#a prologue to amniotes

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A Prologue to Amniotes

Part IV - The egg came first

Late Mississippian. It has been 40 million years since tetrapods first walked on land. Every generation since then, they have remained bound to the waters for at least one moment in their life cycle.

Despite their adaptations for walking on land, early tetrapod reproduction wasn't much different from that of their fish predecessors. Spawning, or external fertilization of an egg mass, with eggs covered in a gelatinous membrane laid in a body of water, prevending the permeable eggs from dessicating.

But things are now changing. While the mid-Carboniferous rainforests still provide safe, moist environments, reptiliomorphs have already begun adventuring further inland. As swamps left room to humid crevices to lay eggs in, creatures like Casineria also began to develop internal fertilization, refusing to leave their reproduction at the mercy of the elements.

Casineria kiddi, an early amniote relative by ДиБгд (CC-BY-SA 4.0)

Adventuring into even drier environments, ancestors of amniotes still had to solve two crucial problems. While a harder shell could prevent the egg from dessicating, it would doom the embryo to suffocation, by preventing it to get rid of carbon dioxide. Furthermore, the small size of the eggs - also constrained by gas exchange - limited the full development of the embryo before hatching.

To solve both of these issues, the outer layers of the eggs would have to be reshaped. The outer gelatinous layer was replaced by a fibrous membrane for protection, and later by the three layers known as extraembryonic membranes: the amnion, chorion and allantois. The innermost amnion would surround and protect the embryo, while the outer chorion and sac-like allantois take care of gas exchange and waste removal.

In the safety of the amniotic egg, the embryo was able to hatch considerably more developed than before. Skipping the larval stage, amniote youngs would hatch as miniatures of the adults, making them able to face the challenges of the Carboniferous world from the day of their birth.

Structure of the amniotic egg, by Lumen Learning (CC-BY)

As the Pennsylvanian began and climate started to dry out, later developments would perfect the ability of early amniotes to survive in drier, fully terrestrial environments. A thicker, less permeable skin will develop, incorporating keratin and preventing dessication. Cutaneous respiration, requiring the skin to be moist at all times, will give way to costal respiration, harnessing the power of the ribcage to expand and contract the lungs. Cutting their last ties with the water, amniotes had finally conquered the land.

On one fateful day, not long after the amniote body plan was perfected, one of the most decisive splits in vertebrate history would occur. A divergence of the amniotes into two major lineages, alternating domination of land, sea and sky for the next 320 million years. But sauropsids like Hylonomus would at first stay in the shadows. The stage of the Late Pennsylvanian would be left to their rivals and cousins, as forerunners like Archaeothyris paved the way for their own lineage: the synapsids.

Archaeothyris, one of the first known synapsids, by ArthurWeasley (CC BY-SA 3.0)

[quark-nova]

A Prologue to Amniotes

Part I - A fish out of water

So you see, that’s where the trouble began.

That fish.

That damn fish.

Tiktaalik was an elpistostegalian, or “fishapod”. Combining ancestral fish-like characteristics with more modern adaptations, it was among the first vertebrates to walk on land.

Of course, the transition from water to land didn’t happen in one go. Even after Tiktaalik, the first true tetrapods - or four-limbed vertebrates - weren’t close to being fully terrestrial, and most of them only occasionally ventured on land.

Ichthyostega skeletal reconstruction, E. Ahlberg (2018)

In fact, most of the characteristics that led tetrapods onto land were repurposed adaptations - or exaptations, as we call them. Tiktaalik, Ichthyostega and kin lived mostly in shallow swamps, where limbs were more effective than fins for navigating through the obstacles.

These proto-limbs weren’t yet enough to walk, and Ichthyostega would be more likely to drag its body, pushing it forward with its limbs like a mudskipper.

But, at the time, this might have been enough. Giant lobe-finned fish like Hyneria, relatives of our tetrapod ancestors, hunted in the shallows. As they could beach themselves on land like a modern-day orca to catch prey, being able to crawl a few more meters could mean the difference between life and death.

Hyneria attacking a Hynerpeton, Walking with Monsters (2005)

Unfortunately, the heyday of these first tetrapods would quickly come to an end. Two pulses of a devastating mass extinction would close the Devonian period, concluding this first experiment and bringing tetrapods into obscurity for millions of years to come...

[floatingaroundinmymind]

Prologue for a fantasy story; feedback appreciated!

The world's savior was found on a Tuesday. 

On a single patch of green grass amid frost tipped weeds and crystalline ants lay a single man-sized egg in the village square. The children found it first and then the fishermen and farmer's wives. The elders spoke in hushed whispers, spun silvery tales of prophets and heralds to man, saviors in times of need. And so a gilded shrine was built to honor the Prince of Men, a nest with the good down, adorned with the finest silks and purest gold. 

And into the walls men carved such intricate patterns, eyes of the village to watch and protect the young prince--the grandest being an ornate carving of the imagined prince among his people. The women produced their fineries, dresses and robes, stockings and cloaks with which their skilled fingers distilled every ounce of hope. There was deliberation, talk of how to mold the new angelic host, of how he should come to know man and the world of men in the days since prosperity. 

Oh, but it was folly. 

Seed of discontent, sown by human or heavenly hands? Flower of malevolence in full bloom on crimson earth, beneath smoky skies; new ashen snow in frozen summer. And the egg, in a golden cage. 

No one was there when the egg hatched. The scant sunlight filtered in through the rocks above, seeping into cracks between yellowed blades of grass and craggy holes in weak, sputtering spurts of life. And as it hit the large, pale slabs of raw stone and shone on the streams of water which trickled off their crumbling steps, Aurea found they were alone. 

They crawled out of the egg, amniotic fluid spilling onto the previously untainted floor. The bare ground was cold and stark against the warmth of the egg and Aurea felt its solid, stony weight beneath her feet. 

The gilded cage sat upon a raised pedestal and through the golden slats, Aurea caught glimpses of greenery, the trickling of water dropping off into some dark abyss beyond the reach of both the sun's rays and their eyes. Aurea shrugged off the cracked bits of shell that clung to her body, the sticky residue from the egg clinging to each piece. 

Against the bars closest to the stairs were a wooden bowl, cloths of some sort, thick boots, and a folded set of garments upon which a crown of branches sat waiting, watching as if it too awaited their arrival. The bowl was large and filled with water for washing, the fabric beside it needlessly ornate for what amounted to washcloths.

Instinctively, she cupped the water in her hands and rinsed her face, felt the sticky fluid run off it and reached for a washcloth, wiping the rest off. Aurea's face reflected back at them in the ripples—blonde hair curling around the edges of their face and ice blue eyes searching for some sense of self in the not quite child nor adult face that stared back. Tearing her eyes away from the false self, the process was repeated with the rest of their body until the water remaining in the bowl had turned a dingy yellow, the remnants of birth clinging to the bottom. 

Cleansed as they were, the slight chill in the air had now grown to a freezing magnitude, aided by the dampness of Aurea's hair and the absence of the egg's warmth. It was then that she turned her attention to the garments beside the now dirtied washcloths. Stacked neatly there were four pieces in the set, accented by golden threads and vibrant purple hues with an off-white serving as the base, earthen browns meant to balance the more striking elements.  

She held the garments in her hand, noted on one there were holes for arms, a head and more confusing ones on another piece. Aurea stared at the large carving on the wall furthest from them, a winged herald among ground people. The regal figure was clothed in strange robes, trousers and fine boots—the very same set neatly folded before her.   

Aurea turned away from the carving feeling the stone figures' eyes lingering long beyond their rocky casing and attempted to dress herself. 

As she slipped on the clothing still she felt eyes watching. It was a low hum in the background that made its presence known louder with each passing minute. Half-dressed, Aurea turned back to glance at the stony faces on the wall and noticed on the opposite wall a pattern. 

Eyes.

There were eyes carved into every wall surrounding the great gilded cage.

They didn't roam—there was no life behind them. They simply stared at her half-naked asking questions that only the ancient hands of men knew, answers that the wind pretended not to know as it blew through the cavern. Their silent, ever-present gaze never once left Aurea and she could feel each pupil on her body, covering her whole being like a million unwanted hands touching, poking, and prodding at her like she was an animal in a cage. 

There was nowhere to hide. 

She turned, suffocated by the prying eyes, feet slipping on the water from before and reached for the gilded bars as she fell. The bars gave way and Aurea hit the ground—the cage door was open.  

The large golden door now lay wide open, the mysteries of the world outside the cage waiting. Its hinges were old and worn but still functional—the same could not be said for the lock whose chain was rusted brittle and broken, the result of many years left unattended.  

Still feeling the burning gaze of the carvings, Aurea finished dressing, threw on the boots and wrapped herself in the massive cloak provided, the fur-lined hood tickling her cheeks. They stepped carefully over the cage threshold and took in the cavern with caution and awe.

From atop the pedestal holding the cage there were a set of stairs which led down to level ground. On either side of the steps were countless stalagmites guarding a large lake which seemed to circle around the base of the steps, back into some far corner beyond sight. Far above even the cage, there were cracks in the cave ceiling through which small rays of light penetrated and water from some unknown source seemed to endlessly trickle in, dripping off the stalactites and down onto the stalagmites and into the subterranean lake.       

As Aurea descended the stairs, small pillars of white came into view. Dozens of old candles were littered at the base of the steps and led outward into a narrow corridor, ancient wax drips dried on their bulky stalks. 

Alongside the candles were dried bundles of herbs, some ashen and all bound with thin string, the likes of which Aurea could faintly smell mingling with the earthen scent of the cave. 

They followed the trail of candles in darkness through a winding path. The only constants discernible were the drip of water, the occasional streak of light and the sense of a gradual ascent. When the path opened up once more, there was a great out pour of light and with it a scant few steps which led to somewhere outside the cave.

The outer world was immobile. Beyond the threshold was a vast expanse of white blanketing the ground as far as the eye could see and hazy in the distance, a faint plume of smoke against the slowly darkening blue sky. Aurea stepped forward as if on impulse, one foot in front of the other as she stared at the source of the smoke and felt snowflakes float onto her nose and ears, dampening both with their presence. 

The wind's chill penetrated even the thick coat and trousers that Aurea wore and they had grown hungry, an ache seating itself deep in the pit of their stomach. The smoke in the distance was far, but close enough to reach, Aurea thought. And off she went towards the source.

*

"Wren, come tend the fire." 

Grandma sat curled by the fireplace on a much loved rocking chair. The wrinkled face still held the woman's countenance well, playful nature coming through in her twinkling ancient eyes and calm voice. Oh, but she was always like this, lightly complaining about the ache winter brought to her brittle old bones—Wren never minded. 

"Just a moment."

Wren moved slow down the stairs, the outline of her lithe form barely visible in the faint firelight and short brown hair swaying with each step. 

There was something comforting about the way Grandma called her each winter night, the loose routine they had settled into as Wren talked about the stars and Grandma taught her about the past, the olden days most had forgotten. Grandma had always said winter was the season for dreams and so Wren thought it seemed fitting that each passing winter felt a little like a dream itself—lazy and uncertain but with a hopeful tone. The slow meandering pace of the nights overshadowed the brief periods of sunlight called day as the long arm of time stretched itself thin again. It would be a matter of time before spring came and brought with it all the beauty of nature.  

Until then on tonight, like most nights, Wren was relegated to retrieving firewood from the storehouse and preventing the small flame that gave life to all inhabitants from going out. 

"Be careful, the wolves have been restless lately—strange men in the area. Be on your guard." 

"I know, Grandma. I learned from the best after all." Wren winked, patted her hunting knife in its sheathe and lit the lantern like always, the wick seized up in dancing flame. 

Shrugging on a thick coat and slipping into equally warm boots, she turned the front door knob and stepped out into the cold, started down the steps and towards the direction of the storehouse.  

It was a short walk from the main house to the storehouse indicated by loosely staked poles with symbols carved on them so one could navigate nearly blind if they had to. The lantern lit up the path as Wren walked, snowflakes dappling the black wool coat she wore. Undoing the latch and pushing the door open, she grabbed a few hefty pieces of wood and made her way back out, nightly routine nearly over.

The pale moonlight was at its peak now, an imperfect crescent that cast a lonely gaze over a stark white land covered in coniferous trees of varying shades and exposed rock.   

And there face down in the snow, far from Wren but just close enough, was a girl with blonde hair. 

[lances-and-quills]

New W.I.P ( Burnt by Fate)

So a few months ago a random recommendation on YouTube had me stumbling upon a piece of fiction so insane that it inspired me to start up a new project (Don't worry I'm still working on my other work I'm just hyperfocused on this one for now.) That work was the Stockholm series of Fanfictions by Lilly Orchard. I was fascinated by some of the more evil characters and decided to use them as influences for the villains of this new work. Anyway here is the short opening prologue. (Trigger warnings for the following: Death in childbirth, mentions of grooming, and death of a loved one)

Prologue: Last Sunrise

“Aria, please…Protect him, my little…Crescendo.”

Aria watched the light leave her old friend’s eyes, tears in her own as she held the still-crying newborn.

Sonata was just…gone…just like that. Everything Aria had ever loved was gone now, her family, her friend, all that was left was the child writhing in her arms.

She looked down at the little one, splattered in blood and amniotic fluid, this was all that was left of her, a baby boy with an eye like cerulean waters.

She dried him off, cutting his cord and wrapping him in a swaddling cloth she’d purchased for this day.

It was supposed to be a gift for after Sonata delivered, she would wrap her child in the cloth, say thank you, they'd talk and then Aria would leave.

She hadn’t even had time to call an ambulance, she went into labor so quickly and delivered even faster.

And now she was dead, and Aria had to take care of what should have been Sonata’s child.

She looked out the window, to the town of Sandaras, it was a muggy morning, and mist lay heavy over the streets. She could just make out soldiers roaming about, their gilded plates marked with sigils of the sun god shining brightly even in the pale air. 

Still in a daze she walked out into the streets, and fell to her knees, still clutching the child. Both hers and the boy’s tears fell in rivers, from a mix of pain and sorrow.

