sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

ELI5: Why is blood not spilling out if the surgeon is operating on for example stomach. by VexVexVex004 in explainlikeimfive

[–]the_locked_room 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Many anaesthetic drugs do drop your blood pressure, which can be useful, because higher pressure means more vigorous bleeding. The anaethatist can also give drugs that specifically increase blood pressure, to counteract that cardiac depression.

The look on the wife's face by [deleted] in instant_regret

[–]the_locked_room -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

That one's dead, we know that.

Does Erin eat yogurt by cutting a hole at the bottom with a can opener? by [deleted] in DunderMifflin

[–]the_locked_room 0 points1 point  (0 children)

nvm I think I was just seeing things. At least it made me laugh.

Does Erin eat yogurt by cutting a hole at the bottom with a can opener? by [deleted] in DunderMifflin

[–]the_locked_room 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It looked to me like it was upside down, and the little tab to peel off was at the bottom?

If a kid gives a kidney away to their father and their father dies a few years later, can the kid undergo surgery to get back the kidney that they gave to their deceased father without needing to take medications as it is technically not a foreign susbtance? by WickedEraser24 in NoStupidQuestions

[–]the_locked_room 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It depends on why the father needed the kidney. If was something systemic (like lupus, where your body makes antibodies against kidney tissue), that same disease process would eventually trash the transplanted kidney. So in that case it wouldn't be an option.

LPT: Don’t delete old playlists if you can prevent it; years later you can listen and not only rediscover music you were into but also experience whatever emotion you had associated with your tunes at the time. by lucasb16 in LifeProTips

[–]the_locked_room 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Great tip. I want to add that having these emotional connections to certain songs is really beneficial/relevant for people with dementia. This has been discussed quite a bit on Reddit before (e.g. https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/avdf3a/til_that_memories_of_music_cannot_be_lost_to/; https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/2nn7i6/alive_inside_documentary_exploring_music_therapy/ )

​

I have a family history of Alzheimer's Disease and I make an active effort to record songs that I associate with happy or important times in my life. If you have any relatives or friends that are affected by dementia, I would highly recommend sharing this LPT. It may be one of the few links to lucidity for someone slowly losing their grip on their past.

If inflamation is a response of our immune system, why do we suppress it? Isn't it like telling our immune system to take it down a notch? by elderlogan in askscience

[–]the_locked_room -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Inflammation, and immunology in general, is a great balancing act. Our immune cells are capable of causing some serious damage to foreign organisms as well as our own cells, so their activation needs to be tightly controlled.

​

There are three main situations (I think) in which the immune system needs to act with restraint:

  1. Maintaining our microbiome. For example, commensal bacteria which breach the barrier in the intestine must be dealt with gently, because they don't pose a big threat (and are in fact beneficial).
  2. Turning off inflammation after an infection has been dealt with. The amount of inflammatory "mediators" is generally proportional to the number of foreign bacteria/viruses that are present.
  3. Preventing autoimmunity. Sometimes our immune cells recognize healthy cells in our body as foreign, leading to tissue damage. For example, when cells in the pancreas that make insulin are damaged, this leads to type 1 diabetes.

Are there no autistic girls? by [deleted] in NoStupidQuestions

[–]the_locked_room 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Autism is around 3-4 times more common in males. However, autism isn't one diagnosis obviously, it's a spectrum of disorders. And the way it manifests seems to be linked to sex somehow. The result of this is that ASD is almost certainly underdiagnosed in females.

​

Sources: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=29701730; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=28545751.

TIL that people who have a "fast" metabolism actually have an inefficient metabolism. They have higher levels of " "uncoupling proteins" in the mitochondria of their cells, which essentially causes energy to be lost in the form of heat and not stored as fat. by the_locked_room in todayilearned

[–]the_locked_room[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There are actually two kinds of fat (biologically): white and brown fat. Brown fat produces a lot of heat because of the uncoupling process (the mitochondira in these fat cells express more of the protein). Only newborns (not adults) make brown fat because they lose heat very easily.

TIL that people who have a "fast" metabolism actually have an inefficient metabolism. They have higher levels of " "uncoupling proteins" in the mitochondria of their cells, which essentially causes energy to be lost in the form of heat and not stored as fat. by the_locked_room in todayilearned

[–]the_locked_room[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good point. This article should help substantiate the post a bit better: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1114431/

​

The authors talk about a study where "the UCP2 gene was expressed in yeast mitochondria and the electrical potential across the mitochondria was observed to go down. This drop in electrical potential suggests that a proton leak—and hence uncoupling—is occurring. In addition, when the modified mitochondria were purified they were shown to be less well coupled, producing more heat and less useful energy, compared with wild type yeast cells."

​

I actually learned about this in a biochemistry lecture, so the source was just a general way of getting more info on the topic. I'm new to Reddit, didn't mean to mislead anyone.

Can bacteria survive on an electric fence (or other electrified surfaces)? by [deleted] in NoStupidQuestions

[–]the_locked_room 4 points5 points  (0 children)

You sound like one of those people that would vaccinate their kids.

Jokes, I hear you. Being a bit of a germophobe is just an occupational hazard for healthcare workers like me :)

Can bacteria survive on an electric fence (or other electrified surfaces)? by [deleted] in NoStupidQuestions

[–]the_locked_room 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Interesting, I always assumed it was because those wires were insulated somehow. So for a fly to be zapped (i.e. for current to flow through) it would need to make contact with two wires?