THAI PENIS PERIL
A young Bangkok man attempting to gain sexual gratification with a two-inch (5cm) aluminium pipe later found his penis trapped inside the metal tube. Perhaps through embarrassment, he did not seek medical attention, but continued his daily life with his member still lodged in the pipe. After five days he called an ambulance, and medical staff worked on him for three hours with equipment usually used to cut rings from
fingers. Eventually he was freed, but unfortunately after the five days’ confinement, irreparable damage had been done, with loss of blood supply causing 90 per cent of his penis to become rotten. There was no alternative but to amputate. Apparently the young man had done this many times before. But he won’t be doing it again. forum.thaivisa.com, 14 Jan 2020.
GOING GREY OVERNIGHT
Numerous stories tell of people whose hair turned grey after a sudden shock. When French queen Marie Antoinette was seized by republicans during the French Revolution, her regal locks reputedly turned white overnight. Now, scientists have finally established that stress can indeed cause hair to suddenly lose its colour, by causing sympathetic nerves to release norepinephrine, which is then taken up by nearby pigment-regenerating stem cells. The chemical sends the cells into overdrive, their excess activity depleting their colour reservoir permanently. “After just a few days, all of the pigment-regenerating stem cells were lost,” said Dr YaChieh Hsu, associate professor of stem cell and regenerative biology at Harvard University and lead researcher of a new study published in Nature. “Once they’re gone, you can’t regenerate pigment anymore.” Fight or flight responses are generally beneficial, but they also have the effect of shutting down functions deemed non-essential. Most return in time, but some, like hair pigmentation, may be permanently damaged. D.Telegraph, 23 Jan 2020.
SPAIN’S WEREWOLF KIDS
At least 17 Spanish children began growing hair all over their bodies, after taking a mislabelled prescription medicine intended to treat heartburn, but which is actually used to treat hair loss. The Malaga-based Farmaquimica Sur laboratory had mistakenly labelled bottles of minoxidil (an anti-baldness medication) as omeprazole (a treatment for acid reflux). The lab distributed the wrongly labelled medicine to pharmacies throughout Spain. The Spanish dermatology association has reassured parents that the unwanted hair should begin to fall out around three months after the last dose. However, the mother of a 26-month-old girl has said that four months later, her child is still covered in hair on her face and other parts of her body. She believes the Spanish authorities are minimizing the significance of this health scandal. “Thank God that the symptom was as noticeable as excess hair,” she said, adding that “if it had been a latent thing that was gradually affecting internal organs,” she would have continued to administer the wrong drug. New York Times, 30 Aug 2019.