“What…am I supposed to do now?” Aria looked at the cloud-covered sky, a mixture of rage and sorrow broiling inside her. It was all HER fault if not for that damn whore Adagio, Sonata would still be alive. If not for her barren womb Sonata wouldn’t have felt that she had to be a surrogate, if not for her grooming Sonata never would have met her.

“CURSE YOU ADAGIO! WRETCHED WHORE, BANE OF BANES! I…ARIA Inferima, DO HEREBY VOW THAT YOU WILL DIE! LET THIS WORLD ROT, LET THE GODS OF SUN AND MOON, DAWN AND TWILIGHT BECOME MONSTERS FOR I WILL DESTROY YOU AND EVERYTHING YOU HAVE EVER LOVED!”

She wept, clutching the babe to her chest, sobbing out her last promise, “And let this boy, your son, be the blade that carves out your wretched heart.”

[americxn]

“What happened? What the hell happened. Why do you make it so hard to love you?”

Kai Anderson x GN!Reader

This is definitely not good enough to enter, but I used the prompt from @tatesimper anniversary writing competition so I guess this is my entry? (fig, I’m so sorry for butchering such a good prompt lmao)

also, I realised when writing it that this could serve as a prologue to this fic:

https://americxn.tumblr.com/post/652835852669648896/paranoia

wordcount: 2.5k

warnings: genocide/murder mention, swearing (this is based off episode 11 of season 7)

The night air was cool on your exposed face as you took the front steps to the door of Kai’s house, not bothering to knock as you pushed it open, the warmth and light from within spilling onto the smooth concrete of the front step and pooling around your feet; having been in a committed relationship with Kai from a year and a half now, this house was practically your own. Stepping past the front porch after abandoning your shoes and jacket, you entered the uncharacteristic quiet of the house, scanning the hallway for any signs of life, usually abundant within these walls in the form of Kai’s blue shirt-clad, blindly deferential followers. 

 “Okay. A little bad news to start,” your body instinctively angled towards the voice, distinctly Kai, that sounded through the empty hall from the back room. You set off down the hallway, his voice growing in volume as you approached, somewhat confused. He hadn’t notified you of a scheduled cult meeting that evening and yet his tone of voice was threaded with the assertive cadence that he utilised only when addressing his followers.  “It turns out finding a thousand pregnant women to murder is super hard. No one will ever accuse me of lacking ambition.” He continued as you reached the threshold to the large room at the back of the house that served as a secondary living room; breath catching in your throat, you halted, your hand reaching for the wood of the doorframe to steady yourself as the meaning of his words settled into you. To murder? “So, Night of a Thousand Tates is off.” A ripple of groans and dejected sighs rose from the small sea of men at Kai’s words, quickly falling silent to allow him to continue. “But, Night of One Hundred Tates is on.” His words sent a wave of prickly dread spider walking down your spine; he hadn’t told you about any of this. Killing a thousand pregnant women? You wanted to stride into the room with a bright laugh to wave away his abhorrent words and demand for the real reason that he had called a meeting. But you knew. A terrible, truth filled part of you was all too aware that he was deadly serious A chorus of thrilled cheers drifted up from the small crowd in twisted elation with the newly revealed knowledge that their hands would still be stained with blood by the end of the night. Your breath became too loud in your ears, your mouth turning utterly dry as you examined your suddenly empty mind for a solution to Kai’s monstrous plan that you could use to convince him to call it off. But you came up short, taking a small step back into the safety of the dimly lit hall, your back coming to press against the wall beside the open doorway to ensure that nobody would be able to see you eavesdropping from within. This was too far. Kai had done many questionable, twisted things over the past year but this... this was too far. You were full of self hatred for the amount of things that you had stood aside for and let Kai go ahead with, but not this. You refused to take so much of an ounce of accountability for this. Pulling your phone from the confines of your back pocket, you drew in a shuddering, grounding breath, your thumb working on the keypad. The digit shook as it pressed onto the screen, your teeth catching between your lower lip as your gaze flicked from the brightness of the device’s screen to the open doorway at your side. The sequence of 911 you had typed glared up at you, bathing the underside of your jaw in artificial light as you craned your neck, leaning forwards slightly to peer into the room. Kai stood by the far wall, his men arranged in a neat group before him, all sitting straight backed to attention on their chairs.  Just behind Kai, displayed on the low table pushed against the wall were two silicone models of a woman’s torso, ripe with the swell of a baby within; one was positioned to the side as a cross sectional diagram, the other facing straight on, the small model of a baby in the third trimester curled up within the artificial uterus. Your attention snapped back to Kai as he took a step forwards to address the group.  “Look under your chairs, I’ve handed each of you a unique list of targets, all ready to pop.” Your stomach twisted in horrified disbelief as the men all shifted in unison, pleasure curling the corners of their lips upwards as they read the names of the people they were soon to mercilessly slaughter. You watched with teary eyes as an impressively built, stocky man who you didn’t know the name of slowly lifted his hand to the ceiling, Kai’s eyes immediately flicking to him in agitation. “You raise your hand one more fucking time and I will cut it off.” The powerfully built man visibly shrunk down into his chair at Kai’s hissed statement of reproval but timidly uttered his question of “how do we know they’re all pregnant?” Kai’s eyes flashed in impatient annoyance as he tore his eyes off the man, flicking them briefly up to the ceiling before deigning to answer. “Because Gutterball pulled the rosters of four ob-gyns, two Lamaze classes and a Momtra Yoga over on Main. Great job, Gutterball.” The blond man who went by Gutterball, sat on the front row of chairs close to Kai, beamed in self-gratified delight at Kai’s gracious recognition, lifting a fist into the air in triumph. Kai smiled proudly down at him before turning to address the group as a whole once more. Your eyes flicked down to the bright screen of your phone, the numbers displayed there beckoning. Your thumb twitched, a conflicted frown creasing your forehead as Kai continued on, pulling your attention back to him. “Manson’s family - I admire them, but they did get a little sloppy.” You watched on in nauseating alarm as Kai pulled a large blade from the black sheath at his hip with a flourish, the metal glinting in the light of the room. “Their message got lost in their mess. What we are doing requires more precision. It is imperative that both mother and child are impaled. Don’t fuck this up.” He scanned the gathering before him, gaze as sharp as the knife clutched in his grip before turning to the models behind him.  “Aim for the belly button but stab in a downward motion. If you stab straight,” in one fluid motion, he had buried the curved tip of the blade in the portion of the fake uterus just above the baby’s head with a solid thunk, “you miss the baby - and our entire message is lost.” Withdrawing the knife, he turned back to address his cult, the weapon hanging loosely from his fingertips by his thigh. “Tomorrow night, when your blades tear open one hundred pregnant bellies, you will be releasing a power into the universe. Detonating a neutron bomb of truth, blood and amniotic fluid. You will be galvanising an army.” “With their sisters gutted, women everywhere will be forced to react. They can’t ignore an injustice this brutal. They’ll have to rise up, and in their collective rage, they will train it on Senator Jackson, on all incumbents, on any of the people in power who failed to keep us safe. As the most vulnerable are slaughtered, as the pregnant bodies pile up on Senator Jack-off’s watch, we will be surfing an electoral bloodbath straight to Capitol Hill. And then… the White House.”  The collection of cult members all voiced their assent in a chorus of whoops and ovated cheers, a nauseating sense of unease dragging it’s claws up the length of your spine. You turned away with hot tears blurring your vision, not wanting to hear more, your phone a heavy weight in your hand and the decision it presented even heavier.

Sat on the edge of Kai’s large bed, your knee couldn’t cease it’s anxious bouncing, your lower lip chewed raw by your teeth. The door swung open suddenly, sending your heart leaping into your throat. Kai stepped into the room, the small smile stretching across his lips broadening as he beheld you perched on the mattress’ edge. “Hey, when did you get here?” He questioned, reaching to tug you to your feet and wrap his arms tightly around you in a warm embrace. “I only got here like five minutes ago.” Your lie was muffled into the thin shirt at his shoulder, his hands splayed flat on your upper back as he held you close to him. Withdrawing yourself from his grasp, you frantically scanned his face, heart sinking at the pleasure dimly glowing in the depths of his dark eyes, pleasure fuelled not by your sudden appearance, but in anticipation of the merciless slaughter that he would be carrying out in mere hours time. “What?” He asked curiously, his head tilting slightly in concern as his smile faded, caught in the grave despondency of the stare you had him pinned under. His tape-wrapped hands settled on his shoulders; shaking him off, you stepped away, your chest bubbling with emotion that was dangerously close to spilling over. Dropping your gaze to the floor, you pressed the heels of your palms into your eyes, forcing the tears that threatened to flow to stay at bay. Groaning through clenched teeth, colourful sparks flashing through your blocked vision from the force with which you pressed your hands into your eyes, you blindly felt Kai’s warmth as he stepped forwards to comfort you. Dropping your hands, you retreated another step, Kai stilling at the look of stangled confliction latching onto your features. “What happened?” Voice breaking, you brought a hand up to press against your forehead, icy panic unfurling in your gut amongst the turmoil of roiling distress flooding through your insides. Kai looked utterly lost, his eyes boring into yours as he searched for an answer to the question that he couldn’t understand. “What the fuck happened to you, Kai?” His heart splintered at the raw anguish in your choked, lamenting tone, automatically taking a step towards you, wanting nothing more than to smother the emotions swarming your features. “I used to be so, so happy with you.” His lips parted in disbelief as you continued. “I would’ve done anything for you.” You couldn’t help the tears that spilled over, your voice pushing past the quivering of your lower lip and growing in strength, your breaths turning sharp and rasping as they were sucked in between your passionate words. “Y/n…” He didn’t know what to say as he watched you struggle to keep a grasp on coherency.  “I don’t know what happened to him. To the Kai that I fell in love with. But he’s gone now. He’s gone and I don’t know how to get him back.” Sorrow gave way to desolate fury as you plowed on, your jaw clenching as you stepped towards him to deliver a harsh shove to his hard shoulders. Kai fell utterly silent, stumbling back slightly under your touch, unnerved and unsure by the eruption of messily confessed words that spilled from you, seemingly out of nowhere. “Answer me.” You demanded gruffly, shoving at his solid frame once more. “I… y/n, I don’t know-” With a third shove, his eyes flashed in agitated warning, silently daring you to repeat the action a fourth time. You did, shoving at him with as much force as you could muster, breathing hard when he took ahold of your wrists, pulling you to him and pouring his branding stare onto you. “Stop.” Your face was flushed, plump tears cutting through your face and dripping from your chin as you plowed on. “What happened, Kai?” His nostrils flared, eyes wide in confusion as he battled to grasp onto your thoughts, to make coherence of the biting words falling from your lips. “What happened? What the hell happened. Why do you make it so hard to love you?” Your ragged breaths filled the sudden silence in the room, the roaring silence infiltrating Kai’s head drowning out all other sense as he stared down at you in cold disbelief, your eyes wild and face screwed with festering ardour, raw and demanding, your lashes damp with bitter tears. A symphony of surprised shouts echoed up the stairs from the ground floor of the house, Kai’s attention snapping to the door at his back and eyes flooding with sharp panic. He released his hold on you as the cries from below grew in volume, laced with alarm. A single gun shot rang out and it was your turn to take ahold of Kai, the tape wrapped tightly around his wrists warm under your fingers. His head whirled back to you, his eyes alight with uneasy confusion, his gaze frosting over. Bringing your face closer to his, you laid a single, lingering kiss to his lips, your own wet against him. “I’m sorry.” You said quietly, several heavy sets of footsteps sounding from behind the door as they thundered up the stairs. Kai’s eyes frantically searched yours as he pulled against your unrelenting grasp, his gaze briefly parting from yours to snap to the door as the sequence of footsteps and shouts grew louder. “But I can’t let you do this.” His throat bobbed, his eyes widening in terror as the reality of the situation settled over him. “I sentence you to rot.” Tugging at his wrists, you forced your face closer to his before muttering to him, your breath hot on his face and the recognition of your betrayal manifesting in the cold fire smoldering in his gaze: “Just like how my love for you has turned to rot.” His face contorted in rage as the bedroom door was forced open, the panel of wood swinging open and hitting the adjacent wall with a bang, several armed policemen flooding into the room. You loosened your grip on his wrists, stepping away as two of the men took ahold of Kai by the back of his shirt, twisting his arms behind his back. He shrieked in rage, straining to turn his head towards his assailants as they began to pull him from the room. Sinking down onto the edge of the bed, you locked eyes with Kai’s as he turned back to you, cool rage simmering in his dark gaze, his lip curled into an enraged snarl. He pinned you with his stare, not even bothering to fight against the men holding him as he was pulled from the room, a savage promise glittering in his unrelenting stare. A promise of vengeance. Of suffering. 

taglist: @kitwalker02 @three-eyed-snail @forevercountess @kitwalkerangel @milly-louise @thecountessesglove @undeadcortez @kitwalker64 @samsassinparvismagna @xmaximoffic @divineruler @liandav @tatesweaterweather @evanmybeloved @tatelangdonsupremacist @ikkleroniekins @ananad1 @shlutnutt @mossybank @tatesimper (dm to be added or removed <3)

[justimajin]

Catching a Case of the Doctor Blues ⌠Part 12⌡

⇢ Pairing: Taehyung x Reader

⇢ Genre: Fluff, Comedy, Angst

↳ (5.3k) Doctor/Surgeon AU, Enemies to Lovers AU

⇢ Summary: When asked about Dr. Kim, a string of beautifully aligned words are ready spew from your lips. You could possibly go on and on about how his wonderful stubbornness wasn’t similar to talking to a brick wall, or how his observation skills were especially great in preparing your blood vessels for a drastic rupture or even how one gracious stare of his nearly had you on the verge of ripping your essential documents in half. But it seems that, perhaps, there was a lot more to Dr. Kim then what meets the eye…

⇢ Warnings: mentions of miscarriage, graphical descriptions of surgery, severe emotional distress

⇢  Moodboard Prologue Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11

⇢ Next Update: Friday, May 31

Walking outside of the sterilizing room, the blue clothing sticks to your skin as a shaky exhale is released from your lips. Through the windows of the hospital, the sky is painted in the colour of ink and silence echoes within the hallways when the sole sound being emitted is from your thudding heartbeat. You anxiously race your compelling feet as you draw closer and closer to the operating room.

