See, I’ve been workin’ on getting this bezoar post together, see? But it takes a long time or, rather, I’d like to take my sweet time whenever dealing with a bezoar. God knows bezoars take their sweet time.
The day is coming to a close; I’ve been sleeping and sleeping and sleeping since late afternoon, as I have what I like to call tsetse fly tired (I don’t really have the disease that tsetse flies carry, and this makes me happy when I think about it). Truth be told, my fatigue is the result of an autoimmune condition I’ve got. My body is eating itself some tonight.
Say, speaking of autoimmune conditions, I just finished reading an awesome book that I would recommend to anyone with lupus, or to friends and family of people who have lupus. It’s called Taking Charge of Lupus (Amazon link). It’s very helpful as far as what adjustments you need to make after being diagnosed, and how to go about making those changes.
I said whales, didn’t I? I’m gonna send you over to BBC, where they have an interactive whale info spectacular. Perhaps “spectacular” is going a bit too far, but it’s sorta funtimes.
Fun whale fact: You guys all know about how the blue whale is the biggest animal to have lived probably ever in all of earth history, right? Well, it is.
Since we’re on the topic of whales, have you ever read Moby Dick? It’s the best book ever, if you don’t count Breakfast of Champions, which is the best, best book ever.
Has this been very science-ey? No, not unless you go to the BBC site.
Please go to the BBC site. I promise we’ll have a bit more science when we get to bezoars! Tonight, it seems I’ve got books on my mind.
But, while checking out the latest news during my early morning “wake-up and take last night’s pills” time, I found some cool news. Cool news. You heard me right. News is cool. Like, word.
I can’t go into much detail right now, since I should probably get back to sleep, lest I end up staying up for good. But this stuff was too good to let go. Or maybe it’s just the “not having taken last night’s pills” getting to me.
1) Things look good for a new TB vaccine, the first in 80+ years, so the vaccine is moving into Phase II trials in South Africa.
Here’s some info regarding what the various vaccine phases mean. The site says of Phase II:
“Phase II testing involves a larger number of volunteers (50-500), usually a mixture of low-risk people and higher-risk individuals from the population where Phase III (vaccine efficacy) trials will eventually be conducted. Phase II trials generate additional safety data as well as information for refining the dosage and immunization schedule. Although not set up to determine whether the vaccine actually works, Phase II trials are sometimes large enough to yield preliminary indications of efficacy. These trials generally take 18-24 months, with the increase over Phase I due primarily to the additional time required for screening and enrolling larger numbers of trial participants.”
2) Recalls, recalls. Sara Lee bread that’s full of metal scraps, cans o’ botulism that are still being found on store shelves. Please do take a moment to check each recall site, as the names of the products are not just “Sara Lee [bread]” - they include store brands and obscure brands and even some dog food with botulism.
Botulism is nasty. A topic for another day.
3) Japanese scientists have made a sort of womb to be used in IVF (in vitro fertilization). The womb is, um, some cultured uterine cells on a chip. I don’t know why they call it a chip. It’s…a little thing full of cultured uterine cells. The womb helps the newly-fertilized embryo grow faster than it would if it were in the plain ol’ test tube environment (where test tube environment = microdroplets of fluids).
4) A new study out of Canada says that male circumcision does not decrease sensation. So, you can stop being upset about that one. Besides - what are you gonna do about it now?
If you are uncut, perhaps you should go have some cutting done? There’s evidence to suggest that circumcision may help reduce one’s chances of becoming infected with HIV.
5) SLIT isn’t a dirty word, not today - it stands for sublingual immunotherapy, and if you’re allergic to cats, it might be helpful in getting your body used to cats. Just SLIT some cat dander-laden drops under your tongue and, after awhile, your cats might not bother you so much. You might just be able to keep your cats afterall! This technology works pretty much the same way allergy shots work, by acclimating the immune system to larger and larger amounts of an allergen.
Go cat SLIT!
6) New study suggests that I might get a whole lot more accomplished if I go to bed when the sun goes down and wake up when the sun comes up.
I am tired because I have not had enough sleep. This is, in part, due to my getting so interested in polar madness the other night. It is also, embarrassingly, due to my current addiction to Sudoku. I’m not even good at Sudoku. I just do it sometimes, when I am anxious, which is really all the time, so I wind up doing lots of Sudoku instead of going to sleep.
