#vertebral column

[drchristophedelongsblog]

Cervicobrachial neuralgia: pain that radiates from the neck to the arm

What is cervicobrachial neuralgia?

Cervicobrachial neuralgia is a painful condition that manifests itself as pain radiating from the neck down the arm, sometimes as far as the fingers. The pain is caused by compression or irritation of a nerve root in the neck.

What are the causes?

The most common causes of cervicobrachial neuralgia are :

- Herniated cervical disc: A piece of intervertebral disc slips out of place and compresses a nerve root.

- Cervical osteoarthritis: Wear and tear on the cervical joints can lead to nerve compression.

- Spinal canal stenosis: A narrowing of the canal containing the spinal cord and nerves.

- Facet joint disease: Inflammation of the small joints between the vertebrae.

What are the symptoms?

The symptoms of cervicobrachial neuralgia may vary depending on the nerve root affected, but they generally include :

- Pain: Sharp, stabbing pain that starts in the neck and radiates down the arm, forearm and fingers.

- Numbness: In the area innervated by the compressed nerve.

- Tingling: Tingling sensation.

- Muscle weakness: In the upper limb.

How is cervicobrachial neuralgia diagnosed?

The diagnosis is made by a doctor specialising in diseases of the spinal column (neurologist, rheumatologist, orthopaedist) on the basis of :

- Clinical examination: The doctor will look for painful points, assess neck mobility and reflexes.

- Complementary examinations:

o X-ray: To visualise the bones and joints.

o CT scan: To obtain more detailed images of the spine.

o MRI: To view the intervertebral discs, nerves and soft tissues.

What are the treatments?

Treatment for cervicobrachial neuralgia depends on the cause and severity of symptoms. It may include :

- Medication: Anti-inflammatories, analgesics, muscle relaxants.

- Physiotherapy: To strengthen neck muscles and improve mobility.

- Infiltrations: Corticosteroid injections to reduce inflammation.

- Physical treatment: Heat, cold, ultrasound.

- Surgery: In the most serious cases, surgery may be required to decompress the nerve root.

 How can cervicobrachial neuralgia be prevented?

It is not always possible to prevent cervicobrachial neuralgia, but certain measures can help reduce the risk:

- Maintain good posture: Avoid staying in the same position for too long.

- Regular exercise: Strengthens back muscles and improves posture.

- Lifting correctly: To avoid putting excessive strain on the spine. In conclusion, cervicobrachial neuralgia is a painful condition that can be disabling. Early diagnosis and appropriate treatment are essential to relieve symptoms and improve patients' quality of life.

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[raffaellopalandri]

Book of the Day - Yogabody

Today’s Book of the Day is Yogabody: Anatomy, Kinesiology, and Asana written by Judith Hanson Lasater in 2009 and published by Rodmell Press. Judith Hanson Lasater is a world-renowned American yoga teacher and writer. She writes about yoga, its practice and philosophy, food and nutrition, fitness, and wellness. She also contributed to found the Yoga Journal magazine. I have chosen this book…

[itsmaferart]

One of the best details of Buddy Daddies is to see how Rei's posture improved when he stopped being a murderer.

It is even preserved upright years later, being a dilf.

It is no longer a robot in off mode, and on when it is a killer. Now it's papa Rei cooking toast! 🥪

[shuruzy]

ok maybe I have gotten better at outfit design bc younger me would've never thought to make Aadrios' cape completely bat-like, AND to put a vertebral column on the back of his jacket.

Though... I MAY change his hairstyle a bit to make the back easier to see? Decision pending. I love the long straight hair but I've always kinda felt like the backside of his design was a bit hard to read with all the long stuff in it (his early designs had a long cape instead of this short batty one). Maybe a braid that falls down the front instead? Maybe.

[takunwilliams]

33 

jacobs ladder 

Jesus

33 vertebrae in the spin 

cruxifixction 

Golgotha the skull 

cristos oil 

[panchicha]

[comtessacrow]

black ice season my beloathed

[belligerentbagel]

hhhhhh. there's . a . lot. going on here (this is a joke rant. mostly)

The foot, bizarrely, appears to be anatomically accurate — correct number of phalanges, metatarsals, and tarsals.