The whole ordeal was not looking to be so terrible in the hindsight. Injuries that could quickly be patched up and taken care of within the amount of time you had on your hands. However, the situation grows deeply complex when the realization had dropped on you that you weren’t going to be performing the surgical procedure you had on expectation.

Instead, you were going to through what is definitely one of the hardest yet natural processes of life. And its entire method is known not to leave its workers with an ounce of rest.

Your mind flashes back to when it had sparked the connection. When your head was spinning at the implication Dr. Kim had given.

“It appears as if we will need to induce labour.”

“L-labour?” You stammered out; the words awfully laced with pending tension. From your own physical observation, you could already tell the woman was pregnant, but that does not justify having to go through the lengthy procedure.

“She was involved in a collision.” Dr. Kim explains, despite being usually calm you notice that he appears to be just as shaken up as you were, “Meaning the baby could have potentially been harmed and if that’s the case-“

“The mother will die if she doesn’t go through labour.” You finish, already comprehending what he was trying to get across. But it deters from why declaring that it was the best option to use in this particular case.

“Look over here.” He points to the woman’s hip bone, which was situated higher up then usual.

It’s then when it finally snaps you back into what he was trying to get you to understand – the woman’s hip bone was crucial for labour as it was the bone structure that assisted in pushing the baby out. The joined hip bone’s need to be teared apart for the baby to safely arrive.

But the necessary detail here is that if her hipbone was damaged in any way, it could be fatal to the baby, whose crown was resting right beside it and whose life depended on staying within the amniotic sac inside.

The very thought shakes you inside out, “We need to do an X-ray.” You pause, “Is that safe?”

He nods, “Should be. We can also figure out how many months she’s been in.”

You and Dr. Kim work swiftly together, a circumstance you both had not been expecting. It dawns on you that it was likely because both of you had never had a pregnant patient.

Did you study about pregnancy? Of course. Do you understand the step by step procedure? Definitely. Were you trained what to do in the situation? Many times.

Had you ever been faced with a pregnant mother involved in a car crash and hanging on a mere thread with the arriving threat of a miscarriage?

You wish Namjoon was here, knowing the man’s knowledge was incredible about such matter but you can’t afford to wait when there are two lives at stake in the moment.

A part of you is even glad that Dr. Kim is working well with you, for you would have to relay on each other immensely in the next couple of hours.

The X-ray comes through and your heart sinks when in fact, Dr. Kim was correct about his keen observation.

Entering the operating room, you are surprised to see the woman had regained consciousness and was attempting to speak through the pain of her wounds. Her eyes land on you when you stand by the door, but Dr. Kim continues to talk to her.

“We need to prepare you for surgery. It’s crucial to do your labour now.” Dr. Kim states, sounding like he was repeating his words.

“B-but I-I’m only eight months p-pregnant.” The woman says and you trail closer when you discover that she appears to dangling in a frenzy stage from the shock the accident washed over her and occasionally wincing at the immense pain radiating in her abdomen. 

“You are but we can’t keep you like this. Your child’s life is in danger.” Her eyes waver when he brings up the life she was currently carrying and with a shaky exhale, she nods for you to inject her with anesthesia so she can be unconscious and numbed for the duration of the surgery. 

Once she’s been injected, you patiently wait and turn to Dr. Kim who was occupied in hurriedly organizing the surgical equipment. “How are we going to do this? Going through normal labour might be too much of a strain on her considering her injuries.”

“I assume you know how to do a C-section.” You widen your eyes and he looks up to stare at you. A C-section was an alternative method used in situations when the mother was not in the best shape to do the required muscle work in labour, but it involves making multiple incisions and demanded that you be extremely cautious so no damage is done to other functioning systems within her body.

You move closer to her, taking short breaths to prepare yourself for the incoming whirlwind you need to face. Dr. Kim joins you eventually and reaches over to pluck a single scalpel to begin.

It’s incredibly quiet in the room, only two surgeons and a patient present in the entire vicinity. It shouldn’t be difficult, for you and Dr. Kim are both capable individuals.

But even that mere reassurance isn’t enough, especially when your thoughts keep sitting down on the fact that once you start the surgery, the responsibility of two patients will be delicately placed in your hand.

You can’t turn away from this, you remind yourself. 

However, the clock is still ticking threateningly at you and Dr. Kim carefully pushes down the sharp tip, bleeding it down into a hollow line.

You grab a second scalpel and start to assist him, ensuring that the incisions were properly made in the abdomen. A C-section requires you to create enough room to pull the child out but the potential threat that lingers on doing so is to not deeply penetrate into the mother’s skin, for this could cause scaring in the long run and make having another child exceedingly hard.

Keeping this solid warning in mind, you continue to trace around her skin and your eyes are boring lasers, glued to every piece of skin you carefully open and navigating yourself to the best of your own ability.

Aside from the occasional monitor beeping and the sound of you shuffling, a shaky exhale pierces through and you furrow your brows, glancing in front of you.

The amount of incisions you have finished are massive in comparison to the doctor who was still working on one of them. He appears as he usually does and how you were currently feeling, focused and unmoving, but you watch him even closer when he seems too focused.

It’s then you catch the faint tremble of his hands, so well hidden away from your sight that you realize what was actually going on.

Your hand staggers for a moment and you bite your lip, recoiling it. But then you re-consider and slide it over, briefly applying pressure just how he had once done for you.

His reaction is instant, head jerking and shoulders flinching when your hand makes contact, however you welcome his confused gaze when you hold it with your eyes. Giving his hand a gentle squeeze, you retract back into your operative work and the doctor beside you does as well, this time coming back better than before.

A clink of two scalpels hitting against the metal tray resonates through the room and its now the easiest part of the surgery is done. The amniotic sac – the fluid the baby is protected in – is thankfully still in a reasonable shape but your eyes stagger over to the adjacent hip bone that appears to be completely destroyed with the clearer view.

“The amniotic sac hasn’t been entirely ruptured.” You whisper.

“The head was protected during the collision then.” Dr. Kim says with a sigh of relief, “Hopefully the child is okay as well.” 

You draw yourself closer to her pelvic area, needing to burst the protective membrane and quickly get the baby out in time. Afterwards, the umbilical cord will need to be cut and the placenta has to be removed, but for now you needed to get the child out at any costs.

“Ready?” Dr. Kim asks and you nod. He carefully maneuvers over to where your hands are situated and after a brief second passes, large amount of liquid gushes out. It continues to spill out and you reach inside, grasping carefully onto the head of the child before gently pulling as the liquid piles up.

You’re breathing extremely hard, choked and ragged sounds escaping out from you when Dr. Kim quickly secures the remaining liquid and brings his attention over to the small human resting in your arms. He reaches over to severe the cord attaching the child to their mother and you drape a towel among the bloody residue sticking to your skin.

Dr. Kim occupies himself with ensuring that the placenta drains out but your eyes are glued to the innocent pink face in your arms.

“Dr. L/N?” He questions, wondering why you’ve gone silent when the surgery was clearly a success.

“S-She’s not crying.” You stare at him with frightened eyes, specks of water threatening to flow out. Dr. Kim’s expression also drowns when the mutual fear you two had shared was coming true.

“Are there any injuries?” He hurriedly inquires and you respond by quietly shaking your head, water now escaping.

A bitter silence is created in the operation room when all your efforts leak down into the drain. You still keep your eyes trained on the small newborn, eyes flickering around for anything – a subtle movement, a gesture of life, even crying – but the baby is completely unresponsive.

While you stand with your arms caressed around it in defeat, Dr. Kim isn’t giving up.

He takes the child from you and quickly wipes her down clean. Hurriedly, he starts examining for anything that could have been of harm and you slowly trail over to him, watching him gently rub the child’s back and then taking suctional equipment to remove any liquid that could have possibly entered into the lungs.

His actions are moving, but it’s difficult to watch him continuously try and fall into defeat and you begin to wonder if you should simply tell him to stop.

Just as you’re lifting your hand, he presses his lips against the small mouth for air to enter the lungs and then eagerly watches – but no response greets him in return.

You finally speak up, “Dr. Kim, there’s no point…” Your voice comes out coarse and empty.

He pauses for a moment, eyes still on the child when a deep sigh overcomes him. You flinch when the loud thud hits the table, shoulders slumping down in loss when he places the base of his hand against his forehead. Squeezing your eyes shut, you silently trail over to you when you can recognize that both of you were feeling in that exact same thing in that one split second – failure.

“Dr. Kim?” You ask, trying to get any glimpse of him when he remains slotted down in the same position. He pauses before he raises his head to look at you and you don’t think you’ve ever seen so many twisted emotions in his eyes, ranging from pure grief to an ultimate downfall.

You give him a tight smile, clueless even to how to comfort him but trying as it’s too hard to see him like this when the man is usually so composed and calm.

You move forward a place a hand on his shoulder, attempting to slowly get him away from the counter so you can resume the surgery and after another deep exhale, he obeys.

A small hiccup resonates into the silent room.

Both of you don’t move even the slightest, staring at each other with wide eyes and wondering on the inside if you were possibly hallucinating from the accumulated stress you had experienced. But the hiccup resonates again, morphing in a small cry and suddenly a mix of everything releases – the relief, the tears and the stretched smiles.

“We did it…” You whisper and your hands hover slightly over your mouth, staring down at the bundle of joy pooling out cries when it can finally breathe into the new environment after being trapped inside her mother during the crash for so long. You continue to gaze at the child but then to your own surprise, you’re being tugged into a hug by a fellow shaken doctor.

“D-Dr. Kim?” You stutter when he keeps a firm lock on you. Yet your confused expression dissolves without delay when you notice his trembling shoulders, dampness beginning to pool at your shoulder.

You’re completely thrown off by the display, but with a sincere smile you actually move to reciprocate the hug with water escaping your own eyes. Both of you are a horrible dirty mess; blood, sweat and tears clinging to you uncomfortably but all of that just disappears when the small life you were desperately trying to save is now taking her very first breaths.

After awkwardly breaking apart from each other, Dr. Kim turns away to the side from you and you decide its best to give him a moment from all the overwhelming emotions flooding into the room. You make sure the child is still okay after they hiccup a couple more times and you register that there definitely was blockage happening in her air pipe if she continuing like this. Quickly coaxing her to sleep, you turn your attention back onto the mother completely and Dr. Kim soon joins you, making you repress the soft smile at the man’s pink eyes.

The final part simply involved stitching up the incisions you had made and ensuring that no damage had been done to the mother in the process. The stitches are to stay in place until the incision areas finally heal and the mother is in optimal health to get them removed, which usually occurs once she leaves the hospital.

Once the operation is entirely completed, both of you work diligently to patch up the mother’s remaining injuries. After that is done, its finally time for you to leave for home when you exit the operation room.

The hospital is dead silent when you peek your head outside, glancing at the red letters being displayed on the clock overhead declaring that it was four in the morning. With a sigh, you know exactly what you want to do in that single moment, looking down to see the wonderful array of different fluids covering your blue scrubs.

Changing out of them quickly, you decide it would be best to go home and shower as much as you can before getting some rest. It dawns on you a bit that coming into work the next day might be too exhaustive on your body, but you shrug it off.

If the hospital needed you, it needed you. Simple as that.

Walking alongside the hallway, you walk by the room the mother and child were currently situated in, eager to get a second glance before leaving.

But someone else beats you to that equation, especially when he fondly gazes down at the resting child. He’s also had the same intention as you, cleaning up and making sure they were alright before calling it a night.

“Dr. Kim?” He snaps out of it, slightly jolting when you stroll behind him and smile at the soft lidded eyes now resting after the chaos going on in the operative room.

“Are you going home now?” He whispers in a low voice, watching you with intent but being careful not to wake the child.

You nod, “I think we both could use some rest.” A small laugh escapes you and to your surprise, his own laughter joins in as well.

“Do you want me to drop you off? It’s late outside.” He gestures towards the window outside and the darkness is a bit daunting, so you shake your head in agreement.

You spend a couple of minutes still there until you mutually agree that collectively everyone in that room needed some form of sleep soon. Turning off the lights, you follow behind the man when he directs himself towards the parking lot and you almost want to let an astonished smile decorate your lips after witnessing a whole other side to him tonight.

Usually your morning routine consisted of the following things – wake up and eat some breakfast, get ready for work and make sure your apartment is locked before leaving.

This routine as shown, is fairly simple and almost automatic to you. A large amount of thought isn’t needed in regard to doing this because you have become so accustomed to it over time that the actions come off entirely naturally. It’s familiar to the point that you always do it.

Translating this over to your interactions is something that also comes natural since relationships have been established since day one. You naturally know how to talk each person in the specific way you identify with them and there isn’t much precious thought given to this either.

But this morning, some of those mundane routines get disrupted. You wake up this morning completely exhausted, every single bone in your body aching and demanding for you to keep lying down as you try fight it off. There’s barely any energy to eat breakfast and getting ready is also a mess, with you miserably dragging your arms around along the way.

The process of coming to work is also flipped around, minimal interaction happening because you acknowledge how physically tired you were from getting only a couple of hours of sleep after the long operation.

But your eyes are on alert for one thing, or rather one certain individual. He doesn’t seem to have entered the hospital yet and you don’t think you could have possibly missed him as your eager vision was constantly scanning the hallways.

“Dr. L/N?” Jin asks in a confused tone when you occasionally leave the office and look around despite having a stack of work to do.

“What?” You retort, coming back into the office at a dissatisfied sigh.

“Are you feeling okay? Was the surgery that tough?” Your intern grows concerned when he sees you like this, as for him watching you quietly working for hours was his type of a normal interaction.

“I’m feeling fine…” You set your lips in a firm line, sitting down in your chair, “If you see Dr. Kim around, just let me know.”

If Jin was confused before, he’s drowning in bafflement now. He was thinking that maybe you were waiting for Dr. Park or Dr. Min to show up, not Dr. Kim.

Right then the familiar taps of shoes against the surface increases its intensity when it comes closer to your office and then drifts off, causing you to quickly glance outside your office door. You can only catch a glimpse of his back, but you’re a hundred percent certain that it is indeed Dr. Kim.

“I’ll be back Jin!” You say behind you, trailing after him.