There’s some interesting news today linking higher rates of MS to people who have had less sun exposure, based on studies done on identical twins. It might not be directly due to the sun. Could be a vitamin D thing. Could be…something else. Anyway, here’s a link to the story.
Are you into MS? I’m sort of into MS. Maybe it was all those read-a-thons I did in grammar school. Maybe it’s because it’s an autoimmune disease, the first one I really ever knew much about. Until my uncle died of scleroderma. But that’s a story for another day.
Okay, a little about scleroderma. It’s an autoimmune connective tissue disease, and literally means “hard skin.” Other autoimmune connective tissue diseases include lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.
My uncle…his esophagus got all hard. Or something like that. Other things happened too. His was a pretty nasty case, and he was dead within two years of being diagnosed.
La la la!
Not all cases of scleroderma are so very bad. Everyone is different. Some people continue to have lives that are, more or less, normal and long. Same goes for lupus, same goes for MS. You just never know. You say tomato, I say your kidneys shut down.
And so it goes.
Feelin’ a little down, it seems, no? Must be that lack o’ sleep.
Bright and sunny…bright and sunny science dose…
I think there’s a lunar eclipse coming up. Lemme go look. Ah yes, there is:
This pic is courtesy of NASA. It appears to be free from the effects of alcohol and/or sabotage.
Please do have a lovely weekend. I’m gonna try to get some good blog pictures taken in the next two days, real scientific-like.
Man o man…I was never so interested by astronauts. I thought they were boring goody-goodys (not that I’m one to talk). Going up in a space shuttle never seemed all that exciting to me, nor did going to the moon. More like a long trip to nowhere, where everyone wears the same, cumbersome outfit.
But. First there was the love-crazed lady astronaut who may or may not have been wearing diapers. This is how I learned that astronauts wear diapers, which of course piqued my interest. Diapers? That’s a little…different. Something to write home about. It got me wondering what else astronauts are up to.
Seems NASA’s got a 12-hour “bottle to throttle” rule. Even so, some have gone into space after being deemed too drunk to be on the shuttle, and it’s happened on more than one occasion.
This whole thing a) makes me wanna know more about the sick, sick world of being an astronaut, and b) reminded me of a Liam Lynch podcast I watched the other day. Wanna see?
Do you think that’s what NASA has been dealing with?
Maybe I should find a bad boy astronaut husband…
NASA is gonna talk about naughty astronaut behavior tomorrow. They’re gonna, like, have a news conference. A news conference totally, totally, totally, totally, totally on the findings of a panel created to investigate naughty astronaut behavior.
Can’t wait! If anyone has any more astronaut insider info, please, do tell!
I can’t just leave it alone. First off, I’m assuming you’ve read yesterday’s post, yes?
So, I was thinking about this whole “eating liver leads to vitamin A toxicity” deal. Why? Why would a Husky liver do this, when we eat cow and chicken livers with aplomb? (Please note: I do not support liver eating of any sort. If you were to eat a car, would you eat the filter first?)
I have found the answer, at a lovely site called “Death by Vitamin A.” I cannot quote the site here, ’cause it says so, but, to sum up, vitamin A starts out in marine algae. Various things eat the marine algae, and then various things eat these various things, until we reach the guys at the top of the food chain who, for the most part, are large, carnivorous mammals like polar bears, seals, and dogs. We’re talking arctic mammals, arctic dogs.
A person’s got about 575 IU (International Units) of vitamin A per gram of liver. Compare that against the Southern Elephant seal - 1,160 IU/g; Antarctic Husky - 10,570 IU/g; the arctic bearded seal - 12,000 - 14,000 IU/g; and the polar bear, coming in at between 24,000 and 35,000 IU/g.
And check this out - Halibut liver oil runs at about 30,000 IU vitamin A/g. If someone offers you some halibut liver oil, may I suggest that you decline their kind offer?
So, like, what happens if you have too much vitamin A?
First, you know the different between fat soluble and water soluble vitamins, right? Water soluble vitamins dissolve in water, and the excess is not stored in the body - it’s excreted in, like, pee. And stuff. Vitamin C and the B vitamins are all water soluble. This is why products such as Emergen-C are safe even when they contain over 1,000% of the recommended amount of vitamin C. This does NOT mean you can’t achieve toxic levels of vitamin C or of the various B vitamins - you can achieve toxic levels of vitamins B and C. It is, however, much more difficult than achieving toxic levels of fat soluble vitamins.
