Funtabulously Frivolous Friday Five 295
Just when you thought your brain could unwind on a Friday, you realise that it would rather be challenged with some good old fashioned medical trivia FFFF, introducing the Funtabulously Frivolous Friday Five 295
Question 1
Apple just released their iPhone 11, what condition links the iPhone 11 pro and crumpets?
Reveal the funtabulous answer
Trypophobia – an aversion to the sight of clusters of small holes.
The term “trypophobia” was first coined in 2005 in online forum Reddit and it has since become widely talked about on social media. American Horror Story actress Sarah Paulson and model Kendall Jenner are among those who say they have the condition.
As a bonus fact, a fear of long words is Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia – rather unfortunate.
Reference: BBC news – Apple iPhone 11 pro ‘triggering’ fear of holes.
Question 2
On average you spend 6 months of your life on the toilet. African and Eastern countries seem to have fewer bowel and digestive issues. What is the proposed reason for this?
Reveal the funtabulous answer
Toilet posture.
The beloved toilet may not give us the best posture of remove our ablutions. The standard posture kinks the colon via puborectalis and requires extra straining unlike those people who squat. The solution… a stool for your stool.
Reference: BBC news – are you going to the toilet in the wrong way
Question 3
What percentage of your cells are human?
Reveal the funtabulous answer
Only 43%
You’re more microbe than human – if you count all the cells in your body, only 43% are human. The rest is our microbiome and includes bacteria, viruses, fungi and single-celled archaea.
Reference: BBC news – more than half your body is not human
Question 4
Who said:
What I fear most in science is dogma. Orthodoxy is the root of all evil
Reveal the funtabulous answer
Friedrich von Müller (1858 – 1941) was a German physician.
Revered as ‘The Great Clinician’ (Dem Grossen Kliniker), he is now best remembered for Müller sign in aortic regurgitation
Müller sign (1889):
Pulsatile uvula, soft palate and tonsils with associated redness and swelling. Müller treated a 22 year old female (Luise B) who suffered from aortic incompetence and recorded
…die vor deren und hinteren Gaumenbögen rückten synchron mit jedem Karotiden puls etwas median wärts; auch am Gaumensegel war eine Pulsation zu be merken, indem der freie Rand mit der Uvula nach abwärts bewegt wurde. Auf diese Weise kam durch das Zusammenrücken der Gaumenbögen und Tonsillen, sowie durch das Tiefertreten des Gaumensegels und der Uvula mit jedem Pulsschlag eine Verengerung des Gaumenthores zu Stande
…the anterior and posterior palatal arches, moved somewhat median synchronously with each carotid pulse; The soft palate also showed a pulsation as the free edge was moved downwards with the uvula. In this way, with the narrowing of the palatal arches and tonsils moving together, and the soft palate and the uvula stepping downwards; with each pulse a narrowing of the soft palate occurs
Müller, 1889
Question 5
Which Roman Emperor’s son died from upper airway obstruction – after choking on a pear he’d thrown into the air and caught in his mouth?
Reveal the funtabulous answer
Tiberius Claudius Drusus was the eldest son of the future Roman Emperor Claudius with his first wife Plautia Urgulanilla.
For a great info-graphic site looking to prevent choking in children please click on dontchoke.ubc.ca
And Finally…
FFFF
Funtabulously Frivolous Friday Five
Dr Neil Long BMBS FACEM FRCEM FRCPC. Emergency Physician at Burnaby Hospital in Vancouver. Loves the misery of alpine climbing and working in austere environments. Supporter of FOAMed, toxicology, tropical medicine, sim and ultrasound