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Researchers discover new salivary glands in the human head

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Re: Researchers discover new salivary glands in the human head

#81

Post by throwanem »

rbanffy wrote: post #68
NiceWayToDoIT wrote: post #45

I find this weirdly amazing, as to this day I was reading some medical news and documentaries where it was said that entire human bodies were sliced by millimetre slices. So, somehow I always imagined that each part of body and tissue is 100% known and that only left is to find out what are inner workings on the nano-meter scale, deep molecular levels or genetic level. But in 2018 there was a similar news about Inter…

That we still find new structures within our own bodies should be deeply troubling to anyone in the medical sciences. I for one would be deeply ashamed if I suddenly found that bytes had a ninth bit we never suspected was there in the first place.

Bytes aren't real. Bodies are, and also have people living in them a lot of the time. It shouldn't come as a surprise or a concern, I think, that the imaginary and trivially simple thing is much easier to comprehend than the category of real and vastly complex things.

(Anyway, some obsolete architectures actually did use nine-bit bytes.)

Re: Researchers discover new salivary glands in the human head

#82

Post by saalweachter »

iguy wrote: post #75
NiceWayToDoIT wrote: post #53

Question for those medical HN ppl: What is definition of organ? I mean before when people were doing surgeries and slicing through interstitium, mesentery or different glands, were surgeon thinking "i will just slice through this slimy thing that does not do anything" or there was more thought about it? Before people were removing on regular bases appendix or tonsil, now understanding about the role has changed... so…

Not a medical person, but I think this is much like asking "what's a species?". Nature is clearly clumpy, your body has one heart & two lungs & they have obviously different tissues & purposes. But precisely how many organs, and precisely where you draw the divides, is something we don't have sharp answers to. We adjust as we go along.

To add on to this, the question becomes "Is it useful to treat this part as a separate organ (sometimes)?"

Re: Researchers discover new salivary glands in the human head

#83

Post by zdragnar »

52-6F-62 wrote: post #77
rbanffy wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That we still find new structures within our own bodies should be deeply troubling to anyone in the medical sciences. I for one would be deeply ashamed if I suddenly found that bytes had a ninth bit we never suspected was there in the first place.

Yeah... and hearing some of those being related to the gut. I’ve been diagnosed with a condition this year without real, solid evidence for cause. Seeing some of the brightest doctors try and write off health matters to alcoholism in non-alcoholics was concerning. After even cursory, high-level reading of what those terms mean elf me to believe it’s the favoured diagnosis when they’re unsure of the diagnosis and hesi…

There are a number of "bucket" diagnoses that you can get thrown into once other things are ruled out, because there simply is no way to test to confirm that is what they are.

Most mental illnesses, but also physical ones like fibromyalgia and psoriatic arthritis have no definitive test.

Re: Researchers discover new salivary glands in the human head

#84

Post by 52-6F-62 »

zdragnar wrote: post #83
52-6F-62 wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah... and hearing some of those being related to the gut. I’ve been diagnosed with a condition this year without real, solid evidence for cause. Seeing some of the brightest doctors try and write off health matters to alcoholism in non-alcoholics was concerning. After even cursory, high-level reading of what those terms mean elf me to believe it’s the favoured diagnosis when they’re unsure of the diagnosis and hesi…

There are a number of "bucket" diagnoses that you can get thrown into once other things are ruled out, because there simply is no way to test to confirm that is what they are. Most mental illnesses, but also physical ones like fibromyalgia and psoriatic arthritis have no definitive test.

The concerning factor for me re: alcoholic diagnosis is that there is typically a baseline for minimum consumption that has been tested and "proven". And that even said baseline isn't necessarily adhered to, and that bucket is used in preference over more accurate, but less resolute, buckets (like idiopathy).

Re: Researchers discover new salivary glands in the human head

#85

Post by simonh »

NiceWayToDoIT wrote: post #45

I find this weirdly amazing, as to this day I was reading some medical news and documentaries where it was said that entire human bodies were sliced by millimetre slices. So, somehow I always imagined that each part of body and tissue is 100% known and that only left is to find out what are inner workings on the nano-meter scale, deep molecular levels or genetic level. But in 2018 there was a similar news about Inter…

We know there's stuff there, but we don't necessarily know what all of it does. In this case the tissue in question was probably thought to be part of a known larger structure, but now it turns out it has a distinct function. Slices aren't going to tell you that.

Re: Researchers discover new salivary glands in the human head

#86

Post by WJW »

DonHopkins wrote: post #79
hamilyon2 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I could think of other examples. I mean, we know for sure that electrical motors are not going to be hugely more efficient, because then they will break conservation of energy and bunch of other laws of physics. So, by that measure we are not in dark ages

Yet we power them by burning coal.

What does that have to do with the efficiency of electric motors? They don't magically get more efficient if you power them with a wind turbine.

Re: Researchers discover new salivary glands in the human head

#87

Post by et2o »

rbanffy wrote: post #68
NiceWayToDoIT wrote: post #45

I find this weirdly amazing, as to this day I was reading some medical news and documentaries where it was said that entire human bodies were sliced by millimetre slices. So, somehow I always imagined that each part of body and tissue is 100% known and that only left is to find out what are inner workings on the nano-meter scale, deep molecular levels or genetic level. But in 2018 there was a similar news about Inter…

That we still find new structures within our own bodies should be deeply troubling to anyone in the medical sciences. I for one would be deeply ashamed if I suddenly found that bytes had a ninth bit we never suspected was there in the first place.

Give me a break

Re: Researchers discover new salivary glands in the human head

#88

Post by et2o »

hilbert42 wrote: post #5

It seems almost unbelievable that in this day and age we could have missed something like this. In my opinion, it put modern medicine into perspective. I've suspected for some time that medicine is actually closer to the dark ages than we like to think it is, and this report seems like a good validation of that notion.

Laughable confirmation bias.

Re: Researchers discover new salivary glands in the human head

#89

Post by et2o »

m463 wrote: post #69
garbagetime wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine the following. Here's the spectrum of medical knowledge: ----------------------------------------- Here's where we were in the dark ages: --|-------------------------------------- Here's where we are now: -------|--------------------------------- Here's where people like to think we are: ------------------|---------------------- In this scenario it seems like what you're saying and what your parent said are b…

I'm reminded of the scene in Mad Men where Roger says something to the effect of "I did everything they said for my ulcer, I drank the buttermilk. and now I have a coronary!" Also, in the book "The King of Hearts" which describes the history of open heart surgery, the first open heart surgeries were done by sewing the circulatory system of two people together (usually mother and child). that was in the recent past.

We have advanced incredibly far in both treatment of CAD and ulcers. And in CAD, still making tremendous improvements within the last ten years. You don’t really know what you’re talking about at all, citing a TV show.

Re: Researchers discover new salivary glands in the human head

#90

Post by projektfu »

roywiggins wrote: post #80
projektfu wrote: post #60

I’m a little surprised they went to a press release but didn’t say they identified a structure in a cadaver. So, at the moment, this is sort of like a geological feature that’s only ever been seen using a satellite.

They did find it in two cadavers: "These tubarial glands were seen to exist in the PSMA PET/CT scans of all the 100 patients examined in the study, and physical investigations of two cadavers – one male and one female – also showed the mysterious bilateral structure, revealing macroscopically visible draining duct openings towards the nasopharyngeal wall."

Ah. Thanks, i read the article but not carefully it seems.
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