The fat soluble vitamins, vitamins A, D, E, and K, don’t pass out of the body so easily. They can accumulate in the body’s fatty tissues, leading to toxic levels. You can’t, like, pee them out in an hour or so, like you can vitamin C and B. So, you want to watch your intake of these vitamins.
What are the side effects of having too much vitamin A? What are the symptoms of vitamin A toxicity?
First, there’s a better name than vitamin A toxicity. Hypervitaminosis A! Acute hypervitaminosis occurs when too much of the vitamin is taken within a short period of time, while chronic hypervitaminosis describes too much of the vitamin being present over a longer period of time.
Ooh! In a baby, acute hypervitaminosis A can make the soft spot bulge out! Something to watch out for, should your baby be…um…eating arctic animal livers. Or multivitamins.
The symptoms of hypervitaminosis A, which can be found at MedlinePlus, also include the following: hair loss, cracks at corners of mouth, bone pain, drowsiness, vomiting, and - o! - gynecomastia!
I don’t wanna talk about gynecomastia, not tonight, honey, but you can read about it if you wanna.
Wikipedia lists the symptoms of acute toxicity as “nausea and vomiting, headache, dizziness, blurred vision, and loss of muscular coordination.”
Right now, I have the symptoms of acute way-up-past-bedtime-a-matosis. I’ve got to take care of this condition, stat.
Goodnight, goodluck, and please do keep tabs on your vitamin intake, particularly if you are taking vitamin supplements, and especially especially if you are a baby, are pregnant, have a bum liver or not great kidneys, and/or if you take medication(s).
ps - I realize the title of this post is a bit misleading. If I read the title, I would expect to read about algae and its direct toxic effects on the animals that encounter it. I promise - I’ve added that subject to our to-do list.
pps - I promise to do some photoshoots this weekend so that we can look at more than just letters on a screen. I will not, however, be photographing gynecomastia.
O sure, there’s lots of fun things in the news today. There’s that Grim Reaper cat who lives at the nursing home, or the study suggesting you can catch being fat from your loved ones, but the thing that caught my eye? Polar madness.
Have you ever heard of polar madness? I sure hadn’t. According to this article, it is something which “grips many people working at poles.”
It seems straightforward enough - sort of a mix between cabin fever and a case of SAD (seasonal affective disorder) multiplied by…maybe a thousand. Stuck at the north or south pole with the same people, day after day, week after week. Cold. The days are all screwed up, the nights are all screwed up - eternal day, eternal night, what time is it?
Check it out:
“The Lancet paper detailed past cases of polar expeditions gone wrong, including an Arctic scientific expedition in the 1880s that descended into mutiny, lunacy, suicide and cannibalism, leaving only six survivors from a crew of 25 men.
[Lawrence] Palinkas cited more recent examples of ‘polar madness’ at research stations, including one staffer clubbing another with a claw hammer and another beating a co-worker with a pipe.
‘There was a saying at the station for the remainder of the winter that If you’ve got a gripe, use a pipe,’ he said.”
Wow. Yikes.
Of course I’m totally into learning more about people going insane and clubbing each other at the ends of the earth.
“‘Polar madness’ can erupt without warning. You can get it when someone sits in your chair. You can get it while they are combing their hair. It can come at any time…It might be as trivial as the way you dress. It might be as provocative as being served a glass of chilled urine at dinner. It might just be the sound of your voice. All these vexations have caused conflict in Antarctic communities…”
Personally, my bet is on the chilled urine.
It’s not necessarily the whole “being cooped up with the same people in the middle of frozen nowhere and it’s always night” thing that gets ya’. Sometimes, it’s vitamin A toxicity. If you find yourself starving in, say, Antarctica, and your Huskies are looking sorta tasty, for God’s sake please - DO NOT EAT THEIR LIVERS. Really, don’t eat anyone’s liver, if you can avoid it. This page, “Man’s best friend?” will now tell you why:
“It is well known that Inuit [a/k/a Eskimo-types] will not eat the liver of polar bears or seals. This caution should be extended to the liver of the Greenland husky dog. Just 100 g of husky liver contains the toxic dose of vitamin A for an adult male.”
