Steemit's Scientific Info Digest #1- The Stone Baby, Rani Robotic pills, Bacteria That Feed On Electricity, Water Birth and Gliford progeria syndrome.

Hello great Steemians, welcome to the very first issue of Steemit's Scientific Info Digest. I'm thrilled to be beginning this feat i consider a milestone. In this weekly digest, you get to be enlightened by @sciencegeek on all the trending happenings in the science industry. I have a catch phrase i plan to work with, and which is:

If It's trending scientific info, Then we're sharing the info!

I plan to keep this as interesting as possible, so expect lots of great stuff to come your way 😉

Without further ado, let's get down to business.

Lithopedion..( the stone baby)

I first stumbled upon an article on this late last week and decided to share this with you guys.

It’s lithopedion otherwise referred to as the stone baby. The word is derived from the Latin words litho-‘stone’ and pedion- ‘baby, small child, infant’.

In Ancient Greek mythology, it was believed that people emerged from stones scattered all over the earth by Deucalion and Pyrrha. They even believed that people sometimes turn into stone.

However, the cause of this rare phenomenon has been proven scientifically beyond any reasonable doubt.

A lithopedion baby or a stone baby is formed as a result of an ectopic pregnancy. That is a pregnancy out of the confines of the uterus most especially in the abdomen. Only about 13 percent of pregnancies that resulted to a stone baby were conceived within the uterus.
However, the stone babies were still found in the abdomen because it had ruptured out of the uterus.

The baby grows too big and dies. It cannot be reabsorbed by the mother because of its size. In response to this, the body calcifies the dead baby to prevent the mother primarily from infection.

The stone baby most times is an accidental finding on x-ray or Ultrasound Scan because most women with it could actually go on living with it for years and having other babies with it.

Currently, only about 300 cases of lithopedion are reported world wide with the earliest case reported in 1852. Married to a tailor, Madam Carti Colombe died at the age of 68years old. Before her death, she had complained of reduced appetite and abdominal pains.

This was traced to a pregnancy which she had at the age of 40.

On the day of her delivery 28 years ago(at the time), nothing emerged except amniotic fluid with little blood stains. She actually suspected and always felt that her child remained inside her but as at that time,no doctor could help her.

After her death, her husband granted permission for her autopsy. The surgeons cut into madam colombe. A large stone was found in her, when the surgeons cracked it open, they saw the head and shoulders of a child.

It was first described in a book ‘the two headed boy’ by Jan Bondeson as a hard tumor, wrinkled and formed like a turkey’s crest.

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The child within it looked like this: "The right arm extended down toward the navel; its hand had been broken off through carelessness when the stone-child was extracted. The bones of the head were transparent and the fontanelles were not closed. In several places,the skin of the head was covered with hair. The stone-child had one sole tooth, situated in the lower jaw."
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The latest case is a 92 year old woman in Chile carrying a 4.4 pound mummified fetus believed to be 50 years old.

Rani Robotic pills.

A new way of delivering drugs in humans has been discovered. It’s called the Robotic pills. Developed by a pharmaceutical company, all factors have been considered in creating this amazing piece of technology.

Before going into further details on it’s Mechanism of action, I would like to take us through some concepts explaining to us why this invention will be highly beneficial.

As we would all agree, a lot of individuals find it very difficult to adhere to medications delivered via injections. Be it intramuscular or intravenous. Well am really guilty of that because I've skipped a lot of medications due to phobia for pills and needles.

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Some persons react to the intravenous mode of drug administration, it could be quite painful especially when you are to have multiple doses at the same spot. It might be time consuming for the health professional having to mix the drug, secure a good venous access before administering the drug itself.

Some other individuals wouldn’t even have a choice because the drug is produced only in the injectible form, and a good number of persons are simply just scared of needles.

Let’s now stream line our thoughts to those individuals who have no choice because the drug only come in form of injections. This is so because the chemical components of these drugs make it impossible for them to be taken orally.

Such components include polypeptides and proteins as seen in insulin and the likes.

Polypeptides, proteins and some anti-biopics are easily digested in the Gut. As such, they cannot be properly absorbed by the body to achieve the desired therapeutic effect.

An example of a drug that fits into this description is insulin used in the treatment of Diabetes.

How does this Robotic Pill Come:

A simple piece of ingenious engineering developed by Rani therapeutics. The pill is taken Orally with the active ingredients stuck to needles made of sugar inside the Pill.

Once taken, the pill escapes into the gut and the pin is realeased piercing the gut wall.
Remember, the needles are made of sugar with the drug. Once pierced into the gut, the body absorbs it and the desired therapeutic effect will be achieved.

This is a very amazing new development that could totally change the face of medications as it is known now.

P.S: this is a video showing this process.

Meet the living things that live on pure electricity!

Your mind probably got drawn to Sparky, in the spiderman series, and I'm sure the title got you wondering, electricity?

Well, it's true. There are creatures that exist, who feed and breath electrons. You may think these creatures are extinct or scarce, but.... No! They are everywhere.

The culprit, happens to be none other than our very little friends, the bacteria.
There are various forms of bacteria in existence, but this species happen to be unique as they are the only ones that have been found to feed on and excrete electrons.

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Take a moment, listen to the soft beats of your heart, the rhythm of your breathing. These are all signs of respiration taking place. This process is facilitated by a long and complicated process. The Lungs, diaphragm, heart, veins, arteries and the intricate molecular apparatus of our cells all play a part in respiration, but the end goal is to deliver oxygen to where it needs to be.

