Conjoined twins sharing a brain
Krista and Tatiana are joined by the head, in medical terms this is known as craniopagus. They are one in 2.5 million babies.
Douglas Cochrane of British Columbia Children’s Hospital, the twins’ neurosurgeon, describes their condition as their thalamus being linked by a bridge. He says that is the input that one of the twins receives crosses that bridge it is entirely possible that the sense crosses to the other twin’s brain. Their brains are connected by a live wire.
In the company of the New York Times reporter, Krista and Tatiana refer to themselves with certainty as “I”. They both simultaneously say “I have two pieces of paper” and repeat the phrase.
They never refer to themselves as “we”, always as one person. Although ordinarily people have the ability to default to the idea of “self” and “I”, these two feel what the other feels. They are two people living with the same sensory input. But this begs the question how far it goes beyond the sensory aspect.
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Human heart prior to dissection in a tissue bank.
Parts of a heart taken from a donor or heart transplant recipient can be used in the treatment of other patients. The heart is dissected and its aortic, pulmonary and mitrial valves as well as some other tissues and conduit sections are removed. The extracted tissue is then treated in antibiotic solution before being cooled and stored in the vapour phase of liquid nitrogen, a procedure known as cryopreservation. Small samples are then tested for disease and if the tissue passes, it is stored until it is matched with an appropriate recipient.
Scoliosis is a curving of the spine. Although it is a complex three-dimensional deformity, on an X-ray, viewed from the rear, the spine of an individual with scoliosis may look more like an “S” or a “C” than a straight line.
Many of the children in the class I am taking this term are diagnosed with cerebral palsy. Though signs and symptoms might slightly vary from one child from another, but all of them experience movement and coordination problems. They may also have other neurological problems such as seizures, intellectual disability and urinary incontinence.
Cerebral palsy
Cerebral palsyis a disorder of movement, muscle tone or posture that is caused by injury or abnormal development in the immature brain, most often before birth.
Signs and symptoms appear during infancy or preschool years. In general, cerebral palsy causes impaired movement associated with exaggerated reflexes or rigidity of the limbs and trunk, abnormal posture, involuntary movements, unsteadiness of walking, or some combination of these. The effect of cerebral palsy on functional abilities varies greatly.
People with cerebral palsy often have other conditions related to developmental brain abnormalities, such as intellectual disabilities, vision and hearing problems, or seizures. A broad spectrum of treatments may help minimize the effect of cerebral palsy and improve a person’s functional abilities.
Hydrocephalus.
Also known as “water on the brain,” it is a medical condition in which there is an abnormal accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in the ventricles, or cavities, of the brain. This may cause increased intracranial pressure inside the skull and progressive enlargement of the head, convulsion, tunnel vision, and mental disability. Hydrocephalus can also cause death.
(via doktors)
Spina Bifida
Normally, during the first month of a pregnancy, the two sides of the spine join together to cover the spinal cord, spinal nerves and meninges. Spina bifida is a developmental congenital disorder caused by incomplete closing of the embryonic neural tube. Some vertebrae overlaying the spinal cord are not fully formed and remained unfused and open. If the opening is large enough, this allows a portion of the spinal cord to protrude through the opening in the bones. There may or may not be a fluid-filled sac surrounding the spinal cord.
Spina bifida malformations fall into four categories: spina bifida occulta, spina bifida cystica (myelomeningocele, meningocele and lipomeningocele
Ritalin (methylphenidate) is a central nervous system stimulant. It affects chemicals in the brain and nerves that contribute to hyperactivity and impulse control. It is used to treat attention deficit disorder (ADD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Ritalin is also used in the treatment of a sleep disorder called narcolepsy (an uncontrollable desire to sleep).
With Ritalin being just one molecule away from Cocaine, both have a similar chemical structure, and both increase dopamine levels in the brain. They do this by blocking a dopamine transporter protein responsible for the reuptake of dopamine at the synapse. Is Ritalin addictive? What is the differences between Ritalin and Cocaine? Ritalin is a pill that you swallow, so the drug takes longer to reach the brain. Cocaine is taken in high doses by injection or snorting. It floods the brain quickly with dopamine, which makes it dangerous and addictive.
Absence Seizure - also known as petit mal - involves a brief, sudden lapse of consciousness. Absence seizures are more common in children than adults. Someone having an absence seizure may look like he or she is staring into space for a few seconds. The person is unaware of what is going on during seizure and quickly returns to full awareness once seizure stops. Seizure happens when there is abnormal electrical activity in the brain with too many brain cells sending signals all at the same time. The signals get muddled, and the body doesn’t know which ‘messages’ to obey.
Click on the video above to see example of an absence seizure.
Josef Rudolf Mengele (March 16 1911 - February 7 1979), also known as the Angel of Death, was a German SS officere and a physician in the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. He initially gained notoriety for being one of the SS physicians who supervised the selection of arriving transports of prisoners, determining who was to be killed and who was to become a forced laborer, but is far more infamous of performing grisly human experiments on camp inmates.
Mengele used Auschwitz as an opportunity to continue his research on heredity, using inmates of human experimentation. He was particularly interested in identical twins. Once, he supervised an operation by which two Romani children were sewn together to create conjoined twins. The hands of the children became badly infected where the veins has been resected; this also caused gangrene.
He took an interest in physical abnormalities discovered among the arrivals at the concentration camp. These include dwarves, notably the Ovitz family - the children of a Romanian artist, of whom seven of the ten members were dwarves.
Menegele’s experiments also included attempts to change eye colour by injecting chemicals into children’s eyes, various amputations of limbs, and other surgeries. He also sought out pregnant women, on whom he would perform vivisections before sending them to the gas chambers.
La-tis-i-mus Door-s-eye
Point of Origin: Spinous processes of last six thoracic vertebrae, last three or four ribs, thoracolumbar aponeurosis and posterior iliac crest.
Point of Insertion
Location: Posterior axilla, lateral trunk
Action: Extend and medially rotate your shoulder
I just love saying Latissimus Dorsi.
(via scientificillustration)