We’re told the story of Douglas Mawson and Xavier Mertz. Having lost their food supplies, here’s where they went wrong. “With six dogs between them (with a liver on average weighing 1 kg), the pair would have ingested around 60 toxic doses [of vitamin A]…”
Now, Mertz ate a lot more of the liver than Mawson, ’cause he couldn’t stand to chew on the tough parts of his sweet little doggies. So, Mertz went the craziest:
“Mertz began to deteriorate rapidly with diarrhoea and madness. Mawson graphically describes how Mertz thrust his own little finger into his mouth, crunched on it, looking in disgust as he spat his severed digit onto the floor of the tent.”
Wow. Hard core. Here’s some more:
“Mawson battled on…At one point, he noticed a ‘lumpy, squishy feeling’ in his feet…Removing his shoes and two pairs of socks he discovered, to his despair, that the thick skin on the soles of his feet had come away, leaving raw tissue underneath. The fluid that was now soaking his socks had caused the squishy feeling. With no option other than to carry on, he smeared lanolin onto the exposed flesh and bandaged the separated soles back into place before resuming walking.”
I don’t know that I’ve ever discovered a better argument against eating liver.
And so ends my story of polar madness.
And so ends today’s blog, with one minute to spare.
Goodnight.
ps - someone on acne.com posits that the crazy some people experience while taking Accutane (a sorta synthetic vitamin A used to treat severe acne) might be the same crazy that Mertz and Mawson experienced while eating Husky livers. I took Accutane for three months. While my feet remained intact, my whole face peeled off daily. But, I think that’s the point, and I didn’t experience any extra crazy, not any more than I ever do.
In a recent study, some dudes were, like, offered five bucks. For free. For nothing. Only thing is, it was out of $40, so $35 remained. Still. Five bucks vs. nothing.
Which would you pick?
If you are a man and your answer is “Nothing! F*ck that! Other dude walkin’ away with $35…”, then you’re probably a pretty aggressive man. Really, you don’t have to have even said/thought all that. If you would rather reject the free money than take it while the other guy got more, you’re an aggressive sort of guy, where aggressive = higher levels of testosterone than the norm.
They did a study and everything (study done at Harvard by Dr. Terence Burnham). Past studies have shown that “People will even reject relatively large sums of money, such as two weeks’ wages, if these offers are roughly one-fifth or less of the stakes involved…” (says the article). Now, it’s been tied to tough guys and their high levels of testosterone. All of the men who rejected the offer had higher levels of testosterone than average.
“It backs the idea that what people really strive for is relative rather than absolute prosperity. They would rather accept less themselves than see a rival get ahead. That is likely to be particularly true in individuals with high testosterone levels, since that hormone is correlated with social dominance in many species. ”
Hm. Does this mean that I should maybe get more things because I am a lady? Please? Maybe the testosterone-y dudes can take the $5 anyway, and give it to me, and I will, like, wink at them in front of the other guy, and then they will feel tough and I will have $5.
Please somebody do some studies on estrogen and dollars.
Don’t wanna leave you without any pics, but I don’t have permission to use pics from the sites above. You’ll have to go see for yourself. What I do have for you are three rather grainy pics of one of my copepods under a Toys “R” Us microscope.
If you’d like to buy me a fancy microscope, I might just accept your kind gift. Until then, grainy copepods!
Lift and buoyancy push the fish up towards the surface and gravity pulls the fish down towards the gravitational center of the planet. Most fish control their location in the water column (i.e., how high or low they are in the water) by way of a swim/gas bladder. The more air the fish has in the bladder, the more buoyant it becomes. If a fish would like to move downwards, it can release gas from the swim bladder and become less buoyant.
Sharks do not use a swim bladder. They are buoyant thanks to their livers, which contain a great deal of oil. To change their location in the water column, a shark uses its fins in a special way that involves physics. Something something pectoral fins like airplanes something something. I’d rather not talk about it right now.
Thrust is a fish’s movement forward through the water. The fish’s tail (a/k/a caudal fin) makes a lateral propulsive motion, moving from side to side, and this propels the fish forward through the water. Thrust. Drag is the force the fish must overcome as it moves forward through the water. Something something friction. Something something laws of motion.
O. Keel here is not a force. It’s a ridge on the tail-part (caudal peduncle) that helps to support the caudal fin (a/k/a tail). Makes it stronger and all. Makes the fish better able to work those forces to its advantage.
So yes! Here’s your fish!