The man appears to be in a rush; taking longer strides and glancing ever so occasionally into the doors leading to rooms. You raise an eyebrow when he sweeps by his office and continues walking, not even giving a gesture out in turning.

“Y/N?” A voice suddenly questions in a confused tone, but you gesture to Yoongi that you’ll come back to talk to him.

Once you turn around, you lose complete sight of him again and squeeze your eyes shut.

“Where were you going in such a hurry?” Yoongi inquires, striding closer to you.

“I was trying to follow Dr. Kim.” You sigh, the man vanishing into thin air.

“Follow Dr. Kim?” Yoongi exclaims, “Isn’t it usually trying to stay away from him?”

“I needed to talk to him about something…” You start to fumble with your hands, down-casting your head and Yoongi can’t help but let the small soft smile resurface on him.

“What did you need to tell him?”

As the question leaves him, you instantly freeze and turn into a stuttering mess.

“I-I just need to go talk to him!” You huff out, throwing your hands in the air as you go back to looking for the specific doctor. Yoongi merely chuckles at the interaction, shaking his head.

After a considerable amount of time going through multiple hallways to locate him, you finally find Dr. Kim. However, nothing could have even prepared you for the sight that you were going to witness.

His clipboard is set to the side on top of a counter, various swirls of ink already lining the sheet. His white coat is folded and resting right beside it, the rough material tossed away instantly. The drapes are pushed back and a warm glow forecasts itself onto him when the small bundle is secured in his arms.

He smiles, fondly gazes when the child is awake and the mother is lying down, sharing the same smile he has.

It takes every single piece of strength in you not to melt into a complete puddle onto the floor from watching the entire scene. It’s incredibly heart-warming and you find yourself planted right at the door, a sweet smile tugging at your lips.

Carefully placing the child from his own arms into the mother’s, he turns towards the counter to grab his coat and the observations he had written down. It’s then that his gaze catches onto you and he blinks in surprise.

“Dr. L/N?” He walks towards you with his coat in hand.

“Are they doing alright?” You whisper in order to not bother them.

He hums, “Her injuries are healing and the child is in good shape.” You can see that he’s resisting the urge to smile at that and it makes you want to laugh at the notion.

Dr. Kim trying his hardest not to smile. Now that was truly a sight to witness.

“Did you need something?” He brings up, noticing how you were currently situated at the door. The reminder causes your words to distort and jumble with no sense of confidence leaking into them.

“U-Uh…I-I…” You mentally want to kick yourself when he keeps expectantly lowering his head at the words not coming out from your mouth.

“Oh you’re the second doctor!” The lady exclaims from across the room, now in a sitting position. Dr. Kim turns around so she can get a full view of you and you sheepishly smile. She gestures for you to come over and you slowly walk over.

“Do you want to hold her?” She looks towards her child and you widen your eyes, eagerly reaching out.

Being a medical professional for a large chuck of your life, you can hands-down always say that newborn babies were the cutest little things you will ever come across. Their skin is a light pink, softness adorning majority of their form and their eyes are always gently shut like they were within an eternal slumber. The small hands and feet curl around when she’s placed in your arms and you know this fond feeling is mixed in with a dear sense of relief on your part, eyes trained on how her chest slowly rises and fall.

You are so close to combusting – the sheer cuteness of the child is incredibly obvious but the great deal of pride emerging from you is immense being that this could only be seen thanks to the actions of you and Dr. Kim.

You raise your head and almost stagger when you see him leaning against the window on the other side of the room with his eyes only on you. However, this time you return the gesture with a smile instead of merely brushing it off.

You return her back to her mother after a couple of moments; the hazard of a morning you went through early on in the day makes every second worth it when you see your work paying off in the best way possible.

“You and Dr. Kim helped a woman through labour?”

You nod and Jimin’s mouth fall into agape, staring at you with wide eyes. “How did you guys even manage to do that?!”

“She was involved in a car accident and she couldn’t possibly go through labour at that stage, so the child was born prematurely.” After explaining, Jimin pauses to consider your words. He tosses it away however, more interested in another aspect of the surgery.

“So you and Dr. Kim were alone during the night?” You blink at his suggestive tone, fully aware that he was twisting the situation up.

“It was for a surgery, Dr. Park.” You grit out.

He’s about to retort, to which you eye roll at because Jimin never has limitations, but a quiet voice of an intern interjects.

“Congratulations on your surgery Dr. L/N.” A humongous smile graces on your lips when Chaeyoung walks closer to you.

“Thank you.” You take the opportunity to slip out of the situation so Jimin doesn’t do his own interrogation on you further but the act leaves the two individuals alone.

Jimin’s lips downturn when you quickly made an exit and as he’s about to leave with the assumption of questioning you later, a low sigh slips out beside him.

“Chaeyoung?” The girl perks up immediately at the sound of her name, realizing she had voiced some inner dislike by accident. “Are you okay?”

Her lips set into a firm line as her mind is causing to halt with the uncertainty of preaching any information to the specific man beside her. But her thoughts are plagued by something deeper and constantly roaming around to observe probably won’t help her in the long run. “Dr. L/N and Dr. Kim are excellent doctors.”

There’s no level of question in her voice, stating a mere fact. Jimin nods but is bewildered with the statement, “They are…” He trails off in hopes that she would continue.

“They handled the patient professionally even though the surgery was during the night. It probably takes a lot of resilience to do something like that.”

Jimin frowns, although he was usually considered to be the one that usually goes out of his way to do whatever he wanted, being a doctor always gave him a knack for understanding others well. “Are you jealous?”

The very notion of the question leaves the girl flustered, abruptly shaking her head back and forth. “N-No, o-of course not!”

“You know, Dr. L/N and Dr. Kim are pretty amazing, but don’t compare yourself to them.” Her eyes widen, uncertainty flooding into them at the belief that she was a lot more easier to understand than she had expected. She bits her lower lip, giving in when she knows it inevitable to hide.

“But can I do that? Can I throw away sleep for an emergency and still do something as complicated as a labour?” Insecurity is surrounding the girl, slowly consuming her because of her environment.

“Well…” He pauses for a moment. The feeling in itself is something he knows all too well, the feeling of being inadequate because everyone around you seems to always be better at the things that don’t come naturally to yourself. “Take me for example.”

“What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you see me?” He gestures to himself and Chaeyoung shuts her mouth, not wanting to vocalize anything wrong.

But Jimin continues, “I’m loud, I cause trouble, I don’t listen to anyone. Hearing this probably doesn’t make me the ideal candidate to be a doctor.” Chaeyoung tries to stifle back a chuckle, being aware herself that it makes her wonder at times why she was even hired to be an intern, “But I wanted to be a doctor so I could help people somehow and that’s why I was picked.”  

She continues to stare at him,slowly grasping what he was trying to get across, “It doesn’t matter what type of traits you have, if you want to be a doctor then just go for it.”

It’s almost like a light flickers, some hope filling her, “If you look around closely,” He twirls around his finger through the hallway, “Everyone here have their own reasons.”

She hums, finally understanding, “Thank you Dr. Park...” If she was being truthful with herself, she would have never expected herself getting advice from Dr. Park, for the man always seemed too carefree and without a care in the world. But he has his own layers to him and it appears as if deep down, Dr. Park is considerate about what goes on around him.

“Dr. Park!” An annoyed voice speaks out, doe eyes searching around for the man and he smiles.

“Looks like I’ve been discovered for being gone too long.” His eyes crinkle at the edges, lids almost shut tight when he quickly rushes over and Chaeyoung laughs, feeling some of her own worries dissipate.

Evening is drawing close and you are getting more and more anxious as the hand on the clock drifts to the next minute. Understanding that sitting in your office and continuing to glare at the time will probably do you no good, the sudden scratching of your chair against the floor distorts the silence in the room.

Your intern was luckily occupied in assisting Dr. Park with some work, but that still leaves the goosebumps all over your skin when it means that they are close by. Poking your head outside, you see a clear hallway with no barriers, so you attempt to promptly get to your final destination.

The coast does remain clear for the majority of the part but your breath hitches when the familiar laughter of said doctor is mixed with your intern, volume increasing. You morph into a corner, hiding behind the shadows when your nerves are bouncing around at this point.

The door finally land in your field of vision and with a large rush of hesitance, you carefully knock against it.

“Dr. L/N?” The man situated at his desk looks up from his work, not quite expecting you to show up.

Ask him Y/N, now’s your chance!

You’re constantly having to reassure yourself, a grimace surfacing when you realize you’re still standing there without having spoken much.

“Dr. Kim…” You trail off, trying to sneak in a deep breath when the doctor stands up and is intrigued at you not mustering up any words.

Ask. Him. Y/N.

“Would you…like to go out for coffee sometime?”

[kgstoryteller]

LOVE in the time of corona-possible prologue for “killing justice: the taste of knives”

Either you learn to live with paradox and ambiguity or you’ll be six years old for the rest of your life.-Anne Lamott

At 5:55 pm, on 3/30/2020 I do hereby declare, under penalty of perjury, that I am a child of chaos, and that my true name is scared kel. Strike that. May the record reflect that for the past 56 years, since my adoption in the spring of 1964 at the age of eleven months, my true name has been scared kel.

Of course I was scared. I had just been kidnapped from the only home I’d ever known, and taken away by two strangers to their little yellow house in Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada. I cried, and cried, and cried, from dusk until dawn, but as the sun slowly began to rise, and I had not yet been returned home, I finally stopped crying. I would have to adapt to this strange new world, it seemed.

Paradoxical New First Name

These two strangers kept calling me by this strange new name I’d never heard before: “Kelly”. I resisted this name for the longest time, and kept calling myself Toddy instead. I would later learn that my oldest half-brother, who was born shortly after I was adopted, is named Todd. Go figure.

I would also later learn that my new name, Kelly, means “brave warrior.” But wait, that can’t be right. After all, my true name is Scared Kel. Put the two together, and it would seem that my complete true name must be Scared Brave Warrior. No wonder I was confused. No wonder I am a child of chaos.It seems that I have been wrestling with paradoxes and ambiguities like these my whole life. 

Yet my adoptive parents were conservative Christians, and my mom in particular seemed especially concerned that I learn the difference between good and evil, between right and wrong. And it seemed that a lot of my childhood was spent doing what was evil and wrong, as what I heard mom say more often than anything else to me was “Your will must be broken young man.” In other words, her will must be good. My will must be evil. How else to explain the fact that I’d been given up twice in the first year of my life? I knew that because, at the age of three and a half, on a ferry boat ride to go get my baby sister, I’d asked my mom why we weren’t going to the hospital. She had gently replied, “Because we’re choosing to adopt your baby sister, just like we chose to adopt you from a foster home when you were eleven months old.” Being “chosen” was a double-edged sword, it seemed. I would have to be really, really good if I wanted to make sure that mom #3 wasn’t going to give up on me too.

We moved around a lot in the first few years after I was adopted. Three times during my first six years with them. Every time we’d move, mom would say “Look how much I’ve sacrificed for you.” If my will was evil., then all Mom’s sacrifices must be good. If I was a child of chaos, it was clear that mom’s world was a world of order. And that mom’s God was a God of order. Once again it seemed as if I was just going to have to adapt to this strange new world.

If my true name was Scared Kel, but my new name meant Brave Warrior, I would simply have to bury my chaotic true name, and adapt myself to my orderly new name.

Now as luck would have it, (and with our first of many visits to my mom’s Irish dad, my grampa Bob, and Norwegian mom, my gramma Myrtle, I would learn that my mom was half-Irish), my new mom and pops not only gave me a new first name, they were kind enough to anoint me with a new middle name as well.

Paradoxical New Middle Name

Now what sort of middle name might you expect a young conservative Christian couple to choose for their newly adopted son? Perhaps they would name me after one of the Gospel writers, and I would be Matthew, Mark, Luke or John? Maybe they would aim higher, and I would be Michael, named after the archangel? Going Old Testament was another possible option, as Joseph may have been the name they settled on. Had I been the one to choose a biblical character to be named after, I would have gone for Moses, the tragic hero who was adopted by Egyptian royalty.

Going for the obvious was never Mom and Pops’s style, however. In fact, I have a theory that my practical joker Pops chose both my names, and then convinced mom to go along for the ride. Since I never thought to ask, I grew up believing they’d named me Kelly because it was a good Irish name. Mom was half-Irish, after all. It wasn’t until I was in my mid-twenties that I finally learned that my new name was inspired by them having adopted me from a foster home on Kelly Street. Go figure.

But Pops outdid himself by coming up with Darwin for my middle name. Who knows, maybe he was secretly preparing me for a lifetime of wrestling with paradoxes and ambiguities. God knows how many of their conservative Christian friends they had to patiently explain to that no, they had not abandoned their faith in a Creator God, but instead had chosen the name so that I would challenge Darwin’s theories. At least that’s why mom said they chose it. Pops’ said they chose it because he’d heard that Darwin had converted to Christianity on his deathbed. Even though that story has now been widely dismissed as an urban legend, I still like Pops’ reason for choosing the name better than mom’s. Mom’s was a world where you had to be a brave warrior in the battle for truth in order to survive. Pop’s was a world where even the most hardened materialist like Darwin could be redeemed in the end.

My way of living out this Darwinian paradox was three-fold. First, when I would later become an adopted American, I chose to add Einstein, but keep the Darwin. The cover story I told anyone who happened to ask was that was my way of honoring my parents. The real reason: I just thought the initials K-EDG sounded way cooler than KEG.

Second, rather than challenging Darwin’s theories, I chose instead to defend my namesake against the blatantly false charge that his worldview amounted to nothing more than “survival of the fittest.” Bullshit. That worldview belongs to Thomas Hobbes, a seventeenth century English philosopher. According to Hobbes, the state of nature is a "war of all against all," in which human beings constantly seek to destroy each other in an incessant pursuit for power. Life in the state of nature is "nasty, brutish and short."

The third way I chose to live out this Darwinian paradox was to adapt. For Darwin explicitly rejected the Hobbesian “survival of the fittest” when he declared that “It is not the most intellectual or the strongest species that survives, but the species that survives is the one that is able to adapt to or adjust best to the changing environment in which it finds itself.”