I'm not going to fucking talk about the articulations at all because my brain's going to melt. The monster who designed this is on a level beyond Victor Frankenstein. They've never seen a ligament or joint cavity before. They're slapping together bones with the confidence of a British paleontologist. This is the Magdeburg Unicorn of household objects, but you're not going to receive a Snopes dot com article for acquiring this creation held together with magical bone gunge and hubris.

Ramrod-straight spine, for some reason. You got the tarsal count down, but couldn't be arsed to put a bit of curve into the vertebral column? We're going to generously approximate this as a section for lumbar curvature, which would have made a lovely aesthetic handle/grabbing point, but. nah. you saw the structural need for "vertical section connecting a base to an arm" and thought "spine," but failed to consider the other features of the organ. Fucking put even a rib-clavicle-scapula combo in there, which would have given a much nicer transition into the —

Horizontal long bone glued to the superior aspect of the spine, with vertebral spinous processes growing out of it like a machine-generated bastardisation. I s2g the manufacture process for this had to be 1) enter "bone sewing machine" into midjourney. 2) Take the first design it spits out. 3) Uncritically fabricate the design, without making edits to consider how things could articulate with & fit neatly into each other. As ever, the enemy of science is capitalism.

Horizontal long bone gets a second bullet point, because there is so much happening. The long bone would have been perfect as the vertical aspect, because tada your foot already has two lower leg bones naturally articulating with it; AND the spine would have been great for for the "machine arm" because you can slap the thread spools onto the spinous processes! BUT NO. You're gluing an unidentifiable long bone with blurry nonspecific landmarks to 1) the top of a spine (hooooo. I'm breathing out. I'm not going to engage with this again) and 2) the side of a skull (THE SIDE?? WHERE THE EAR GO??).

The skull. Jesus Jod and Jary I don't have the blood left for this. The distal??? end of the long bone is rammed into the side of the skull because heaven is empty and nobody was left to think logically about how to attach a long bone to a skull (spoiler! this DOES NOT WORK. the skull forms a joint with the vertebral column, but -oh, shucks - this spine already got co-opted into attaching to the foot). 

I appreciate the spidering "cracks" from where the long bone meets the skull, as a nod to the agony of constructing this agglomeration — I guess cracks? because they sure as HELL aren't getting the skull sutures right. TWO sagittal sutures that are bogglingly straight & parallel like a headband, with none of the pleasant squiggles of a genuine suture (you should also only have ONE sagittal suture) and a random suture over the right eye? why???? WHAT bony plates are fusing here after the trauma of 1) birth and 2) viewing this aberration

Now, this is different- a skeleton sewing machine for your goth or Halloween decor.

[vijayadworld]

Bones Of The Vertebral Column Notes

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Common Dinosaur Mistakes

you know the "bunny hands" pose everyone does to indicate t. rex? with the hands folded down, palms facing the chest? yeah. almost no dinosaurs could do that. it would break their wrists. only one unique group evolved to do that, which doesn't include any of the Jurassic Park dinosaurs. the term for this is "pronation" and actually the vast majority of land vertebrates can't do it. mammals can. mammals are weird.

not a single dinosaur has claws on their fourth or fifth fingers. not a single one. not even if they're quadrupedal.

most dinosaurs have very stiff tails and can't wiggle them around like a lizard tail. the tails were stiff for balance.

the "tongue flick" thing that lizards do is a lizard thing. dinosaurs wouldn't have done that. they don't do that today (birds, birds don't do that)

"nonavian" dinosaurs with feathered wings had them like birds. they covered the hands. and attached to the hands. stop giving Velociraptor hands. it had wings. and very big ones, too, based on Zhenyuanlong.

dinosaurs with scales don't have lizard scales. lizard scales are a derived trait found only in lizards. they had scutes similar to those of living birds, but much smaller compared to body size, and often in crazy shapes and patterns. dinosaur scales are super weird tbh

sauropods don't have elephant feet. they handled the problem of size in a much weirder way: instead of spreading out the weight, they turned their feet into columns. like pillars. some of the biggest species didn't have any fingers, their front limbs just. end. for maximum column support.

dinosaurs were chonky. you could not see the bones like a silhouette under the skin. some might have been skinnier and some of the features of the bones would be somewhat like with skinny bird legs, but most of the time? no. so stop making the holes in their skulls visible on the outside like damn. jurassic park/world is the biggest offender for this one.

the whole unique feature of dinosaurs is having their legs DIRECTLY under their bodies. they do not sprawl. I can't believe I have to say that, but I do.

hadrosaur (duck-billed dinosaur) front feet were hooves. like, seriously, hooves. not little flippers. not three fingered hands. hooves.

