Funtabulously Frivolous Friday Five 155

Puff of smoke.

Moyamoya is a rare type of stroke. Arteries become blocked via constriction and thrombosis while a collateral circulation develops. These collateral vessels are weak and prone to aneurysm. On a conventional angiography these collateral vessels appear life a “puff of smoke”.

• Scop J, Baker S. The “Moya” you look, the “Moya” you find. Crit Care Resusc. 2006 Jun;8(2):108-14.

Craniocervical cyanosis

First described by Ollivier in 1837 at autopsy of a man trampled on by the crowds in Paris

Various hypotheses have been made about the pathophysiology.

One theory is the traumatic asphyxia is associated with a fear response in the accident victim just prior to injury. In this “moment of impending disaster”, the individual reflexly takes a deep breath, holds it, and braces himself. Since air cannot escape from the thoracic cavity during compression in the face of a closed glottis, the increased pressure is transmitted centrally to mediastinal veins, superior and inferior vena cave, and right atrium. The blood in these structures is squeezed from the chest into the valveless veins of the head, neck, and abdomen.

• Williams JS, Minken SL, Adams JT. Traumatic asphyxia–reappraised. Ann Surg. 1968 Mar; 167(3): 384–392.

Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)

It was invented with the help of (WARF) with the –arin indicating the link with coumarin.

In 1933 a farmer from Deer Park showed up unannounced at the School of Agriculture and walked into a professor’s laboratory with a milk can full of blood which would not coagulate. In his truck, he had also brought a dead heifer and some spoiled clover hay. He wanted to know what had killed his cow. In 1941 Karl Paul Link gave him his answer and the rodent killer was born. [Reference]

The French gauge was devised by Joseph-Frédéric-Benoît Charrière, a 19th-century Parisian maker of surgical instruments.

In French-speaking countries the symbol for French gauge is Ch (for Charriere, its inventor) instead of Fr, Fg, Ga, FR or F seen in other countries.

It refers to the external diameter of catheters and is three times the diameter in millimetres. A 1 French has an external diameter of 1/3mm and a 9 French has a diameter of 3mm. D(mm) = Fr/3

Note that the higher the French gauge the larger the diameter of the catheter. This is contrary to needle-gauge size, where an increasing gauge corresponds to a smaller diameter catheter. [Reference]

It is an urban myth – that a couple can become “entwined” by a severe form of vaginismus which causes a “locking” of the penis within the vagina during intercourse. So why is it funny?

The original description was by Egerton Yorrick Davis in the Philadelphia Medical News.

EYD was the pseudonym of Sir William Osler – father of modern medicine. He is purported to have invented the syndrome and written an article upon it in 1884 in order to basically get up the nose of one of his fellow editorial board members!

Why is it funny today? Well if you enter penis captivus into a search engine – you get a lot off hits – the main forum is the cosmetic penis-enlargement market, seems a lot of men are worried if they have the op – they might end up with this problem. Seems the tongue inserted in the cheek is tougher to dislodge than the other member from its vessel!

• Egerton Y Davis. Vaginismus. Philadelphia Medical News, December 13, 1884: 673