Fear and Love in the Time of Corona

As the coronavirus races madly around the world, in seemingly unstoppable fashion, from the way the mainstream media and the political establishment are chronicling its assault, it would appear that Hobbes was right. For the coronavirus appears to be primarily laying waste to the weakest members of our species, to those whose advanced age or compromised immune systems make them especially susceptible to its deadly rampage.As someone who’s been forced to wrestle with paradoxes and ambiguities his entire life, however, I have learned from painful personal experience, time, and time, and time again, that things are rarely as they seem to be on the surface of things.

My personal paradoxes and adaptations

As a terrified little eleven month old, I learned that crying would not take me back home to my mommy.

One way I adapted was by becoming a scared brave warrior, so my new mommy would see what a brave warrior I was and love me for it.

Another way I adapted was that despite mom’s best efforts to raise me as an anti-Darwinian Christian fundamentalist, after leaving home at the age of seventeen, I adapted and eventually became the Darwinian Christian mystic that I am today.

How my healing journey has helped prepare me for the Time of Corona

One of the most frightening things about the current coronavirus pandemic is that it is forcing our human species to finally begin to humbly acknowledge that WE ARE NOT IN CONTROL.It is a lesson that I have been forced to learn, and re-learn, time and time again, over the course of the past fifty six years, ten months and eight days.

When I was torn away from my birthmother Adele after nine months spent blissfully swimming in her amniotic sea, I WAS NOT IN CONTROL.

When I was torn away from my foster mom Grace, after eleven months of being pushed up and down on swing sets by her and my First Nations/Native Canadian foster sister Diane, I WAS NOT IN CONTROL.

When I told my adoptive mom Pat, when I was sixteen years old, that I’d learned in my careers class that day that I’d be a great hotel manager, and she said that I didn’t need to go to college for that, I WAS NOT IN CONTROL.

When I had a near nervous breakdown in my first semester at Pepperdine Law School at the age of twenty one, after I’d blown my scholarship, and was so driven by despair that I ended up taking three or four sleeping pills a night to get an hour or two of sleep, I WAS NOT IN CONTROL.

When my beloved adoptive dad Pops, who’d saved my life four years earlier after my near nervous breakdown, suffered a traumatic brain injury from a near-fatal car crash and was left with the cognitive capacity of a twelve year old, when I was twenty five years old and halfway around the world in London at the start of the first semester of my last year of law school, and I couldn’t come home that whole semester because I’d taken two years off to recover from my first year from hell, and once you start you must finish law school in five years, I was left with the emotional capacity of a terrified six-year old, better known as scared kel, because I WAS NOT IN CONTROL.

When I trusted a friend of twenty years and he betrayed that trust, and the life I’d tried to create for myself out of the ashes of Pops’ traumatic brain injury for those same two decades came crashing to the ground when I was forty six years old, I was left once again with the emotional capacity of a terrified six year old, whose true name is scared kel, because I WAS NOT IN CONTROL

For the past ten years, five months, and fifteen days, I have been attempting to love and parent scared kel, my terrified six year old self, back to life.And for the last eleven days that Los Angeles has been under lockdown, I’ve been wrestling with the question of why this coronavirus crisis has been so triggering for me.

And then just a few short days ago, my performance poetry instructor Rachel Kann hosted an online poetry crawl in which she performed her poetic masterpiece “Kindness/The Murmuration of Starlings”, in which a single stanza left my weeping and gasping for breath: “Behind every protective wall of defensiveness is a frightened child fearing for their very life.”

And then the masks slipped away, and it became so clear that for all those with eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts that can understand, and turn, and be healed (Matthew 13: 15b-16) that we hold this truth to be self -evident: we are now living in a world made up entirely of terrified six year olds.

The Time of Corona has Revealed a War for the Soul of Humanity

While the fear of God may be the beginning of wisdom, the love of God is the end of wisdom, and the spiritual journey is the journey from fear to love. The coronavirus pandemic has torn away the veneer of civilization to reveal that a war is now raging for the soul of humanity. This war however, is not the war that the mainstream media and the political establishment are trying so desperately to frame it as.

The war is between fear and love, between Hobbes and Darwin, and between chaos and order. But it is not about one defeating and destroying the other. It is about learning to live in the tension of opposites between fear and love, and between chaos and order. For as Solzhenitsyn wisely wrote: “the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?”

While the mainstream media and political establishment are painting this war in Hobbesian terms, as a winner take all duel to the death between the forces of fear and chaos, that frame is far too small, and an illusion at that, the illusion of power and control.

For in one corner, we have the hypocritical legalists on the right. They are convinced that Trump and the forces of order and goodness must destroy the Deep State, which represents all that is chaotic and evil in our world. Yet the rules the hypocritical legalists insist we all must follow, so that order and goodness might triumph over chaos and evil, they are unable to fully follow themselves. For as Jesus reminds us, there is no one who is truly good but God alone.

In the other corner, we have the amoral rebels on the left. They are equally convinced that only the Deep State can defeat and destroy Trump and his followers, in order that chaos and freedom can finally emerge victorious over order and slavery. Yet the freedom the amoral rebels proclaim as the key to victory is simply a fear of order which is the mirror image of the hypocritical legalists’ fear of chaos.

In other words, both the hypocritical legalists on the right and the amoral rebels on the left are prisoners of fear. They simply cannot see the bars of their prison. As a result, both sides believe that their only option is to engage in a Hobbesian war of all against all. If Hobbes were right, then there would truly be no hope for our survival as a species. Nor, quite frankly, would we deserve to survive.

Spoiler alert: the war has already been won

However, the hope that sustains me, which I have seen embodied by my fellow deep souls time and time again throughout the course of my life, and time and time again over the past eleven days, is that even if two thirds or more of humanity have surrendered already, or will surrender at some point during the time of corona to the forces of fear, there will always be a remnant of deep souls, who will go to our graves knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that LOVE IS STRONGER THAN FEAR.

We are the Principled Rebels, my fellow terrified six year olds of planet earth, and this is the hope that sustains us: we shall never lose our humanity, no matter how much it may look like the forces of fear are going to strip it away from us.

For as I’ve been constantly reminding my own terrified six year old self for the past eleven days in the time of corona:

“Be still, and know, that you are loved.

Be still, and know, that you bring joy.

Be still, and don’t, abandon yourself.

Is the stillness, at the heart, of your chaos.”

So be of good cheer, my fellow terrified six year old principled rebels, for greater is the love that is in you, than the fear that is in the world. So please, please, please know that YOU ARE LOVED, please, please, please FEEL YOUR FEELINGS, and hopefully you won’t have to make all the mistakes I made by so often forgetting that I was loved, and by so often being too afraid to feel my feelings. For the hope that sustains me, and the hope that will enable us to survive as a species in this terrifying time of corona is that WE ARE ALL GOD’S BELOVED CHILDREN, and God does not wish for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.(2 Peter 3:9b)

[shadow-lord-by-day]

Prologue

Hidden in the tundra north of the Canadian Rockies, deep underground in a structure of steel and glass, a woman was giving birth in a hastily assembled birthing room. The screams echoed through the facility as doctors scurried around her, each desperately worried about the wriggling infant that was wailing its way out of her womb.

 A man stood back from the surgical table, sweat beading on his forehead. His sandy hair was swept behind his ears, and he had to keep removing his glasses to wipe the moisture from the lenses. Metallic sliding doors opened behind him with a pneumatic screech, and he was approached by another man, bald, tall, a grey beard covering the lower portion of his face. "Ah, sir, there you are," the first man said, fear and anxiety palpable in his voice. "She's, ah, in labour."

 "I can see that," replied his compatriot. "Is the child safe?"

 "From what we can tell," the first man stuttered. "But please, Mr Sutter, you have to understand that even though it's ok now doesn't mean it won't-"

 "I know," Sutter barked. "Haemophilia, arthritis, a weakened immune system. I'm familiar with the father's illnesses." He turned to look at his companion. "Listen to me closely, Henry. You are going to do everything in your power to help it overcome those issues, do I make myself clear?"

 Henry took a step back. "Sir, I understand that you're desperate, but it isn't that simple! There are ways to force out mutations, but none of them are easy, or guaranteed to work! They're as like to kill it as to empower it!"

 "I don't care, Henry," Sutter growled. The woman had ceased her screaming now. Instead, she panted, looking down at the child that a doctor was looking over critically. "That thing is worth millions, and with the correct guidance it could make us billions more. I shall repeat, do I make myself clear?" There was a manic glint in his eye, something even Henry hadn’t expected to see there.

 Henry gulped. "Yes, sir," he mumbled. The woman on the bed was reaching for her child, and the doctor reluctantly passed it to her. Sutter smiled to himself and left, and Henry hurried to the woman's side.

 "So?" He asked sharply, trying to regain some composure. "The birth was successful. Sarah, if you could please give the asset to a guard? We don't have a moment to lose."

 Sarah Kinney shrank back, clutching the baby closer to her chest. "One moment," she snapped tersely. "I'd like some time with her first."

 Henry stared at her for a moment, then placed his head in his hands and groaned. "You said bearing the subject yourself wouldn't be an issue," he said hollowly.

 "It won't," Sarah quickly assured him. "I'd just like to spend a little longer with her before… we start work."

 Henry paused. "Her?"

 "Yes. I told you, some DNA was damaged. I had to supplement it with my own." She looked down at the infant, which was still screaming bloody murder.

 "You mean you potentially compromised its entire genome?" Henry asked, aghast.

 "No," Sarah snapped. "She'll function perfectly. Just wait."

 Henry held his hands out, and Sarah reluctantly handed over the baby. "Well," he said, filled with sudden regret as his hands were coated in amniotic fluid. "I suppose that will have to do." He looked down at the weapon in his arms, and grinned as it screamed. "Isn't that right, X-23?"

Also a quick disclaimer: I’m going to try and update this somewhat regularly. Maybe upload it to AO3 if I really feel the need. This is not intended to be an accurate representation of these characters as they appear within the comics, tv, or movies, rather my own take on them and these stories. The two three followers I have who are interested in X-Men related bullshit, I’d love to know what you think.

[fentonmeeks]

My first stream of consciousness exercise.

Prologue

Will it ever be like it once was. Like when the yard felt bigger and we were young. The times when we understood time by the seasons instead of the seconds. Everything was fresh and interesting because I had seen so little. Every Saturday began with a quick departure into the woods across the street or in the back yard. I’d disappear for hours at a time. Sometimes until sun down or later. I can still recall those times, but not very often. A tragic part of the human mind is that frightening or anxiety inducing memories are deeply ingrained in the psyche. While the pleasant memories take a back seat.

Some scientists theorize that we may have developed emotion through evolutionary necessity. There is a very interesting, emerging field called evolutionary psychology. It attempts to explain the development of emotion. It explains why it was important for our tribal ancestors to avoid dangerous creatures and situation. This driving force, mainly regarding fear. It’s more important for the continuation of the species for fear to be remembered more vividly and eventually hardwire our behavior accordingly. So, as a young European or African, it was more important to recall the details of being chased by a predator than to remember a hug from your favorite uncle. Troublesome as it may be, this is how I break down love, greed, anger, hate, vanity, or the whole spectrum of human emotion.

Say a cave man, named Jon, has his family’s cache of berries and meats stolen from a rival tribe or tribe member. He will most likely have the feeling of anger and the motivation to take vengeance on the perpetrator.

 For the most part my childhood was from my understanding, relatively happy. I was an odd child and could be described as mischievous. A family friend used to refer to me as Houdini because I could slip out of the baby seat no matter what. I could always break free of those infernal infant restraints. There are bits of my childhood that I keep wish I focused on more, the happy ones. The anxiety that came with puberty was as unexpected as hitting a dog with your car. It’s a horrible experience but it has been had, no matter your expectations of the moment or day. Bad memories come in nightmares now, like a new chapter is revealed and the information remains upon wakening.

    Growing up, I noticed that shit happens, I noticed that shit happened to me very often. So often that I can literally say that I had a shitty childhood. The best way to describe it is bad luck. 

From the moment I came out it was straight down. The delivering doctor dropped me on my back at birth. The after-birth fluids and amniotic sac being my only cushion kept my brain from smacking the fluorescent lit, cold tile floor. I can still remember the smell of hospitals. I hate that smell. Its sterile but you can smell the sickness permeate the cleaning products. And no one wants to be in a hospital. Unless you’re visiting someone you know, just so they aren’t alone.

I am just now coming back to reality. It’s 6:55 in the morning. My room is so dark, I don’t get much sunlight to wake me up. I started using potato chip backs for the windows when the market sold out of aluminum foil. It’s a long story of why we use aluminum foil on our windows. 

To get right to the point, the year is 2034 and the signals delivered through our devices give us cancer. These signals, whether they be electromagnetic or radio, were found to be dangerous around 2030. The pharmaceutical industry basically became queen. I call it queen because when I think of the industry, I think of the company Fannie Mae. I think that’s how you spell it. Sounds like Fannie Mae is going to make grapefruits cut in half covered with crystallized sugar. Along with English muffins and honey for breakfast on a Georgia porch every morning. Maybe that’s the initial reaction they are going for. Fannie Mae is a cunt.

It started before the cancer outbreak did. The healthcare industry once consisted of 32% of the total economy of the United States. A few days before the release of the life-saving drug, a lot of big companies invested in cancer research facilities. Some were privately built from the ground up to keep up with demand. Many were government funded of course. Then there was the selection process. The uninfected began a vetting system to see who should be eligible for treatment. It was rationalized by the media to weed out a genetic mutation. Chemical sterilization became the alternative to being treated and cured. The company had so many people and families that needed the drug that they made the price 2000k a pill. Fannie Mae went on to buy Google, Facebook, Tesla, and its own rocket named Kiss My Fannie, courtesy of Adrien Tent’s commercial space flight company STARTRIP. 

Startrip was a way for the rich to get the hell off this planet. There was talk of utopia-like places that Tent created on the planet Mars. He tested out his tunnel boring technology under LA. But he wound up creating mega earthquakes that created a river in the Grand Canyon. It’s like an ocean poured in. The filling sea wall stood at 50ft high for 1 year straight as she filled. It was as though an act of God had taken place. It begs to question whether man is capable of acts of God. What ever a God may be.