I reserve the right to add more to this post as I think of things.

other people can too, but just research before you do.

[drchristophedelongsblog]

What is sciatic disc disease?

Sciatica is a condition that occurs when the sciatic nerve is compressed by a herniated disc.

What is the sciatic nerve?

The sciatic nerve is the longest and thickest nerve in the human body. It runs from the lumbar spine, through the buttocks and down to the foot, supplying nerve supply to a large part of the lower limb.

What is a herniated disc?

Between each vertebra in the spinal column is an intervertebral disc, which acts as a shock absorber. A herniated disc occurs when part of this disc shifts and compresses the nearby nerve roots.

How does sciatic disc disease manifest itself?

Typical symptoms of sciatic disc disease include :

- Radiating pain: The pain generally starts in the lower back and radiates down one leg, along the path of the sciatic nerve. It can reach the buttock, thigh, calf and even the foot.

- Tingling or numbness: These sensations can be felt in the area affected by the pain.

- Muscle weakness: In severe cases, muscle weakness may develop in the affected leg.

What causes sciatic disc?

The main cause of sciatic disc disease is a herniated lumbar disc. Other factors can also contribute to the condition, such as

- Ageing: Natural wear and tear of the intervertebral discs increases the risk of herniation.

- Trauma: Intense physical effort or trauma to the back can cause a herniated disc.

- Posture: Poor posture can put excessive pressure on the intervertebral discs.

How is sciatic disc disease treated?

Treatment for sciatic disc disease depends on the severity and duration of symptoms. It may include :

- Conservative treatments:

o Rest: It is important to limit activities that aggravate the pain.

o Medication: Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and muscle relaxants can help relieve pain.

o Physiotherapy: Specific exercises can strengthen back muscles and improve mobility.

- Invasive treatments:

o Injections: Corticosteroid injections can reduce inflammation and relieve pain.

o Surgery: In the most serious cases, surgery may be required to remove the herniated part of the disc.

It is important to consult a doctor if you think you are suffering from sciatica. An accurate diagnosis will enable the appropriate treatment to be put in place.

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[whispering-about-the-tmnt]

Some headcanons regarding TMNT physiology

Over the years, I have come up with some headcanons regarding how I believe the Ninja Turtles' bodies work. I thought that perhaps it might be nice to finally share them with all of you.

These don't apply to all the iterations, of course, but they are pretty well universal in my mind, and I tend to incorporate most of them into my fanfics.

The Turtles (like leatherback sea turtles, echidnas, and some dinosaurs) are mesotherms, meaning they are neither warm nor cold blooded. They are, instead, in a middle-ground: they internally generate heat, but not to a constant temperature. In the Turtles' case, they will shiver when cold, and their bodies will not shut down right away when the temperature dips too low, though they may lose some energy and find it hard to concentrate.

Unlike many other modern reptiles and amphibians, who have a three-chambered heart, the Turtles have four-chambered hearts (like mammals and dinosaurs) that are larger and stronger than average human hearts and located at the center of their chests.

While the average human blood capacity is around five liters, the Turtles have about seven. Much of the blood flows under the shell -- a remnant of their lives as ordinary turtles, whose own blood does so in order to warm them when they bask. This means that the Turtles could lose close to three liters of blood before dying, while a human would only be able to lose two.

Their blood is also highly efficient at clotting, but that also means that storing blood for transfusions is difficult, and so must be directly transfused from one turtle to another in emergency situations.

Owing to their extensive circulatory system, they also have a larger lung capacity than humans and more oxygen-rich blood, and so are able to hold their breath for extended periods of time without adverse effects. Other than this, the Turtles' respiratory system is very much like humans', utilizing a diaphragm to inflate and deflate their lungs.

Like regular turtles, they do not have ribs, but rather their carapaces and plastrons serve that purpose, and they have muscles under their shells that keep their internal organs right where they belong.

Also like regular turtles, their spines curve along the insides of their shells. A direct hit on the center of their shells, then, could cause damage to their spinal column and nervous system, but fortunately their vertebral shields offer a fair amount of protection, so it would take quite an impact.

