Feeling a bit wound-up…feeling a bit frazzled by Friday? Why not relax and unwind with some medical trivia…
This week we celebrate one of the Queen’s upcoming birthdays; explore nihilism; determine the best way to kill a buffalo and interrogate ornithological anatomy…
Question 1
- What hereditary blood defect is known as ‘Royal disease’?
- Haemophillia
- Haemophilia is an X-linked recessive disorder characterized by the inability to properly form blood clots.
- Hemophilia has played an important role in Europe’s history, for it suddenly cropped up in the children of Great Britain’s Queen Victoria. It became known as the “Royal disease” because it spread to the royal families of Europe through Victoria’s descendants.
- Queen Victoria felt the necessity to revitalize the “lymphatic” blood of Royal houses
I do wish one could find some more black eyed Princes and Princesses for our children! I can’t help thinking what dear Papa said—that it was in fact when there was some little imperfection in the pure Royal descent that some fresh blood was infused… For that constant fair hair and blue eyes makes the blood so lymphatic… it is not as trivial as you may think, for darling Papa—often with vehemence said: ‘We must have some strong blood.
Queen Victoria to her daughter Vicky
Question 2
- Why is the North American buffalo so easy to kill with a single arrow?
- Pleuropleural communication
- The buffalo only has one pleural cavity connecting both lungs
- An arrow to the chest causes bilateral pneumothorax.
- D J Hartin, R Kendall, A A Boyle, and P R T Atkinson Case of the month: Buffalo chest: a case of bilateral pneumothoraces due to pleuropleural communication. Emerg Med J. 2006 June; (6): 483–486.
Question 3
- Which bone is named after a bird?
- Coccyx
- The coccyx (tailbone) is a small triangular bone at the base of the spinal column formed from fused vestigial vertebrae
- The word originates from the Greek ‘kokkux‘ (cuckoo), because the shape of the human bone resembles the curved cuckoo’s bill from the side.
cuckoo and coccyx
Question 4
- At the end of the 19th century, hot irrigations with large volumes of saline were administered with Kemp’s double-current rectal tubes for what purpose?
- To stimulate urine flow in non-obstructive renal failure.
- The technique was first described by Kemp in 1897 (Kemp, R C. Indications for the use of the double-current rectal irrigator. N Y Med J 65:346-353, 189).
- In Sir William Osler’s textbook ‘The Principles and Practice of Medicine’ he writes
For non-obstructive anuria… large hot irrigations, with normal salt solution, with Kemp’s doulbe-current rectal tubes, should be tried, as they are stated to stimulate the activity of the kidneys in a remarkable way
Question 5
- What is Cotard’s syndrome?
- Nihilistic or negation delusion
- Rare neuropsychiatric disorder in which a person holds a delusional belief that they are dead (either figuratively or literally), do not exist, are putrefying, or have lost their blood or internal organs.
- Also known as Cotard delusion or walking corpse syndrome
- Named after the French neurologist Jules Cotard (1840-1899)
….and remember
About Tharsa Thillainadesan