I recently saw a therapist for my depressive and sometimes suicidal thinking patterns. I basically chose the first counselor on google search and made an appointment. I got fairly dressed for our first meeting. I was covered in sweat from high blood pressure and probably a brutal hangover. He was a great big black man. Not the fat kind, the linemen kind. He was built like a truck. He was also about as intelligent as an automobile. Don’t get me wrong, he was a sweet man that didn’t know how much our chats were helping. A bit of this time did consist of myself administering methamphetamine intravenously. This was arguably the worst time of Clarke’s life. He orders his Uber and gets a notification on his watch that his ride is 4 minutes away.

Clarke walks out to his car as soon as the soothing alarm goes off in the kitchen that signals the driver’s arrival. It’s his favorite song that he wakes up to every morning. He rushes to grab his coffee and his Uber ID for the trip. Driver’s licenses were the most widely accepted form of Identification, at least in the United States. Tesla bought Uber for 10 billion dollars and created a fleet of driverless cars that relied on the digital infrastructure established by the Uber App. Driving became illegal, so government issued ID’s were mandatory. Along with the chip that was injected next to the femoral artery. This makes removal very difficult.

Chapter

1

Clarke woke up before his alarm clock was set to activate. He thinks it’s possibly serendipitous but mostly chalks it up to coincidence. He sets his feet on the floor lazily and stretches. He curls his toes all the way to his legs and back. Age has gotten a little bit more apparent lately. The alarm hologram turns on and a beautiful and modestly figured woman appears in the kitchen. Clarke still can’t believe how photorealistic augmented reality has become. He feels a warmth as the motherly figure in the kitchen that is composed of light and artificial intelligence smiles at him. She has thick lips and asks how he slept. She mimics the activation of the coffee machine after she ground fresh coffee beans. Clarke’s apartment is about the size that you might imagine prison cells are only much more sterile.

[marketreports-world]

Global Dermabrasion and Microneedling Market - Forecast Till 2027

Dermabrasion & Microneedling Market Research Report: By Dermabrasion Device Type (Manual, Motorized), Microneedling Device Type (Dermapen, Dermarollers), Microneedling Needle Material, Indications (Skin Rejuvenation, Acne Scar)- Global Forecast till 2027

Market Highlights

A number of surgical procedure are available in the market for the treatment of various skin problems. Dermabrasion is an invasive surgical treatment for acne, surgical scars, actinic keratosis, rhinophyma, and others. It is also used for tattoo removal and sun damaged skin, and it also changes in the appearance of the skin by injuring using an abrasive. The procedure is performed under local anesthesia and may result in sensitive and pinkish coloration of the skin. It has various side effects such as skin decoloration, and skin numbness due to local anesthesia. While microneedling is a minimally invasive procedure used for skin rejuvenation with minimal side effects. Microneedling is a new procedure getting popular in developed countries across the globe owing to various advantages offered by the procedure such as less treatment time, best results, and many more.

The market is driven by increasing demand for new minimally invasive procedures for skin rejuvenation, and availability of technologically advanced device in the market. High cost of dermabrasion and available of alternative treatment such as laser surgery, moderate to deep skin peels, and the injection of fillers may restrain the market growth.

The global dermabrasion market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 3.68% during the forecast period.

Taste the market data and market information presented through more than 55 market data tables and figures spread over 101 pages of the project report. Avail the in-depth table of content (TOC) & market synopsis on “Dermabrasion market research report–Global forecast till 2023.”

Major Players in the Market:

Some of the key players in the global market are Stryker (U.S.), Medtronic (U.S.), CONMED Corporation. (U.S.), MicroAire Surgical Instruments (U.S.), Delasco (U.S.), George Tiemann & Co. (U.S.), Bellus Medical (U.S.), Osada, Inc. (U.S.), Dermapen World (Australia), MDPen (Georgia),  DermaQuip. (U.S.), and Eclipse Aesthetics (U.S.). Other players are Salient Medical Solutions (U.S.), Emage Medical (U.S.), 4T Medical (U.K), Dr. Ron Shelton. (U.S.), and Bellaire Industry (U.S.).

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Regional Analysis

Dermatology and cosmetology are receiving worldwide attention and there is a rise in the demand for affordable treatment, especially, in the developing countries across the globe. As per the World Health Organization (WHO), deaths from cancer worldwide are expected to rise to over 13.1 million by 2030. According to the article published in the Adolescent Health, Medicine and Therapeutics, acne vulgaris is the most common skin condition diagnosed in adolescents worldwide.

The Americas is the largest market owing to an increasing demand for skin resurfacing and rejuvenation procedures in the U.S. and increasing demand for non-invasive procedures for skin problems among women such as acne vulgaris and surgical scars.

Europe holds the second position in the market. The market in the European countries is increasing due to the increasing adoption of skin care and cosmetic procedures, availability of funds for research and development activities, and growing emphasis on skin care. Furthermore, the demand for dermatology procedures for skin resurfacing is increasing in the European countries.

In Asia Pacific market, rising awareness about advantages of dermabrasion and side effects, changing lifestyle, and the demand for new dermatology treatment for acne and skin pigmentation are major factors driving the growth of the market. Additionally, the availability of well-qualified cosmetic surgeons and dermatologists further stimulates the market growth. In Asia Pacific, Australia has the highest prevalence of skin cancer, which has been increasing continuously from the last few years, thus there is an extensive demand for dermatology procedures.

The demand for dermabrasion is found to be low in the Middle East & Africa.

Segmentation

The global dermabrasion & microneedling market is segmented on the basis of dermabrasion device type, micro-needling device type, needle material, application, and end user.

On the basis of dermabrasion device type, market is segmented into manual dermabraders and motorized dermabraders.

On the basis of microneedling device type, market is segmented into derma-stamp, dermapen, dermarollers, and others

On the basis of needle material, the microneedling market is segmented into silicon, glass, and metal.

On the basis of application, the dermabrasion & microneedling market skin rejuvenation, acne scar, traumatic & surgical scars, acne vulgaris, and others.

On the basis of end user, the market is segmented into hospitals, dermatology clinics, and others.

Table of Content

1 Report Prologue

2 Market Introduction

2.1 Scope Of Study 18

2.2 Research Objective 18

2.3 Assumptions & Limitations 19

2.3.1 Assumptions 19

2.3.2 Limitations 19

3 Research Methodology

3.1 Primary Research Methodology 21

3.2 Secondary Research Methodology 22

3.3 Market Share Analysis 23

3.4 Trade Analysis 23

3.5 Market Pricing Approach 23

4 Market Dynamics

4.1 Introduction 24

4.2 Drivers 25

4.2.1 Increasing Prevalence Of Skin Diseases Like Actinic Keratosis And Acne 25

4.2.2 Increasing Demands For Outpatient And Minimally Invasive Dermabrasion Procedures 26

4.2.3 Growing Expenditure On The Cosmetics 27

4.3 Restraints 28

4.3.1 High Cost Of Treatment 28

4.3.2 Side Effects Of The Dermabrasion Treatment 29

5 Market Factor Analysis

5.1 Value Chain Analysis 30

5.2 Porters Five Forces 31

5.2.1 Bargaining Power Of Suppliers 32

5.2.2 Bargaining Power Of Buyers 32

5.2.3 Threat Of New Entrants 32

5.2.4 Threat Of Substitutes 32

5.2.5 Intensity Of Rivalry 33

5.3 Demand & Supply: Gap Analysis 33

5.4 Pricing Analysis 34

5.5 Investment Opportunity Analysis 34

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About Market Research Future:

At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), & Consulting Services. MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients.

Related Report:

Amniotic Membrane Market Research Report - Global Forecast till 2025

Contact:

Akash Anand

Market Research Future

+1 646 845 9312

Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com

[market-research-future]

Amniotic Membrane  Market Analysis, Growth Impact and Demand By Regions To 2027

Segments:

The Global Amniotic Membrane market is segmented on the basis of type, application, and end-users. On the basis of type, the amniotic membrane market is segmented as lyophilized amniotic membrane, cryopreservation amniotic membrane, and others. On the basis of application, the amniotic membrane market is segmented into ophthalmology, surgical wounds, stem cell biology, and regenerative medicine.  On the basis of end-user the market is segmented into specialized clinics centers, hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, research institutes, and laboratory.

Regional Analysis:

The Americas dominate the Global Amniotic Membrane market owing to the rising market players focusing on varied applications of amniotic membrane; the increasing geriatric population also leads to rising patient population. Additionally, rising number of amniotic membrane transplant and wide availability of medical device manufacturers and pharmaceutical & biotechnology companies are fuelling the growth of global amniotic membrane market. According to CDC, around 19.6% population in the U.S. is likely to be 56 years and older. This rising aging population will increase the patient population leading to growth in amniotic membrane market.

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Europe accounts for a healthy market share due to factors such as rising healthcare networks and growing healthcare expenditure. Growing healthcare market and infrastructure is driving the Amniotic Membrane market in Europe. Additionally, according to Eurostat, Germany incurred healthcare expenditure over EUR 321 billion in 2014. Germany, France, and the U.K hold a significant share in the market due to the increasing demand for technologically advanced devices and treatment.

The Asia Pacific is expected to register the fastest growing rate for the Amniotic Membrane market. High growth rate is attributed to rising healthcare centers, skilled medical professionals, and rising standard of living. Additionally, rising patient population and demand for newer and better treatment is fuelling the market growth. India and China are the major contributors to the market growth due to the rapid development of healthcare sector and increasing healthcare infrastructure in these regions and increasing demand for new treatment services.

The Middle East & Africa is expected to witness limited growth due to limited access to healthcare services. In the Middle East, the growth of the market is driven by increasing healthcare infrastructre and demand for enhanced patient safety.

Market Highlights:

Amniotic Membrane is the inner layer of the placenta, which possesses various biological properties used to various defects, such as disorders of the outer eye, partial stem cell deficiency, corneal defects, chemical burns, conjunctivochalasis, pterygium, symblepharon, and various other ocular surface conditions. Amniotic membrane is used in various applications, such as regenerative medicine, ophthalmology, surgical wounds, and stem cell biology.

The Global Amniotic Membrane market is estimated to lead a healthy growth. The Global Amniotic Membrane market is majorly driven by increasing number of market players focusing on various applications of Amniotic Membrane, rising global aging population, increasing patient population, and rising healthcare expenditure. Varied applications of amniotic membrane are likely to drive the growth of global amniotic membrane market.

Additionally, rise in the number of amniotic membrane transplant performed, need for better and newer technologies, and improved healthcare facilities are propelling the growth of Global Amniotic Membrane market. Factors such as socio-ethical concerns and lack of awareness among mass is likely to hamper the growth of the Global Amniotic Membrane market. Global Amniotic Membrane market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 9.8% during the forecast period.

Key players

Derma Sciences Inc.

FzioMed, Inc.

Alliqua BioMedical

Skye Biologics Inc.

IOP Ophthalmics

Amniox Medical, Inc.

MiMedx Group, Inc.

Human Regenerative Technologies, LLC

Tissue-Tech Inc.

APPLIED BIOLOGICS

Amnio Technology

BRIEF TOC:

Chapter 1. Report Prologue

Chapter 2. Market Introduction

2.1 Definition

2.2 Scope Of The Study

2.2.1 Research Objective

2.2.2 Assumptions

2.2.3 Limitations

Chapter 3. Research Methodology

3.1 Introduction

3.2 Primary Research

3.3 Secondary Research

3.4 Market Size Estimation

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Chapter 4. Market Dynamics

4.1 Drivers

4.2 Restraints

4.3 Opportunities

4.4 Challenges

4.5 Macroeconomic Indicators

4.6 Technology Trends & Assessment

…TOC CONTINUED

Browse Related Research Reports at:

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Bioprocess Containers Market | Technology, Trends and Growth Forecast To 2027

About Market Research Future:

At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.

[cherokeegal1975]

Part of “Eden Symbiotic” by Meriah Smith

Prologue:

