Brain or Liver
New research suggests that in up to 10% of cases where a patient is diagnosed with dementia, the problem is actually undetected liver disease, which can cause similar neurological symptoms, such as cognitive impairment and changes in mood and motor skills.
The condition is called hepatic encephalopathy, a complication of cirrhosis. There are treatments, but there's bad news, too (in two parts). First, cirrhosis is hard to diagnose before irreversible harm has been done. Second, rates of liver disease in the U.S., including cirrhosis, are rising.
Body of Knowledge
Pretty much everybody has a pair of auricles or pinnae, which is plural for pinna. These are the visible portions of the outer ear, those crinkled half-moons of cartilage covered with skin that help collect sound waves and channel them into the ear canal -- and sometimes serve as useful handles for redirecting misguided children. Not that we've ever heard of such a thing!
Doc Talk
Clinic unit -- a somewhat derogatory reference to a patient's weight. One clinic unit equals 200 pounds.
Mania of the Week
Tulipomania -- an obsession and metaphor for economic bubbles, referencing the tulip crisis of 1637 in Holland when the flowers were a blossoming market that suddenly collapsed
Never Say 'Diet'
The Major League Eating record for French cut green beans is 2.71 pounds in six minutes, held by Crazy Legs Conti. French cut green beans are haricots verts sliced horizontally, producing thinner strands of beans if not thinner bodies of people who eat them by the pound.
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