The Turtles are highly resistant to most infections and diseases, which increases their immunological responses. They do not get sick easily, and they recover quickly.

While their scales are not apparent, they are integrated into their skin, making it tougher than human skin. It takes a very hard hit to raise a bruise, and it is difficult to cut through without a very sharp or pointed blade.

Their bones are similar to humans, but are more resistant to breaking. They also heal quicker and stronger if they are broken.

Their muscles are also very close to human-like, but they are stronger than an average human due to compensating for the extra weight they carry in their shells. Because of this, their ligaments and tendons are also tougher, and it is difficult for them to have a joint dislocated.

Their sense of smell is more acute than humans, but not to an extreme degree. They are also not as bothered by foul smells (though this has more to do with living in a sewer than their physiology).

Their eyes are a bit tougher and more resistant to damage than human eyes due to a protective membrane that covers them. They see a bit better than humans in dark places and underwater.

Their hearing is somewhat more attuned to lower frequencies than human hearing, and is not dependent on external ears but rather an internal auditory system (making direct damage to their hearing unlikely).

They are capable of being knocked unconscious, but it takes a significant impact. Permanent or lingering damage to their brains is unlikely due to their structure, and so they also do not tend to suffer the same side-effects that humans would in the same circumstances (nausea, memory loss, etc.).

Although their nutritional needs are similar to humans, they do not need to eat every day, and in fact can get by quite well without food for a week if necessary (though they won't enjoy it). When food is readily available, however, they will eat as much as possible to store up energy. Their metabolism does not slow down when they do not eat, so overexerting themselves when they haven't had any food for a while can burn them out suddenly.

Their sleep schedules are much like most diurnal animals, though they are able to stay awake for extended periods of time and can get by on little sleep, if necessary. There have been times when they have been awake for days on end, getting by on short one hour naps here and there. In general, though, they like to have a regular sleep/wake cycle.

Like other reptiles, the Turtles never stop growing throughout their lifetimes; however their growth is slow, topping off at about 1-2 inches every five years.

Does anyone have anything they would like to add to the list? I actually had fun compiling it!

[zooophagous]

I see a post, that asks the question "you are now married to your phone background, how fucked are you?"

I close the app and look. When was the last time I considered my phone background? I can't even remember it.

On the screen before me is a purple wildflower, a bergamot, or "bee balm" plant, photographed in North Dakota in 2019 in a family member's back yard.

I am married to a bergamot. She is tall and shapely, moreso than myself, though her choice of purple raiments matched closely my own. She is my favorite color. Maybe that's how we met? Why I decided to woo her?

My wife the bergamot is a socialite. She has more friends than I. Every morning she gossips with a cabbage white butterfly, and cruelly shares their secrets with the rusty patched bumblebees, who compete for her affections with the domesticated aapis mellifera, which trail at her purple coattails like lapdogs.

Her favorite friend, however, is the ruby throated hummingbird. More insect than avian though it does contain a vertebral column, it iridesces like green beetle wings and in my heart I feel jealousy as my bergamot bride and the hummingbird kiss.

I sit with her for a season. Under the sun and the heat and the biting flies. She is covered in dewdrops and in spiders. I spare her from caterpillars and lavish my affections on her with a cup of water.

The world turns at last to its cool side, my bergamot changes her purple coat to her dusty toned night gown. She lies down to sleep and is buried beneath a bed of fresh snow come October.

Love so fleeting, marriage so brief, could I forget my bergamot and move on? Could my love be perennial and evergreen even when my beloved is not? It is winter and my bride is dead. How fucked am I?

[artifacts-and-arthropods]

Namib Sand Geckos: these nocturnal geckos have biofluorescent markings that emit a bright, neon-green glow when exposed to the moonlight

This species (Pachydactylus rangei) is found only in the Namib Desert, which stretches across Namibia, Angola, and South Africa; the geckos typically inhabit the arid, coastal region known as the Skeleton Coast.

In order to escape from the blistering heat of the desert, they use their webbed feet to burrow down into the sand during the day, and then emerge only at night, when the temperature has finally dropped. The webbing on their feet also enables them to run more easily across the dunes.

