Phew! That's the way to return from a break! I attended four hours of lecture, sat on a student panel for interviewees, participated in a pap smear workshop, and listened to a neurosurgical resident for an hour and a half as he described the crazy things he does every day.TIL: how to give a pap smear. Also, the pap smear is named after Dr. George Papanicolaou, who invented the procedure in the 1930s.
Any given cell in the body has tens of thousands of mutations to its DNA that it is trying to repair at any given moment. That seems like a lot until you remember that any given cell has six billion base pairs of DNA. Evolution likes a nice balance between an accurate transcription mechanism (so as not to cause disease/death) and a certain degree of purposeful variation (to allow populations to differentiate and diverge).
O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase is an enzyme that directly repairs a specific kind or replication mutation by transferring the aberrant modification to itself and becoming deactivated.
Borborygmi are the noises made by air and fluids moving in the intestines. Relatedly, surgeons listen to the abdomen after surgery because the stress of the procedure causes a reflex whereby the intestines stop moving. When they hear borborygmi again, it shows that the body is recovering.
Proline-rich proteins are responsible for binding tannins in red wine, making one's mouth feel dry.
If someone has a problem that causes them to drool extensively, they will not only be losing fluid volume, but also be developing a potassium deficiency. This is because saliva contains a higher concentration of potassium than blood plasma.
Cystic fibrosis is caused by a defective chloride channel.
The original test for the Mumps was to have the child suck on a lemon. The acid in the juice stimulates the salivary glands to produce and release saliva, but since they are already swollen this just causes acute pain.
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