The Prado Museum in Madrid hangs a pair of paintings by a seventeenth century painter Juan Carreno de Miranda, paintings of a grossly fat monstrous but innocent five year old girl named Eugenia Martinez Vallejo, called 'La Monstrua vestida' and 'La Monstrua Desnuda': The Monster Clothed and The Monster Naked. They both show an obese five year old girl whose tiny hands and feet and strange shaped eyes and mouth, kinda a suitable freak for a circus. It is plain and obvious that Eugenia showed us symptoms of a rare inherited disease called Prader Willi syndrome. Prader-Willi syndrome children are born floppy, pale skinned, refuse to suck at the breast but eat everything omnivorously, never satisfied at food, and so become grossly obese. Their sex organs are also undevelopped and yet, they are mentally retarded. Unfotunately, like autistic kids they often throw tantrums especially about food.

A family whose descendant has this syndrome usually has an opposite syndrome crop up in their same family tree, called Angelman's syndrome. Founded by Harry Angelman, a doctor from Lancashire called the patients are 'puppet children'. Opposing the Prader Willi symptoms, the children are taut, hyperactive, insomniac, small headed, long jawed and often to stick out their tongues like happy dogs. Their favorite hobbies are to play and laugh but never learn to speak and so severelly retarded.

It soon found that the same chunk of chromosome 15 is missing in the both patients. But the difference is that in Prader Willi syndrom, the missing chunk was from the father's chromosome, while in Angelman's syndrome the missing chunk was from the father's.


Prader Willi syndrome is transmitted through men and vice versa. In summary, we can conclude from both syndromes that, gene remembers which parent it came from because they have paternal or maternal imprint. Thus, the body expresses only the gene that switches on, not both.

Labels: angelman, biology, children, doctor, genes, genetic chromosomes, genome, prader-willi, syndrome

Here are i provide you the list and physiology each of cranial nerves.

I. Olfactory nerve - smell

II. Optic nerve - vision

III. Oculomotor nerve - eyelid and eyeball movement

IV. Throchlear nerve - "downward and laterally"eye movement

V. Tigmoneal nerve - chewing, mouth movement, and pain

VI. Abduscens nerve - turns eye laterally

VII. Facial nerve - facial expression

VIII. Vestibulocochlear nerve - body balance, equilibrium, ear sensory information

IX. Glassopharyngeal - Taste and carotid blood pressure

X. Vagus nerve - Aortic blood pressure and digestive organs

XI. Accessory nerve - swallowing movement

XII. Hypoglossal nerve - tongue movements

Labels: biology, cranial, list, nerves, neurology

MEDULLA OBLONGATA is the lower part of brainstem. It has autonomic function. The brain stem itself relays information between the peripheral nerve and spinal cord to the upper parts of the brain.

It is rostral/anterior (towards the head) to the spinal cord and caudal/prosterior (towards bottom) to the pons (higher part of brainstem).

Cranial nerve nucleus is a collection of neurons (gray matters) in the brain stem that is associated with one or more cranial nerves. There are 12 of them. Cranial nerve nucleus location means where the cranial nerve native comes from.

In medulla oblongata, there are 7 of them arised from.

The nuclei are grouped into :

1. Vestibulocochlear Nucleus (VIII)

2. Hypoglossal nucleus (XII)

3.Dorsal motor nucleus of vagus nerve (X)

4.Nucleus ambiguous (IX, X, XI)

5. Solitary nucleus (VII, IX, X)

6. Spinal trigeminal nucleus (V)

Later, the further explanation about each of them will be provided each in one post.

Labels: biology, cranial, medulla oblongata, nerves, neurology, nuclei

A calico cat is not a breed of cat, it is a color pattern. To be called "calico", three colors must be present: black, white and orange. Variations of these colors include gray, cream and ginger. A "true" calico cat has large blocks of these three colors.

In vast majority, calico cats are always female. Why? The answer is in its genetic. The calico color of the cats are sex-linked trait. Sex linked trait is a physical cahracteristic that is related to gender. As you know female gets her xx and male gets his xy.

The answer is: the genetic coding for displaying black or orange color is found on the X chromosome. The coding for white is a completely separate gene. Since females have two X chromosomes, they are able to "display" two colors (orange and black) and white, creating 3 colors. They can be male too (in rare case). In this situation, the cat has two X chromosomes and one Y chromosome (XXY). This condition is similar too klinefelter's syndrome as i already explained in previous post.

Labels: calico, cats, chromosomes, colors, genetic, klinefelter's, sex

Title:GENOME THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A SPECIES IN 23 CHAPTERS
Author: Matt Ridley
Publisher:Harper Perennial
Year:2000

Synopsis:
by picking one newly discovered gene from each of the 23 pairs of human chromosomes, and telling its story, Matt Ridley recounts the history of our species and its ancestors from the dawn of life to the brink of future medicine. The most significant scientific discovery about human recipe. Matt ridley offers an exciting voyage about human genome providing detail information of each chromosome in genome. This book helps you to understand philosophical and more issues as a result of the genome mapping discovery.

There is a gene called CYP 17 in chromosome 10. This gene creates enzyme which able to break down cholesterol to its simple forms. We know that cholesterol is synonimous with poison. It causes death and some suffocating disease, that left you high and dry. Cholesterol itself is made from some hormones like testosterone, progesterone, cortisol, corticosterone, oestradiol. Without this enzyme, the pathway is blocked and the only hormones taht can be produced are progesterone and cortocisterone. People who lack a working of this gene cannot make other sex hormones, simply goes like if you genetically male, you look like girls.

Cortisol is one of hormones that made by this gene. It's used in integrating body and mind. It interferes with the immune system, changes the sensitivity of ears, eyes, and nose. It also alters body function. By definition, when you have a lot of cortisol in your veins, you are under stress. Cortisol and stress are also synonymous.

Although stress is caused by the outside world, such as heading on to exams or exhaustion. Stress is divided into two stressors: short term and long term. Short term stressors cause an increase in norepinephrine and epinephrine, both makes the heart beat faster and the feet go cold. Long term stressors that last for longer activate a different pathway that results in a much slower. High of cortisol also makes your immune system goes lack. That's why people who in high stress are more likely to catch colds and other infection. Cortisol is reducing the number and lifetime of lymphocytes.

In white blood cells cortisol is certainly involved in switching a gene called TCF, also on chromosome 10, which able to make its own protein, whose job to suppress another protein called interleukin 2 that puts white blood cells on alert. So cortisol, suppresses the immune system but makes you more susceptible to disease.

Labels: biology, cholesterol, chromosomes, cortisol, genes, lymphocyte, white blood cell

why do stars sparkling?

Star is an outer space object that potentially lights. Sun is a star.

Star is more than a beautiful object. It embellishes our night and also history. In tarot card, star means hope. Its myriad meanings indirectly have embellished our living. Another example goes, when a pick-up liner goes a metaphor between a beautiful girl's eye and a star.

Star as an outer space object, doesnt really spark. It looked sparkling if its light seen from far distance and when its light should through far distance air to our eyes.

For example, astronauts in moon, which hasnt atmosphere layer, can see a night sky filled non sparkling stars.

In our earth, a planet that filled with thick atmosphere, we can see stars spark or in more scientifical saying, "refracted".


Around us, air mass always flowing. Hot air moves toward up and vice versa. Air refracts light based on its density. So when starlight through thin air and goes through a thicker one, the light will refracted. The star will be look bigger and low resolutioned. Intensity changing is called scintillation.

Labels: astronomy, light, physics, refraction, scintillation, sky, stars