Namib sand geckos are covered in translucent scales, but they also have a strangely colorful appearance, as the colors/shades of their circulatory system, spinal column, internal organs, and optical membranes remain partially visible through the skin, producing various shades of pink, dark blue, purple, magenta, orange, and yellow.

They also have several distinctive markings running along their lower flank and encircling their eyes; these markings are known to fluoresce when exposed to UV light (including moonlight), emitting a bright, neon-green glow.

Some researchers have theorized that the biofluorescent markings may act as a signal to other geckos, allowing them to locate one another in the vast, desolate expanse of the desert, as this paper explains:

The fluorescent areas of P. rangei are concentrated around the eyes and along the lower flanks. This positioning is practically invisible to predators with a higher perspective (e.g. birds and jackals), but highly conspicuous from a gecko’s perspective. As P. rangei is sociable but generally solitary, and occurs at low population densities, such a signal might serve to locate conspecifics over greater distances ...

Encounters in P. rangei might serve purposes beyond mating opportunities: as the Namib desert has extremely low precipitation, fog is a key water source for its flora and fauna. Fog condenses on the bodies of the geckos, and they lick it from their faces. In husbandry, we have observed individuals licking water from conspecifics, taking advantage of a much greater available surface area.

Additionally, after short periods of isolation, the geckos run to meet each other. The combination of vital hydration with socialisation might reinforce signals that enable such meetings, and the cost of visibility to predators with higher vantage points, might constrain the signals to regions best visible from eye-level and below.

The Namib sand gecko is the only terrestrial vertebrate that is known to use an iridophore-based form of biofluorescence (you can find a more detailed explanation of that mechanism in the article mentioned above). The fluorescent dermal markings are also unique to this species.

Sources & More Info:

Scientific Reports: Neon-green fluorescence in the desert gecko Pachydactylus rangei caused by iridophores

Animal Diversity Web: Pachydactylus rangei

Dr. Mark D. Scherz's Blog: A Neon-Green Glowing Gecko!

Australian Geographic: Skeleton Coast - Namibia's strange desert dwellers

[alphynix]

Gaiasia jennyae was a tetrapodomorph – an amphibian-like relative of early tetrapods – that lived about 280 million years ago during the early Permian in what is now Namibia.

Although it's only known from incomplete skull and vertebral column material it probably looked quite similar to the colosteids, a closely-related group of tetrapodomorphs with elongated bodies and small limbs. If it had the same sort of body proportions as these relatives it would have been huge, the largest known stem-tetrapod at potentially around 4m long (~13').

It had a wide flat head with a short boxy snout, and large interlocking fangs on the roof of its mouth and at the front of its lower jaw. It would have been fully aquatic and probably not a particularly fast swimmer, instead likely being an ambush predator using suction from rapidly opening its jaws to pull prey into its mouth before clamping down with its fangs.

It's also notable for living considerably later than most other stem-tetrapods, and in an unexpected part of the world. While its close relatives are all known from the tropics of the Carboniferous, Gaiasia was in a location that was much closer to the South Pole during the early Permian (~55° S), inhabiting an immense freshwater lake in a rift valley with a cold-temperate climate.

Its presence in this habitat may suggest that other stem-tetrapod lineages survived and thrived in high latitudes for much longer than previously thought, while the true tetrapods were all diversifying nearer the equator – or it might represent a Paleozoic equivalent of Koolasuchus, an isolated straggler lurking in a cold refugium.

———

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References:

Marsicano, Claudia A., et al. "Giant stem tetrapod was apex predator in Gondwanan late Palaeozoic ice age." Nature (2024): 1-6. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07572-0

Naish, Darren. "'The whole front of the mouth is just giant teeth.' Prehistoric swamp monster with toilet-seat head dug up in Namibia." Discover Wildlife, 3 Jul. 2024, https://www.discoverwildlife.com/animal-facts/gaiasia-jennyae

Stollhofen, Harald, et al. "AAPG Studies in Geology# 46, Chapter 6: The Gai-As Lake System, Northern Namibia and Brazil." (2000): 87-108. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/255979661_The_Gai-As_Lake_System_Northern_Namibia_and_Brazil

Wikipedia contributors. “Gai-As Formation.” Wikipedia, 8 Jul. 2024, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gai-As_Formation

Wikipedia contributors. “Gaiasia.” Wikipedia, 8 Jul. 2024, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaiasia