my arashi crack is so educational!

lookie lookie!

yups, this guy's heart is leaning towards the right, instead of the left.
not only that, his organs are all reversed too,
in that they are in opposite positions,
kinda like mirror image of a normal person's organs?
so it's like.. his intestines curl in the opposite way.
COOL SHIT RIGHT!
[the girl in the picture also has the same condition]

anw, this condition is situs inversus totalis, which occurs in 1 out of every 10,000 births.
it doesn't really affect their lives, as in there are no side effects,
but a variation of this condition does.
like when they have the same organs transposed on both sides,
for example. they have the left side organs on both sides/ right side organs on both sides.
so they may have 2 spleens or gall bladders,
but other organs will be missing.
so it's like it usually results in premature deaths i guess..
since the vital organs are missing.

o.0

my arashi crack is so educational!
SUGOI!
it entertains me.

makes me happy.

teaches me new things everyday.
[i just learned that ねぎ (pronounced as negi) means onion in japanese yesterday while watching arashi crack]

motivates me to learn japanese.

and it's educational よ!!

anyway, here's why the condition occur. this episode's from 2003, so by now there should be new insights, but this is what i have from the show:

we've learned that there's a protein that decides which organs to develop on the right and left sides. This proteins are called transcription factors.

At the time of fertilization when a sperm implants itself in an egg, these proteins normally travel in an anticlockwise fashion in the egg (the pink circles are the proteins):



However, for some reason, when the proteins travel in a clockwise fashion, the result is a person with reversed organs:


but the condition remains a mystery with only theories as to the inherent reasons.

interesting ne! ^^

and the later part of the show was on a japanese family with blue eyes.
you know when they first mentioned it,
i was imagining blue eyes as in blue irises?

but it isnt!!



yups, the whites of her eyes are blue, compared to the person below [who is actually jun]


this is known as blue sclera.

and douzo~ the explanation's here:
the whites of the eyes are called sclera, so in this condition, the tissue of the sclera is slightly thinner than normal.
this occurs because the thinner sclera allows the interior of the eyeball to show through, causing it to appear blue.

the mother mentioned that she doesnt deal with bright flashes and sunlight very well, and they thought it might be due to the condition, but the doctor said he needs to check with an orthopedic surgeon.

and they concluded that the family has another condition called osteogenesis imperfecta,
which occurs when the collagen in one of the proteins responsible for creating bodily tissues, such as bones and skin,
doesnt work normally, resulting in thinner bones as well as thinner whites of the eyes.

the seriousness of the condition varies though.

D no Arashi is full of random cool shit よ！

i was really pissed off w cpf's nonsense site just now,
and was being really potty-mouthed,
[anita knows, anita knows =P]
but just see!
arashi crack totally made my day.
^^

p.s. shells? lucky man is stuck in my head.
you're bad influence よ..
*sings: いま　世界を手玉に取って転がせ　Lucky man
宝モノを探して　ごっそりGet!　Get!　Get!しようぜ! *