This illustration was made by a very talented artist who shall remain nameless at this time. But, if you’d like to give said very talented artist (VTA) some money in exchange for drawings like this one, I’m sure I can arrange something between you and VTA. I can draw up an agreement and everything. I’m legal like that.
ps - I’m kidding about making an agreement. That’s a joke about me being a secretary. But the artist is not a joke. He/she/it might be very interested in making drawings or paintings for you. I can maybe hook that up.
So, like, antimalarials are, like, way cool. They not only help out with malaria - they’re good for treating autoimmune connective tissue diseases like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.
Why? Nobody really knows. Antimalarials…they just help reduce many of the symptoms of these diseases, like fatigue, joint pain, and skin rashes. They have…anti-inflammatory properties. Or something like that. They help, so maybe eat them if you have lupus, if your doctor says you should.
I must tell you - I’ve tried some antimalarials myself, and they are gooooood! May I recommend Plaquenil?
Today, there’s news that antimalarials used in treating patients with SLE may also significantly reduce the chances that these patients will develop cancer.
Score, right?
Now, there is that whole thing where antimalarials can, like, make you blind. Or something (please see link if you’re into retinopathy). But, if you’re taking a reasonable dose and getting checked out by an ophthalmologist on a fairly regular basis, chances are good that your eyes will be a.o.k.
A ok. A okay? What’s that all about? How’s that work? Let’s ask Wikipedia!
Wikipedia seems to think that A-OK, as opposed to just plain old OK, refers to not only things being okay but also to the “okay” hand gesture. Wikipedia warns about various vulgar things the “A-OK” hand gesture might mean, depending on where you go.
Would you like some more information on lupus? Lupus isn’t really very vulgar, and I’m sure to be bringing it up again in the future. For now, I’ll direct you to one of my favorite sites: The Lupus Site.
Autoimmunity…think of it as your body going crazy and eating itself. Or, like, your cells are emotionally troubled and decide to start beating up your other cells. This is a good place to start, no?
Once upon a time, England and France were connected. England was not an island, and people and horses and things could walk back and forth and all over the place. Then, one day, there was a big flood, and the water washed over lots of the land, making a valley where the British Channel is now. Maybe even some water was there, like a river or lake. Or something.
Then, one other day, there was another big flood, and the water came down and covered up all the land between England and France. This is what made England England, and France France. England was all alone, and it was a little sad and lonely.
Having read yesterday’s post, you now know about tonsilloliths, a/k/a tonsil stones. You may wish to rush out and have your tonsils removed, but that’s probably not the best idea. Tonsillectomy (tonsil removal) is a much more serious and painful procedure for an adult than it is for a child. Unless your tonsils are causing you some major problemos, most doctors will not be interested in taking your tonsils from you.
Another reason not to have your tonsils removed? Some who have had them removed continue to have tonsilloliths! When we refer to tonsils, most often we’re talking of the palatine tonsils, which are only part of the whole tonsil club. The palatine tonsils are the ones you can see on each side in the back of your mouth. You’ve also got adenoids, also known as pharyngeal tonsils, and lingual tonsil tissue. Adenoids do not have crypts, as palatine tonsils do, but it’s possible to develop tonsilloliths within the lingual tonsil tissue.
Okay. So you’re not going to have your tonsils removed. “But I don’t want tonsilloliths hanging out in my throat!” you say. I agree with you there. What can be done? Here are some steps you can take to take charge of your tonsillar crypts:
a) First, I suggest you go out and get yourself a lighted dental mirror (something like this?). Take a peek and see what you’ve got going on in there. Be sure to look not only at the front of each tonsil but also behind the tonsil. Do you see anything white sticking out from the surface?
b) Upon discovering tonsilloliths, many people try to remove them. This is not as easy as you might think. They cannot be easily swabbed away. Remember - they’re embedded in the tonsil, and are calcified stones. I’m not going to give you any advice as far as removing them. I am not a medical professional, and if you go messing with your tonsils, you may just aggravate them, causing them to become inflamed and even more likely to develop tonsilloliths. There’s also the possibility of jamming a tonsillolith deeper into a crypt and causing an infection.
Still, I have read that sometimes people press on the tonsil with, say, their finger, and this pressure is enough to cause some of them to pop out.
c) Gargling with warm salt water daily and/or after meals may help.
d) People claim to get them out by spraying them with a waterpik. You might be able to prevent some of the accumulation that leads to the stones by waterpik-ing your tonsils on a regular basis. I have a hard time imagining how a waterpik is strong enough to get them out, but I have read many accounts of successful removal of tonsilloliths by waterpik.
e) The most important step you can take to rid yourself of tonsil stones is to determine what is making you so prone to developing them, and to then take care of that issue.