     The beginning of Eden’s history is a strange and tragically violent one.  In the beginning, Eden had another name, Za-ru-crosh, which meant "New Hope" in the language of the Ozbeen.      Za-ru-crosh was an uninhabited planet with Earth-like conditions that spun in a solar system much like Earth’s own with three moons instead of only one.  The first was a bit smaller than Earth’s moon and the farthest out.  The second moon was smaller still and the third and closest moon was the smallest.  They were called The Three Sisters.  Even centuries later, after Za-ru-crosh’s name was changed to Eden, their name endured.      The recorded history of New Hope begins in another distant galaxy when a fleet of colonial ships “set sail” across the void to their new home world.  It begins with a hope for peace, freedom from oppression and out of reach of an overbearing government.  This is a cause familiar to many Terrans, yet these people were not at all human.      Their large fleet of spaceships fled their home worlds nearly five thousand years ago when they headed off to Za-ru-crosh.  The technology they had at their disposal was advanced enough that their courageous leap through largely uncharted space was completed in a matter of months instead of centuries.      The exact details of how the Ozbeen immigrants established themselves, created a fair and working government, and thrived in peace for the next 2950 years is another story.  The details of how a few mad men and women rose to power and plunged their world into Armageddon doesn't matter for this telling of Eden’s beginning.  What was important is how the war ended.  Not in victory, but in the total annihilation of every living thing on New Hope.      Some of the military leaders got the bright idea to create the ultimate biological weapon to destroy their enemies once and for all.  The best geneticists were gathered and after ten years of hard work, they achieved their goal.      Inside fifty brood tanks were dozens of worm like creatures that glowed with their own bioluminescent light.  They were made mostly of energy and were out of phase so they could go anywhere and find any one.  The only thing that kept them in their brood tanks when they finally came to maturity was a sedative injected automatically into their amniotic fluid they floated in.      On the day the parasites were to be deployed, their creator’s enemies discovered the labs and the activity there.  Bombs were dropped and most of the laboratory complex was destroyed in the initial attack.  The brood tanks were deep underground and well protected from the raging inferno above.  Yet there was no protection against a total system power failure caused by the bombing.      Without the constant supply of sedative being pumped into the tanks, the parasites awoke from their sleep.  They phased through the glass of the brood tanks and floated away to hunt and scavenge anything organic.      The underground labs were soon devoid of every living survivor of the bombings.  All houseplants, lab animals, and experimental microbes were absorbed by the parasites, every scrap of organic material, until nothing was left.  Then they phased out of the labs in search of more prey, traveling underground to avoid the inferno that was still raging above.      The parasites multiplied prolifically and evolved at an unnaturally rapid pace.  All of their offspring, in all of their varieties, were voracious eating machines.      To escape the plague of monsters that consumed all life and seemed to have no weaknesses, the Ozbeen prepared to evacuate the planet.  Many of them managed to flee with the aid of their small fleet colonial ships, loading them with as many people and supplies as the ships could hold.      Many more had no hope of escaping their planet’s destruction.  The old, the sick and the weak were left behind deliberately and about ten million other people had to be left behind regardless of health for there was no more room on the ships.      Those left behind survived for a time by hiding in buildings that were not yet discovered by the hoards of parasites whose numbers were ever growing.  They scavenged for ever dwindling supplies and found ways to filter out their increasingly fouled water.      The remaining survivors discovered soon after the evacuation of friends, enemies and loved ones that fire could be used as a weapon against the parasites.  Yet this only slowed their destructive progress against the remaining people in scattered pockets throughout the planet.      The survivors held on for another year as the parasites ravaged the planet.  Most died from predation of the parasites, disease, and starvation.  Some died in fights over dwindling resources or in desperate acts of cannibalism.      For many, the cause of death was loss of hope.  In despair, they just took their own lives, unable to hold onto the hope that there would be ship sent back from the old home worlds to rescue them.      The rescue ships never came.      At the very end, when nearly all organic matter was consumed and the parasites were now preying on each other and wiping themselves out, about 2500 people still clung to life planet wide.  These people were the toughest and smartest of all the people that had been left behind.  Even so, their existence was hanging by a thread.  They were slowly starving to death and lack of clean water was taking its toll.  Even these hardy souls had become too weak to fight off or run and hide from the last of the parasites.      The remaining species of parasite that still survived even after all the other parasites were dead looked like shining stars the size of a human fist.  They were beautiful, voracious, deadly and bordering on becoming self-aware.  They rained down on the last remaining people and killed them all in a few days.      This tragic ending to one people’s hope for peace and freedom is where Za-ru-crosh dies.  Yet this is not the end, but the beginning of a shining hope that would successfully create and maintain forever a peaceful and prosperous society from the ashes of a dead world.      The parasites went through one final change that caused them to stop evolving at such an unnatural rate.  When the last kind of parasite had killed their hosts, they turned their victims’ bodies into a sort of organic life support system in the form of crystalids.  There was no other way for them to survive.      It is unknown how exactly how long the parasites lay sleeping and metamorphosing in their crystalids.  Centuries later, it was speculated to be about two years by modern day historians and biologists.      When they finally emerged from their pupa and instinctively ate the last shreds of soft tissue inside them, the world was born anew with them.      These new creatures looked much like the blue grey skinned Ozbeen and they even had the same memories as their dead hosts, which had caused them some confusion in the beginning of their existence as sentient beings.      There were differences however, these humanoids had glowing white skins.  Hair the color of precious metals adorned their heads and glowed with hues similar to their hair color.  Slanted almond shaped eyes, large and solid black, a little bigger than human eyes, but not by much.       They awoke to a dead world with nothing for them to eat and no clean water for them the drink.  Not even the once vast numbers of parasites were still alive to keep them company.  They were all dead.      Soon, many were praying hard to their old gods for help.  Desperate hearts and minds reached up to the heavens.  By some miracle or sheer dumb luck, a single female accidentally made mental contact with a young Massai girl in the middle of the Serengeti Plains.  She had been helping to gather food for her family alongside her mother and grandmother.      Both the female alien and the young girl were surprised and confused by this odd mode of communication.  The Ozbeen were telepathic, but they were not strong enough to reach out across the vast distances between worlds.       Through this psychic connection, the newly sentient being could sense that the girl had food and the new born was ravenous.      Ra’el Sharr had been her host’s name, so that is who this female ex-parasite thought she was in spite of the confusing physical differences in her body.  So her dead host’s name became absorbed into this shining being, just like the rest of the original Ra’el Sharr.      The new Ra’el Sharr yearned with all of might to be on a world so obviously teaming with life and abundant food.  This desperate yearning born of great need and the instinct of self preservation, forced another of the powers of her kind to come on line much sooner than it would have under better circumstances.  Teleportation!      One moment Ra’el Sharr was with a small and miserable group of men and women of her kind.  The next, she arrived on Earth!  She appeared with a cry of agony and confused terror next to the group of female humans.  The sudden forcing of her power had caused her a rather nasty migraine.      Terrified by this white and silver haired apparition suddenly appearing out of nowhere, the three Massai ladies fled, dropping their collecting baskets and spilling their contents on the ground in their haste to return to their village.      Ra’el Sharr paid them no mind.  Nearly blinded by pain, she just curled up into a fetal ball and held her poor head.  In time, the pain faded and she was able to take stock of her surroundings.  She saw various fruits, nuts, tubers and termites the women had left and ate them ravenously.      When she was sated, she fell into a deep healing sleep in the tall grasses.  She awoke a few hours later and remembered the rest of her people.  She mentally called out to them and showed them how to teleport.  Soon the entire population of 2500 alien men and women had arrived on Earth during the early 1200’s.      Legends of the Shining Ones were been born that day and would later be dismissed as fairy tales as the centuries passed.      Humanity did not welcome them with open arms and the Shining Ones had a strong aversion to warfare, so these newcomers hid in scattered pockets in remote areas across Africa.        Then as time passed and their powers grew, their hard won survival became easier.  They first discovered that not only were they powerful telepaths, they had an unusual amount of control over their ability.  They could turn the ability on and off at will, or even control how telepathic they wanted to be.  Even block out others from their minds.      They discovered that they shared a loosely connected collective sub consciousness that they called the Dreaming and they could pass information to each other when they slept.  Or by placing the Dreaming under conscious control when they were awake, they could link their minds together and act as one collective entity for brief periods.  They also learned to create illusions by directed hallucinations of incredible clarity.      Next they discovered their talent for telekinesis, moving objects with increasing ease just by willing them the move.  Followed by a small talent for pyro kinesis, which was quickly employed to make camp fires.  Then the ability to make anything temporarily invisible, including themselves.  Healing came next after that; they could heal any wound or sickness.  They also discovered that they were immune to all disease and parasitic infestations.      Lastly, shape shifting of themselves, other living things and various objects.  This ability shape shift into animals and humans with ease helped them to hide in plain sight among Earth’s host species undetected.  This time of growth in their life cycle took ten years.      Not long after they were able to hide among humans, it was decided that it was in their own best interest to restore their home world.  They had both the knowledge and the technology on their world to re-terraform their planet and rebuild their cities.  Since the readily available Terran life forms were so similar to the extinct life forms on Za-ru-crosh, they used Earth’s DNA to re-establish a healthy bio-sphere on their dead planet.      Also, they unanimously agreed that they would learn from their predecessors’ mistakes and not repeat them.  Peace would rein once more, they would not fail!      During the time of Za-ru-crosh’s healing began, the Shining Ones began to have serious doubts about being Ozbeen.  True, the Ozbeenians did have some telepathic ability, but not the rest of their powers.      Some stubbornly argued if they weren't Ozbeen, how is it that they remember their lives on Za-ru-crosh?      The parasites killed the Ozbeen, we are the parasites!      Not possible!      Possible!      For decades the argument went on unresolved as they labored to fit into Earth’s cultures without getting to involved in the course of human history, while making a living among the humans and restoring their home planet.      No human would have ever discovered their true identity and the argument of “Are We Ozbeen or Evolved Parasites?” would have remained unresolved if it had not been for Ra’el Sharr and Lide Topen.      Ra’el Sharr and Lide Topen were a mated pair and had been for the past fifty years by then.  Having been living among the Cherokee for the last five years, they renamed themselves Eloyis and Amoitoy (pronounced ‘Ah-moy-toy,’ with a short "A" sound; meaning coming from or originating from water).  They had mostly abandoned their old Ozbeen ways in favor of the Cherokee traditions.  Their lives were good and they had many friends among the humans.  Then Eloyis became pregnant for the first time and she was the first of her kind to do so.  Six weeks later she laid two spherical light blue-green eggs the size of pomelo grapefruits.      This was something of a shock to the entire Shining One community as news of this event traveled from mind to mind via the Dreaming.  The Ozbeen were mammalian and the Shining Ones, as they had discovered, were not.      Eloyis kept her eggs wrapped in warm furs next to the cooking fire.  Five weeks later, in the middle of a warm summer night, the eggs hatched while the entire village slept.  The hatchling larvae resembled their parents just before they metamorphosed into people; beautiful, like small bright shining stars the size of a human fist.      They floated out of their parents’ home and into the neighboring house.  There, they phased into the two sleeping adults and made themselves at home.  The sleeping man and wife were oblivious to the intrusion of their bodies as the larvae fed on their new hosts, yet did no harm to them.      Eloyis and Amoitoy were shocked to discover their children had hatched and were nowhere to be seen when the woke in the morning.  They used their ability to sense living things and tracked down their offspring and their now frightened and confused hosts.       All four people feared the symbiotes would kill their hosts or at least make them very sick.  Yet, this did not happen.      After much reveling of truth, debate, discussion and deal striking, the new hosts decided to help the children live so long as they proved to do no serious harm to themselves.  Eloyis and Amoitoy agreed to remove their offspring if it was asked of them.      This proved to be utter serendipity.      At first, the hosts did weaken for a time and Eloyis and Amoitoy devoted themselves to looking after them.  For the next six months, the hosts were capable of little more than eating and sleeping.  Then gradually, towards the end of that six month period, their strength returned and they were able to get up and do small tasks to maintain their own house hold.      As the symbiotes matured, they bonded with their hosts, not only physically, but mentally as well.  Making them want to help their hosts and much as they were able.  Love sealed the bond between host, symbiont, and parents of the symbionts.  An odd sort of family unit was created.      The symbionts eventually learned that they had the same powers as their parents.  Only they could not shape shift themselves and didn't have as high endurance as their parents.      They could shape shift their hosts however, also they stopped the ageing process and gave their hosts greatly enhanced strength and endurance.  Not as much as some of the Marvel Comic super heroes, but enough to fly in avian form, snap small steel chains, and bend steel bars up to one inch thick.      After a time, the symbiotes could phase in and out of their hosts and they could go off in separate directions for up to twelve hours before both partners begin to suffer.  The symbiote from lack of food, the host from the lack of protection from viruses and the presence of the symbiote itself.   The host’s body became dependent on the symbiote to survive; the physical bond had become that strong.  Also, the symbiote suppresses the immune system so the host’s body cannot reject the symbiote and then shares its own immunity with its host.  Results: the host-symbiote pair was as impossible to infect as an adult Shining One so long as they didn’t stay apart for too long.      The Shining Ones had been watching the progress of the two symbiont-host pairs with growing hope.  They were heartened at the possibility of a co-existence with humans.  But hard as they tried to gently reveal themselves and create that peaceful co-existence, most humans still rejected them as monsters, evil spirits or witches.  Very few families welcomed the Shining Ones into their lives so they could help them have children.      True, the Shining Ones could have turned evil and taken over Earth easily enough.  Used humans as host-slaves and turn the remaining population as laborers.  But the Shining Ones were a product of war themselves, born into full awareness and memories of their hosts.  This made them already sick of war.  They despised violence to the point of near passivism towards humans and especially toward each other.         So the solution was to continue to restore Za-ru-crosh and evacuate Earth as soon as the terraforming was finished.  To make sure the situation was not further complicated, a temporary no breeding law was passed by the Shining Ones’ ruling council.  Then a plan was launched to bio-engineer some people for their off-spring and then make enough of them so their people could have a choice as to whether or not they wanted to become “Joined” as they now called it.  Even if it meant extinction, the Shining Ones would never force anyone to become a host.      This seemed like a straightforward solution and it was meant to be.  Yet life happened and it's often messy by its very nature.      During the next thousand years more and more eggs were laid by mated pairs and small polygamist groups, conceived either by accident or outright disobedience.  Early in that first two hundred years of when the no breeding law was still in effect, sharper measures had to be taken.  The eggs were too precious to destroy and they could not be allowed to hatch in uncontrolled numbers.  So the three moon base complexes on the Three Sisters were converted into cryogenic labs to store the eggs indefinitely until more favorable conditions occurred.  The council also modified their no breeding policy to a controlled breeding law as a fair compromise.       This practice of controlling the number of eggs that were allowed hatch each Egg Season became a permanent means of not overwhelming Eden’s (as the former Za-ru-crosh would be called) native population.      Eventually the terraforming was finished and the Shining Ones all returned home.  With them they transported their Joined Ones, their willing family members and quite a lot of stolen human eggs and sperm.      The eggs and sperm had been stolen from various banks and just as often from unknowing donors.  In this way a healthy human and sentient bioengineered population was grown in brood tanks and raised by the community when they were born.      Many centuries passed with Eden growing and prospering undisturbed.  Earth and its off-world colonies grew and prospered, met with other alien races and always exploring new territories to study and colonize.      Eventually, after many centuries, a starship discovered an Earth like planet that broadcast through various frequencies via radio, television, computer and satellite feeds that there was sentient life living there.  They thought that they may have discovered a lost human colony that had blended with the host species of the planet and likely had forgotten their origins.  Lost colonies were rare but not unheard of and the usual procedure was undertaken to make careful contact and reestablish communications between them and the rest of the human race.      Unknown to them, these explorers were being closely monitored by the Main Council’s telepaths after their mother ship had been sighted from the cryogenic lab bases on the outer most moon.  They did nothing to stop them, curious to see what these explorers would do.      The explorers selected a clearing that was not too far and not to close to what looked like a major city in the western hemisphere as a landing site.  They sent a team of specialist aboard a shuttle to make observations and slowly make contact with the locals that lived in that area…

(This book can be bought on Amazon either as a paperback or as a Kindle)

[quark-nova]

A Prologue to Amniotes

Part III - The “Age of Amphibians”

A long time has passed since my previous blog post. Two months, or around twenty million years, depending on how you count.

