Funtabulously Frivolous Friday Five 007

• The Ears
• Multiple sites may be used for vascular access in rabbits, including the marginal ear veins, central ear artery, jugular vein, cephalic vein and the lateral saphenous vein.
• The ear veins and central ear artery are most tempting for rapid vascular access (readily accessible and requiring minimal restraint)
• However, care needs to taken to avoid haematoma formation and pinnal necrosis.
• To avoid trauma, I prefer to use the central ear artery and a 26 gauge needle on a TB syringe while stabilizing the ear. Pressure needs to be applied afterward to prevent haematoma formation.

• Toothache
• With all the chocolate being consumed, and all the dentists closed it is only befitting that we elude to some common charms and prayer that can relieve your Easter suffering….
• Other recorded charms to cure toothache include:

• “Some say that the beak of a magpie hung from the neck cures pain in the teeth and the uvula and the quinsy”
• “To hang round the neck a root of mouse-ear hawkweed” (Rosa Anglica, p. 153, recto. col. ii)
• “Whoever shall say a prayer in honour of St. Appollonia, Virgin, shall have no pain in his teeth on the day of the prayer” (Gaddesden)
• “If the many-footed worm which rolls up into a ball when you touch it is pricked with a needle and the aching tooth then touched with the needle, the pain will be eased

Reference (PDF): Menzies Campbell Lecture 1969
Reference: Charms and Prayers in Medieval Medical Theory and Practice Olsan Soc Hist Med.2003; 16: 343-366

• Fugu (河豚 or フグ)
• The puffer fish is a delicacy in Japan. Only small amounts of the fish are edible and preparation is extremely difficult. Only highly trained chefs can remove the organs which produce tetradotoxin (TTX).
• In Haiti, zombification is a punishment for severe crimes. Coupe poudre is the powder used by a bokur to induce zombification. The active ingredient of coupe poudre is tetradotoxin (TTX), produced in the liver and ovaries of some species of puffer fish (e.g. Fugu rubripes).
• TTX is a neurotoxin 500 times more potent than cyanide. It acts by blocking the sodium ion channels which enable nerve and heart cells to produce electrical impulses. In miniscule doses TTX causes a near-death state in which metabolic functions are depressed, so that breathing and pulse rate are undetectable. Total paralysis follows, although the brain and senses remain intact.
• The victim is thought to be dead and is buried alive.

• Lounging around on your long weekend, you have to have something to complain about…right?
• Acnestis: that part of the body where one cannot reach to scratch
• Situated between the shoulder blades and the loin and applicable to quadrupeds
• From Greek aknestis (spine), from Ancient Greek knestis (spine, cheese-grater).

In what has to be the longest post-election season in living memory, the last five months have felt like an acnestis upon our collective soul; like that little patch of skin on our backs that we just can’t reach to scratch ourselves. It’s irritating. It’s annoying. It’s left us reaching and spinning around in circles – New Straits Times (Malaysia); Aug 5, 2008.

• The Ears
• Rigorous research confirms (and etiquette dictates) the ears are more commonly eaten first in 67-86% of cases
• Some Reference Polls: The Eascapist poll, SeriousEats,