Anything that causes chronic inflammation of the tonsils or overproduction of mucous plays a big role in the circle of tonsillolith life. Do you have GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease)? Chronic sinusitis, throat infections, or allergies? If you can get these conditions better under control, your crypts will not be anywhere near as likely to start accumulating materials with which to grow tonsilloliths.
f) For moral support, I suggest you visit the following websites, where you’ll find others who have experienced the thing that is tonsillolith-itis. I made that word up - tonsillolithitis. It’s nice, isn’t it?
g) If you’d like to further disturb yourself, check this site out. Here’s the story again. There is such a thing as a giant tonsillolith. O yes. Hot hot hot!
Okay. I’m done with tonsilloliths. I do hope I’ve helped open your mind to the world at the back of your mouth. Next time you feel like you’ve got something stuck in your throat, remember - it could be a tonsillolith!
Love,
me.
ps - here are some links to pics: One, Two, Three. Maybe don’t click ’till you’re done eating.
pps - this site breaks the whole tonsillolith deal down pretty well.
Where to begin on this one? It’s a rather upsetting subject, and something I wasn’t aware of until this past weekend.
Dear friends, have you ever heard of tonsilloliths? Have you ever heard of a tonsil stone?
Right now, as you sit reading this, you may have a whole crop of stinking, putrid, calcified stones protruding from your tonsils. You may never see them. Tonsilloliths form in the tonsillar crypts, grooves that cover the surface of the tonsil. They can remain hidden deep in the crypts, or form behind the tonsil, where you can’t see them. When they are released, they are often swallowed and you are none the wiser. You have no idea that you ever had a tonsil stone.
Other people are not so lucky. Some tonsil stones can be seen, growing on the front of the tonsil, sprouting out like a tiny tooth, or maybe a bit of cauliflower. Even when they remain hidden from sight, they can find their way into your mouth instead of being swallowed. What you’ve got then is a hard little chunk of putrid tonsillolith. In your mouth.
Let’s pretend that has just happened to you. Gosh, what’s this? It feels as if there’s something stuck in the back of your throat. Like how a piece of popcorn shell feels. But you haven’t been eating popcorn. Let’s spit that thing out! Grab a tissue. What in the world? What have you got there, on your kleenex?
It’s a tiny, hard chunk. It might be white, yellow, tan, or yellow-grey, and has the consistency of an aged cheese, or perhaps a piece of cooked pasta gone hard again. It’s roundish but irregularly shaped, and is probably about the size of a sesame seed.
Do you notice anything, as you are looking down at this lovely tonsillolith you’ve grown in your mouth? Probably you do, if you’re not anosmic. Tonsilloliths STINK. They stink bad. Awful. Rancid, sulfurous. Your whole mouth may have tasted wrong all day, all week, forever, your breath stinking no matter how much you brush/floss/swish the mouthwash. Now you know why. You are holding the culprit in your hand. Tonsillolith.
How has this happened? How has this come to pass?
Various substances, including food, your body’s own sloughed off cells (epithelial tissue, white blood cells), mucous, and bacteria become lodged in a tonsillar crypt. Bacteria get to work on the mass, breaking it down. These bacteria are often anaerobes (bacteria who would rather not hang out with oxygen) and tend to produce an awful smell as they feast; the food/material is trapped inside of a pocket of your tonsil, and it is literally rotting. No wonder you had such a yucky taste in your mouth!
As this is all going on, the whole mess picks up deposits of calcium and other minerals and becomes calcified. This calcification is what turns the ooey-gooey mess into a stone, into a stone which is embedded in a tonsillar crypt.
Hooray! What fun!
Wow. This is a lot to take in, no? You may be saying, “What do I do if I think I have tonsilloliths? I don’t want tonsilloliths!” I don’t blame you. Please. Don’t do anything drastic. I’m going to go over anti-tonsillolith tactics in tomorrow’s post: Tonsilloliths, Part II.
Alliteration. Mmm.
Until then, sit tight and don’t go at your throat with a knitting needle or anything crazy like that. There is hope.
ps - Tonsillolith is literally tonsil stone. Lith = stone; just as monolith means one stone (mono = one).
Can fish be said to have a gait? I think it’s a cute way to look at things. There are several methods that fishes use to get around, separated by Charles Breder in 1926 into three motion types: Anguilliform, Carangiform, and Ostraciiform.
Now, before I tell you about these forms, and about the various forces involved in fish locomotion, you’re probably wondering why I care about such things.
Okay, maybe you’ve got that one figured out. But why now? Why here?
Take a look at my fish:
He’s having some trouble getting around. I’m not sure exactly why. He got better for 1.5 days, and has now returned to his corkscrewing state. He’s much more mellow now in his corkscrewing, probably due to exhaustion.
His problem (I’m thinking it must be neurological) and his crazy swimming made me wonder…what’s awry here? Pitch? Roll? Yaw? What are those things again?
Pitch, roll, and yaw are various forces that can act on a fish’s body while in the water. I suppose we can also be affected by pitch, roll, and yaw, so you’d better listen up!
Pitch is the body moving on the vertical plane. Imagine it this way - a fish is looking down at the bottom of the tank, you tell him to look up, and he brings his head and body up in a backward arc until his head is facing the water.
Man. I’m so terrible with the 3D. Tell you what. I’ll have my artist friend draw a picture of a fish and the various forces. Until then, you’re stuck with my imaginary scenarios.
Pitch. If a fish was, say, stuck in this pitch, he/she would be doing somersaults.
Next, we have roll. This one is easy to explain. Imagine a hot dog at 7-11. Mmm. See it glistening as it spins on those metal rollers which ensure that the hot dog is cooked evenly all around?
Now imagine that the hot dog is a fish. See him spinning? Turning, turning. Rolling, rolling. That’s roll.
Next, imagine the fish turning back into a hot dog, and then imagine eating it, if you’re into that sort of thing.
Finally, we’re left with yaw. Yaw is the fish moving in the horizontal plane. An example would be the fish moving his head from side to side, shaking his head to say, “No, do not think of me as a hot dog, do not imagine me roasting at 7-11.”
Again, a picture of this would be worth at least 500 words, and will be coming shortly.
So, pitch, roll, yaw. Pitch is fish looking up, or perhaps the fish saying yes; roll is the fish at 7-11; and yaw is the fish saying, “No way.”
What do you think is going on with my fish? Clearly, he’s got some rolling action going on. But if you watch, his pitch and yaw are also off.
He’s a mess.
There are some more forces working on a fish. Those are drag, gravity, lift/buoyancy, and thrust. I’ll get to those when we have the drawing.
Okay, back to Breder’s three forms of fish motions.
Anguilliform - swimming while being able to bend into more than half of an S. Real bendy like. My dojo loaches swim in anguilliform-style.
Carangiform - the body bends into less than half of an S, and the movement comes mostly from the caudal region (more focused in the back when compared against the eel-like swimmers).
O, the caudal fin, just so you know, is that thing that mermaids like to walk around on. Or, people in mermaid costumes. It’s the tail end of the fish.
Ostraciiform - this one describes fishes like boxfish whose bodies are, more or less, inflexible. They’re not able to eel at all, and rely solely on the caudal fin. There’s more to their movement than just the caudal fin, but, for purposes of the three main categories, this is a good way to think of it. Let’s look at it from a caudal perspective.
These types of movements are further broken down…subcarangiform, labriform, etc., but…who wants to know about all that?
(If you want to know about all that, let me know, and I’ll pull out my vertebrate bio notes. We’ll have some more fun…talk tuna.)
That’s it for today. I’ve gotta get myself to Burbank and deliver 70 plus baby snails.
Have a good weekend! If you go swimming, or are playing with toys in the bathtub, think about pitch, roll, and yaw, won’t you?
Here’s the video of the testimony I talked about in the last post. Seems it’s an issue of mixing politics and science, and that the current system needs to be reworked to prevent such potential conflicts of interest.
Welcome to Daily Science Dose, an eclectic collection of meditations and explorations in science, particularly medicine and biology. Here are some of the things Iʼm into: zoology, bird flu and other communicable diseases, marine life (especially invertebrates), brains, and sexual patterns of behavior, both human and non-human. What are you into? Is there something youʼve always wondered about? Drop me a line or leave a comment, and Iʼll see what I can find for you. Together weʼll discover many odd and exciting new facts about the world and the various creatures ambling about, as well as the various creatures ambling about within those creatures. And so on and so on and on and on. Super fun!"
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