We are now in the middle of the Carboniferous (late Mississippian for the Americans out there). Stegocephalians are out of fashion, new models of amphibians have been released. They’re actually able to spend most of their time on land! (well, a few went back to the water, but still)

Unfortunately, there’s no real word for this faunal shift. An interesting concept that we can use, however, is the one of megadynasty. They’re basically evolutionary faunas but on land, an idea introduced by Brenchley and Harper in 1998. Basically, Megadynasty I corresponds to the amphibians and pelycosaurians, Megadynasty II is the therapsids, and Megadynasty III is the dinosaurs. You can quickly see how this is more than approximative, as I doubt Ichthyostega and Dimetrodon have much in common to justify this grouping. Oh, and they forgot the entire Cenozoic.

A better system would be to have a “Megadynasty 0″ corresponding to the stegocephalians (when the “going on land” functionality was still in beta), with I for the later amphibians and II for the pelycosaurians. Here’s a schema:

Seven-megadynasty paradigm, by Quark-Nova (CC-SA 3.0)

Are the amphibians really the only ones to dominate the ecosystem? Certainly not - giant insects and arthropods would certainly like to have a word with them. And, quite honestly, a two-meter long Arthropleura or a 350 kilogram Hibbertopterus would probably win an argument against me on intimidation alone. But, unfortunately for them, I’m still alive and they aren’t - fact is, amphibians and their descendants ultimately did a better job at shaping the megafauna. Which is why the goal of this blog is to talk about synapsid evolution, rather than giant insect evolution.

But what was the Carboniferous like exactly? Popular conception pictures it as a mostly uniform “rainforest” of giant fern trees. And, while it’s not completely wrong, something is quite often left out of the picture. The Middle Carboniferous saw the beginning of the Karoo ice age, an icehouse world that would last until the Permian and see large ice sheets cover much of the planet. But the ice age wasn’t at its peak yet, and amphibians could comfortably chill in the rainforest. For now, at least.

So, what were they doing? Quite a lot, actually. A lot of them decided that becoming l o n g was the way to go, with adelospondyls, aistopods and various other groups ranging in body plans from reptilian ferret to actual snake.

Rhynchonkos, a ferret microsaur, by Smokeybjb (CC-SA 3.0)

A lot of these groups were historically classified as “lepospondyls”, with everyone’s favourite boomerang-headed Diplocaulus, although early tetrapod classification is conspicuously inconsistent - Rhynchonkos up there might actually be an early reptile! Lepospondyls themselves might be more related to amniotes, to modern amphibians, or away from the branch leading to both entirely.

Another group that dominated the middle Carboniferous, temnospondyls, are more well-grounded - both phylogenetically and in terms of their terrestrial lifestyle. The likely ancestors of modern frogs and salamanders, a lot of them were ironically way less reliant on water, with scales allowing them to retain humidity more efficiently (modern amphibians are smooth). They also had way more game impact than their descendants, with even early forms like Capetus reaching a meter and a half, and being more crocodile-like in appearance.

Capetus, an early temnospondyl, by Dmitry Bogdanov (CC-SA 3.0)

Unfortunately, a design flaw still remained, as their eggs and babies still needed water to develop in. Although some temnospondyls had an innovative solution: laying their eggs in humid crevices, allowing them to reproduce even far away from actual bodies of water!

Another group was on the rise, concurrently with temnospondyls. Reptiliomorphs are often discussed as major players in the middle Carboniferous fauna, although this word hides a lot of complexity under the hood. In fact, any creature closer to amniotes than to modern amphibians is classified as a “reptiliomorph” - even possibly lepospondyls. Really, the trend of gradual independence from water wasn’t a linear path, but several groups trying out innovations concurrently. Internal fertilization, direct development (skipping the problematic tadpole stage), and ultimately, one that would revolutionize life on land: the amniotic egg.

[sumitchoudhari-blog]

Amniotic Membrane Market - Size, Research Report and Industry Analysis – Market Research Future

Market Highlights

Amniotic Membrane is a part of the placenta, which consists of natural therapeutics agents. Amniotic membrane is also known as amnion. Amniotic Membrane finds its use in various applications, such as surgical wounds, prenatal diagnostic application, ophthalmology, stem cell biology, and regenerative medicine. Amniotic fluid cells are obtained during amniocentesis, a diagnostic procedure performed to evaluate the health status of the fetus in the womb.

Global Amniotic Membrane Market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 9.8% during the forecast period.

Amniotic Membrane Market Segmentation

The Global Amniotic Membrane market is segmented on the basis of type, application, and end-users.

On the basis of type, the amniotic membrane market is segmented as lyophilized amniotic membrane, cryopreservation amniotic membrane, and others.

On the basis of application, the amniotic membrane market is segmented into ophthalmology, surgical wounds, stem cell biology, and regenerative medicine.

On the basis of end-user the market is segmented into specialized clinics centers, hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, research institutes, and laboratory.

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Amniotic Membrane Market Key Players

Some of the key players in the Amniotic Membrane market are Derma Sciences Inc., FzioMed, Inc., Alliqua BioMedical, Skye Biologics Inc., IOP Ophthalmics, Amniox Medical, Inc., MiMedx Group, Inc., Human Regenerative Technologies, LLC, Tissue-Tech Inc., APPLIED BIOLOGICS and Amnio Technology.

Amniotic Membrane Market Regional Analysis

The Americas dominate the Global Amniotic Membrane market owing to the rising market players focusing on varied applications of amniotic membrane; the increasing geriatric population also leads to rising patient population. Additionally, rising number of amniotic membrane transplant and wide availability of medical device manufacturers and pharmaceutical & biotechnology companies are fuelling the growth of global amniotic membrane market. According to CDC, around 19.6% population in the U.S. is likely to be 56 years and older. This rising aging population will increase the patient population leading to growth in amniotic membrane market.

Europe accounts for a healthy market share due to factors such as rising healthcare networks and growing healthcare expenditure. Growing healthcare market and infrastructure is driving the Amniotic Membrane market in Europe. Additionally, according to Eurostat, Germany incurred healthcare expenditure over EUR 321 billion in 2014. Germany, France, and the U.K hold a significant share in the market due to the increasing demand for technologically advanced devices and treatment.

The Asia Pacific is expected to register the fastest growing rate for the Amniotic Membrane market. High growth rate is attributed to rising healthcare centers, skilled medical professionals, and rising standard of living. Additionally, rising patient population and demand for newer and better treatment is fuelling the market growth. India and China are the major contributors to the market growth due to the rapid development of healthcare sector and increasing healthcare infrastructure in these regions and increasing demand for new treatment services.

The Middle East & Africa is expected to witness limited growth due to limited access to healthcare services. In the Middle East, the growth of the market is driven by increasing healthcare infrastructre and demand for enhanced patient safety.

Table Of Content

1. Report Prologue

2. Market Introduction

2.1 Definition

2.2 Scope Of The Study

2.2.1 Research Objective

2.2.2 Assumptions

2.2.3 Limitations

3. Research Methodology

3.1 Introduction

3.2 Primary Research

3.3 Secondary Research

3.4 Market Size Estimation

       TOC Continued….!

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https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/amniotic-membrane-market-5645

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[niteshagrawals-blog]

Amniotic Membrane Market - Top Player, Biggest Market, Market Segmentation and Industry Analysis Forecast to 2023

Amniotic Membrane is the inner layer of the placenta, which possesses various biological properties used to various defects, such as disorders of the outer eye, partial stem cell deficiency, corneal defects, chemical burns, conjunctivochalasis, pterygium, symblepharon, and various other ocular surface conditions. Amniotic membrane is used in various applications, such as regenerative medicine, ophthalmology, surgical wounds, and stem cell biology.

The Global Amniotic Membrane market is estimated to lead a healthy growth. The Global Amniotic Membrane market is majorly driven by increasing number of market players focusing on various applications of Amniotic Membrane, rising global aging population, increasing patient population, and rising healthcare expenditure. Varied applications of amniotic membrane are likely to drive the growth of global amniotic membrane market.

Additionally, rise in the number of amniotic membrane transplant performed, need for better and newer technologies, and improved healthcare facilities are propelling the growth of Global Amniotic Membrane market.

Factors such as socio-ethical concerns and lack of awareness among mass is likely to hamper the growth of the Global Amniotic Membrane market.

Global Amniotic Membrane market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 9.8% during the forecast period.

Amniotic Membrane Market Key Companies Analyzed In Report Are

Derma Sciences Inc., MiMedx Group, Inc., APPLIED BIOLOGICS, FzioMed, Inc., Alliqua BioMedical, Skye Biologics Inc., IOP Ophthalmics, Amniox Medical, Inc., Human Regenerative Technologies, LLC, Tissue-Tech Inc., and Amnio Technology.

Get Sample Copy of Report At: https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/5784

Market Segmentation:

The global Amniotic Membrane market is segmented on the basis of type, application and end-users. On the basis of the type, the market is segmented as Cryopreservation Amniotic Membrane, Lyophilized Amniotic Membrane, and others. On the basis of application, the market is segmented into surgical wounds, ophthalmology, stem cell biology, and regenerative medicine. On the basis of end-user the market is segmented into hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, specialized clinics, research centers, and laboratories.

Intended Audience

Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Suppliers

Medical Research Laboratories

Research and Development (R&D) Companies

Market Research and Consulting Service Providers

Potential Investors

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Detailed Regional Analysis:

North America holds the maximum share of Amniotic Membrane market in the Americas region. On a regional basis, the Americas region is segmented into North America and South America. North America is segmented into the U.S. and Canada. Increased presnce of market players, along with growing number of biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries is fuelling the growth of amniotic membrane market. Additionally, rising patient population is likely to enhance the growth of global amniotic membrane market. Europe accounts for a healthy market share due to factors such as rising need for advanced technologies and rising healthcare expenditure. Furthermore, growth in skilled professionals with advanced healthcare infrastructure is likely to fuel the growth of amniotic membrane market in Europe.

The Asia Pacific is expected to register the fastest growing rate for the Amniotic Membrane market. High growth rate is attributed to rising healthcare organizations, growing healthcare initiatives taken up by government, and rising awarness regarding newer technologies is likely to enhance the growth of the market. Additionally, rise in standard of living in urban areas is targeting the growth of Global Amniotoc Membrane market.

The Middle East & Africa is expected to show a slow growth in the market. Major factors that are likely to hamper the growth are lack of awareness regarding adavanced technologies and limited availability of treatment facilities. In the Middle East, United Arab Emirates has garnered the largest market share owing to the development of healthcare infrastructuire and rising number of specialty care centers with skilled professionals.

TABLE OF CONTENT Chapter 1. Report Prologue Chapter 2. Market Introduction 2.1 Definition 2.2 Scope Of The Study 2.2.1 Research Objective 2.2.2 Assumptions 2.2.3 Limitations

Chapter 3. Research Methodology 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Primary Research 3.3 Secondary Research 3.4 Market Size Estimation

Chapter 4. Market Dynamics 4.1 Drivers 4.2 Restraints 4.3 Opportunities 4.4 Challenges 4.5 Macroeconomic Indicators 4.6 Disease Indication Trends & Assessment

Chapter 5. Market Factor Analysis 5.1 Porter’s Five Forces Analysis 5.1.1 Bargaining Power Of Suppliers 5.1.2 Bargaining Power Of Buyers 5.1.3 Threat Of New Entrants 5.1.4 Threat Of Substitutes

….TOC Continue

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[quark-nova]

A Prologue to Amniotes

Part II - Bridging the gap

We left our early tetrapods in the wake of one of the most disastrous mass extinctions ever. Unfortunately, they all died.

Tiktaalik, not in its greatest shape today (University of Chicago/Beth Rooney/Associated Press)

Well, not all of them. But that’s definitely what the fossil record would have you believe. We have entered the Carboniferous period (Mississippian for the Americans out here), and, with it, the enigmatic Romer’s gap.

This gap didn’t only affect early tetrapods. In the wake of the late-Devonian extinction, we find a 20 million year long stretch of Carboniferous with extremely few fossils, leaving a gap in our understanding of the crucial Devonian-Carboniferous transition - and of early tetrapod evolution.

West Lothian, Scotland, source of many early Carboniferous fossils and British parliamentary questions (Anne Burgess, CC-BY-SA 2.0)

Could this gap simply be an artifact? It is definitely possible that the conditions in the early Carboniferous weren’t especially conductive to fossilization, and a few fossils have in fact been found from the gap itself!

However, it appears that this gap corresponded to a genuine point of low diversity. Oxygen levels were critically low at the time (by Carboniferous standards, so a little under modern-day level), causing a decline in diversity in both tetrapods and terrestrial arthropods. Which would have quite an interesting consequence for their conquest of land, with both evolving in relative obscurity ahead of a future radiation.

Crassigyrinus, an early aquatic tetrapod from the Romer Gap of Scotland (Nobu Tamura, CC BY-SA 3.0)

As we saw last time, the first “stegocephalian”-grade tetrapods weren’t really terrestrial at all. And, while a few of them would be found in the waters of Romer’s gap itself (like the fully aquatic Crassigyrinus, pictured above), they would leave the next generation of tetrapods to make its debuts on land, with strong, forward-facing limbs fully adapted to life on land.

Life reconstruction of the early tetrapod Pederpes showing the forelimb bones beneath the skin (Julia Molnar, Copyright 2021)

The best embodiment of this transition is undoubtably Pederpes. Another of the rare Romer’s gap finds, this “amphibian” still had the characteristic many-fingered limbs of their stegocephalian ancestors, while already showing signs of the transition towards pentadactyly - the sixth digit wasn’t weight-bearing at all. Interestingly, its post-Romer relatives like Whatcheeria would be fully pentadactylous - converging with the condition found in modern tetrapods.

These forerunners would coexist with more derived tetrapods, whose soon to be dominant lineages made their obscure debuts during the gap. It is during this time that the ancestors of modern-day amphibians and amniotes - respectively, temnospondyls like Balanerpeton and reptiliomorphs like Eldeceeon - would diverge, and become mostly or fully terrestrial. Along with a third enigmatic group, the lepospondyls, they would come to define the ecosystems of the middle Carboniferous...