish? Networking neurons thrive in 3-D human 'organoid': ""Scientists have perfected mini cultured 3-D structures that grow and function much like the outer mantle — the key working tissue, or cortex — of the brain of the person from whom they were derived. Strikingly, these 'organoids' buzz with neuronal network activity. Cells talk with each other in circuits, much as they do in our brains."

Researchers engineer E. coli to produce new forms of popular antibiotic: "In Science Advances, University at Buffalo researchers will report that they have managed to turn E. coli into tiny factories for producing new forms of the popular antibiotic erythromycin — including three that were shown in the lab to kill drug-resistant bacteria."

Parental smoking puts nearly half a million UK children into poverty: "Smoking is not only bad for your health; it also puts 400,000 children in poverty in the UK alone. Smoking places a financial burden on low income families, suggesting that parents are likely to forgo basic household and food necessities in order to fund their addiction."

Even when we're resting, our brains are preparing us to be social: "Our brains are wired to prepare us, during quiet moments, to be socially connected to other people, neuroscientists report. Facebook is aligned with the state of our brains at rest — which can explain why it's such a popular activity when we want to take a break."

Implicit social biases made to drop away during sleep: Can we learn to rid ourselves of our implicit biases regarding race and gender? A new study indicates that sleep may hold an important key to success in such efforts. Building on prior research, investigators aimed to find out whether learning to alter habitual reactions to other people could be enhanced during sleep."

Would a combination of nanorobot-based surgery, highly advanced hormone therapy, and stem cell-based treatment suffice for realistically justified Easy Sex Change in a near-future setting? How long is it hypothesized before real-life technology can reach this level, anyway?

edited 1st Jun '15 7:48:51 AM by MarqFJA

I'd give it another 30 years at least.

Changing intelligence test performance: "In the general population, IQ increases have been observed over the past 100 years. But are we really becoming more intelligent and if so, how much more intelligent are we becoming? Psychologists now provide insights into how strong IQ gains are and perhaps why they occur. They show global increases of three IQ points per decade since the early 20th century."

Reading: Brain waves study shows how different teaching methods affect reading development: "Researchers found that beginning readers who focus on letter-sound relationships, or phonics, increase activity in the area of their brains best wired for reading."

Quick to laugh or smile? It may be in your genes: "Why do some people immediately burst into laughter after a humorous moment, while others can barely crack a smile? New research examining emotional reactivity suggests one of the answers may lie in a person's DNA."

So it's within the "near future" time frame. Works for me.

It probably also depends on how expensive/available/easy/accepted the procedure should be. Is it so commonplace that people are basically doing it for fun and reverse it later with little to no consequences? That's probably a bit more off. This also goes into other areas like economics and social sciences.

New color blindness cause identified: Finding suggests potential therapeutic targets: "A rare eye disorder marked by color blindness, light sensitivity, and other vision problems can result from a newly discovered gene mutation identified by an international research team. The findings could lead to new, targeted treatments for this form of color blindness."

Study links exposure to common pesticide with ADHD in boys: "A new study links a commonly used household pesticide with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children and young teens. The study found an association between pyrethroid pesticide exposure and ADHD, particularly in terms of hyperactivity and impulsivity, rather than inattentiveness. The association was stronger in boys than in girls."

Why humans are the fat primate

Mainly it's because we did a lot more travel in barren places.

Missing link found between brain, immune system; major disease implications: "In a stunning discovery that overturns decades of textbook teaching, researchers have determined that the brain is directly connected to the immune system by vessels previously thought not to exist. The discovery could have profound implications for diseases from autism to Alzheimer's to multiple sclerosis."

Infant brains develop years faster than we thought: "A key element of infant brain development occurs years earlier than previously thought, research has shown. The way we perceive faces — using the right hemisphere of the brain — is unique and sets us apart from non-human primates. It was thought that this ability develops as we learn to read, but a new study shows that in babies as young as four months it is already highly evolved."

Kids' altruism linked with better physiological regulation, less family wealth: "Children as young as four years old may reap better health from altruistic giving, a behavior that tends to be less common among kids from high-income families, according to new research on the nature and nurture of altruism."

Epicenter of brain's predictive ability pinpointed by scientists: "In recent years, scientists have discovered that the human brain works on predictions, contrary to the previously accepted theory that it reacts to outside sensations. Now, researchers have reported finding the epicenter of those predictions."

Researchers find speedometer in the brain: "Neural circuits in the brains of mice that are pivotal for movement and navigation in space have been identified. These nerve cells that are presumed to exist in a similar form in humans, give the start signal for locomotion and also supply the brain with speed-related information."

Brain's reaction to certain words could replace passwords: "You might not need to remember those complicated e-mail and bank account passwords for much longer. According to a new study, the way your brain responds to certain words could be used to replace passwords."

'Superspreading event' triggers MERS explosion in South Korea: "Authorities in South Korea are scrambling to contain an outbreak of the deadly Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome (MERS). At least 25 people have been infected—including one patient who traveled to China—and two have died in what is already the biggest outbreak of MERS outside the Arabian Peninsula. Scientists are wondering how a single imported case could have led to so many secondary infections.

The outbreak started when a 68-year-old man who returned from a business trip to four Middle Eastern countries on 4 May fell ill a week later. He was treated at several clinics before being diagnosed with MERS on 20 May.

Several countries have seen such imported cases since the MERS virus was first discovered in 2012, but the disease has never spread to more than a few other people, and the general consensus has been that MERS does not spread easily from human to human, because it infects the lower respiratory tract, from which it can't easily reach other hosts.

But the Korean patient appears to have infected at least 22 family members, health care workers, and fellow patients at a hospital where he was treated from 15 May to 17 May. (The hospital's name has not been revealed.) No special precautions were taken during that time, because the patient had not yet been diagnosed."

The wonders of international travel...