Dr Stephen Juan - Odd News

Where Does Belly Button Fuzz Come From?

Belly button fuzz (or lint) comes from the clothes you wear. Some fabrics shed more than others. Some shapes of belly buttons are better collectors. A hairy belly button will collect fuzz better than a hairless one.

Why Doesn’t My Belly Button Heal Over?

In THE ODD BODY we wrote that human navel gazing probably started with the Neanderthals 50,000 years ago and hasn’t stopped since. Our belly button does not heal over because there is nothing between it and our stomach except a few thin layers of skin. The belly button is merely scar tissue of the umbilical cord where the cord has detached following birth. It is of no medical significance. Therefore, medical and anatomy texts pay it little or no attention. Nevertheless, any animal that has been nourished in the womb must have a belly button, although it may not always be easily seen. According to Dr. Edward Feldman of the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of California at Davis, "the scarring may be less obvious in some animals than in others, especially if it is covered by fur."

What Is Behind My Belly Button?

According to the punch line of an old joke: “If you unscrew your belly button, your bottom falls off”. In reality, the umbilical vein comes from the afterbirth or placenta, which carries blood enriched with oxygen and nutrients to the developing baby. The umbilical vein runs from the navel to the fetal liver and through a bypass vessel (the ducted venosus) to the fetal heart. After birth, the umbilical vein remains open for a time. But soon afterwards it closes and shrivels up to become a fibrous cord. It crosses the abdominal cavity in a fold of the abdominal wall lining forming the round ligament (the ligamentum teres). Sometimes things don't close as they should and an umbilical hernia develops.

What Causes Amnesia?

Can’t seem to remember this answer. Oh yes. “Amnesia” is from a Greek work meaning “forgetfulness” and means any kind of memory loss. There are two forms of amnesia. There are two forms of amnesia. Functional amnesia (FA) is the condition in which a person blanks out the past, but is still able to form new memories. FA is extremely rare. Brain specialists contend that this kind of memory loss is much more likely to result from an extremely stressful emotional experience than from a physical injury. This could happen by experiencing the horrors of the battlefield, surviving a disaster, or even witnessing violence occurring to someone else. Neurological amnesia (NA) is a more common type of amnesia. It results from physical injury to the brain. Victims of NA are more likely to have trouble forming new memories, either temporarily or permanently, than recalling old ones.. Memories are stored throughout the brain and not in any single memory center. This means that it's unlikely that a single physical injury anywhere in the brain could wipe out all memories. Nature was smart not to put the all of the brain’s memory eggs into one basket. The brain's temporal lobes (located at the sides of the head just above the ears) contain important areas of memory storage. If the work of one of the temporal lobes is stopped or temporarily interrupted, there's a strong chance of some memory loss. A mild concussion from a blow to the head may not cause permanent brain damage. But it may still leave the brain unable to retain the memory of what happened immediately prior to the blow, at the time of the blow, or just after the blow. This frequently happens to gridiron players, boxers, and other athletes in high contact sports. A more severe blow could erase slightly older memories and interfere with new memory formation for a longer time. Still more serious trauma may completely destroy the ability to retain anything that happens after the injury. The brain can only take so much.

What Is A Birthmark And What Causes Them?

We humans are funny about birthmarks. If one is in the right spot, it’s beautiful. If in another spot, ugly. A few, it’s OK. A few more, it’s not OK. Some cultures used to think that a birthmark was a sign that the person was special---either special in a good sense or in a bad. Infants were sometimes put to death for having a birthmark in the wrong place. A birthmark (hemangioma) or a mole (nevus) is caused by a genetic variation that people experience randomly and without any scientifically established reason. They seem to appear anywhere and everywhere on the body. Genetics predisposes people to all sorts of characteristics like having brown eyes, dark skin, or a certain body build. A birthmark is really a cluster of capillaries in the dermis (the lower part) of the skin. They are usually not cancerous and can be of several types. Some are outgrown, usually by the age of 7. Others are present for a lifetime. One more permanent kind of birthmark is sometimes called a "port wine stain" birthmark due to its dark red coloration. The extent of the birthmark depends on how deeply affected are the capillaries within the dermis. Laser surgery is sometimes tried as a removal method but is not always successful. Port wine stain birthmarks can occur on any part of the body, but are more often found on the face. Some cosmetics are useful in lightening the color. While being a source of self-consciousness for some people, they are harmless in most cases and therefore not a serious health threat like so many other congenital anomalies. If a birthmark changes shape or color, see your doctor.

Why Do I Get Eyestrain?

Maybe grandma wasn’t right. Experts now contend that reading in the dark probably has no long term damaging effects on the eyes. But eyes become more tired in poor light since they have to work harder to discriminate letters, colors, and objects. So it’s a good idea to work and play in plenty of light, especially as one gets older. It’s a sad fact with eyes that as one gets older, pupils get smaller. When you’re older and wish to read with ease, it may take more light to illuminate the retina to the same level that it took to read with ease as a youth. Opinion is divided as to whether or not regular eye exercises can strengthen the muscles in the eyes responsible for focusing. Eye exercises, also known as vision therapy, should only be undertaken on the advice and monitoring of an ophthalmologist or optometrist. Such vision therapy is usually intended for younger patients who have undeveloped or underdeveloped visual problems that may or may not involve specific eye muscles. Some problems are perceptual in nature. The problem in middle age, when focusing on close objects becomes a strain, affects everybody at different times depending a host of factors. Some major factors include: 1) refractive status of eyes (for example, nearsightedness (myopia) and other conditions), 2) daily visual demands, 3) general health status and medications taken, and so on. The muscles responsible for focusing do not really change. It is the transparent lens that actually gets less malleable with age. The chemical properties of the lens of the eye change and harden the lens that prohibits the lens from bending and changing thickness as easily. Human evolution is probably to blame for this as our prehistoric ancestors probably did not depend on eyes for close work nearly as much as we do.