Now bearing that in mind, As we travel thousands of miles beneath normal ground level. There are creatures there who live and survive there. It gets wierd because oxygen is as scarce as light in such places. So how do the creatures survive? Electricity. These bacteria survive by feeding on electrons found in sand and metals underground.

Electrons are what actually ensures the survival of all living things. The difference between these bacteria and other living things is the fact that, instead of them relying on getting thier electron from other sources(like food), they feed on the purest form possible.

These bacteria now connect themselves, forming a long chain of electrons in order to ensure survival.Shewanella and Geobacter used to be the only known types of electron consuming and emitting bacteria, Halomonas, Idiomarina, Marinobacter, and Pseudomonas of the Gammaproteobacteria, and Thalassospira are a few of the new discovered species.

Electric bacteria connect to form wires

Its actually quite easy to find these electric bacteria, just stick an electrode underground, and apply electricity. The bacteria begin to make thier way to the electrode, it's as easy as fishing with a bait.

Scientist are excited because its been said that this could help curb our environmental pollution. All we need to do is to provide them with an electrode onto which they can "breathe" electrons. They actually have the capability of stealing electrons from toxic waste, oil spills and nuclear waste. This thereby cleans up our waste and also generates electricity in the process. NASA has also been excited in this finding as it is believed that this may lead to discovering organisms in other planets that can survive where there is no oxygen.

Water Birth!

A lot of you have probably heard of the term, water birth, you've probably even seen a loved one go through it. Have you ever wondered, what exactly the concept is all about? Why the baby birthed in the pool of water?

Well, I'll clarify that in a jiffy.

Like the name implies, water birth is delivering a baby in a pool of water. A woman can choose to either have the baby in the water, or go through labour in the water and then come out of there to have the baby on a bed.

The major reason behind the whole pool thigy is the fact that immersion, during the first stage of labour, reduces labour pain. The coldness of the water may produce a sedative effect, and the mother is able to assume a much more comfortable position, due to the buoyancy of the water. Immersion has also been shown to decrease the production of stress hormones and anxiety level.

In comparism with using anaesthetic during labour, water birth is usually much more convenient because, First, there are no risks of side effects. No risk of trauma or complications. This makes water birth preferable, in terms of providing analgesia during labour.

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Water birth also offers perineal support, there by reducing the complication of tear, or episiotomy. The immersion takes some of the pressure off the vaginal area, thereby reducing the chances of episiotomy and the use of an epidural. Water birth has been known to reduce the pain of labour in the first stage of labour, and also reduce the chances of a cesarean delivery. Stress urinary incontinence symptoms which usually occur 42 days after delivery, is also bypassed.

The theory behind the water birth is that the baby has spent 9 months in the amniotic fluid, its only logical to birth it in the same environment its been in. However, if complications arise, the mother is immediately removed from the tub and rushed to the hospital if need be. All in All the advantages is known to out weigh the disadvantages.

The Hutchinson gliford progeria syndrome.

Just like the curious case of Benjamin burton, this rare phenomenon has got some similar qualities. Hutchinson gliford progeria syndrome is a genetic condition characterized by a rapid appearance of aging as child hood begins.

Affected individuals look normal at birth but then experience a reduced growth rate. (Failure to thrive). The individual doesnt gain weight as he or she is meant to.

Progeria was first described by Jonathan Hutchinson in 1897. The word progeria is Greek: Pro- “before” and geras- “old age”.

The main importance of this syndrome to scientist is the belief that if well studied, may lead to clues about the complex process of normal aging.

Other names of Hutchinson gliford progeria syndrome.

Hutchinson -gliford syndrome.
Premature Aging Syndrome.
Progeria
Progeria of childhood.

Characteristics.

At about 9-24 months, infants/children with Progeria experiences a growth delay leading to short statue and low weight.

They have distinctive facial features such as craniofacial disproportion, abnormally prominent eyes, a small nose, an underdeveloped jaw, dental malformation and small blueness around the mouth.

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They also develop alopecia ( loss of scalp hair, eyebrows and eyelashes. Generalized atherosclerosis, cardiovascular disease and stroke, prominent scalp veins, loss of layer of fat beneath the skin, skeletal defects could also be other associated characteristics.

Genetic Association.

Progeria, is not usually passed down in families. This is a result of a single letter misspelled gene on chromosome 1 that codes for Lamin A. The patient most times never live long enough to evn bear kids.

Lamin A is a key protein that is a key component of the membrane surrounding the cell nucleus and known as progerin when abnormal.

Treatment:

The treatment of progeria is mainly directed towards specific symptoms. However, a clinical Drug trial has been done using lonafarnib in 2012.

Lonafarnib is a type of farnesyltransferase Transferase inhibitor Originally developed to treat cancer but was found to be effective for progeria.
Every test subjects showed remarkable improvements one way or the other.

Specific treatment for these individuals are supportive and symptomatic as earlier noted.
For example, in those with chest pain due to reduced oxygen supply to the heart muscle (probable angina), treatment may include managing the pain with the use of aspirin ie minimizing or managing the chest pain.

Thank you so much for sticking around and reading my very first issue of this digest. This promises to be an awesome adventure from now on.

Cheers!

All Images are CCO licenced and linked to thier sources.

Text Sources:

The stone baby

Lithopedion

Woman finds four-month-old ‘stone baby’ she thought she’d aborted in her abdomen

Robotic pills

Turning injectable drugs into pills

Oral injections

Electric bacteria

Bacteria that survive on electricity alone