Destroying Angel Mushroom

Toad is practically Super Mario's slave.

Head's up: there won't be any new posts this week. Why? It's Thanksgiving week and I've convinced myself that I'm allowed to be lazy.

I'm never sure why people decide to go mushroom hunting. I know the organic craze has its merits, but I wouldn't want to die from eating so fresh from nature. The Destroying Angel is of the genus Amanita and contains a toxin that will shut down your liver and kidneys. I say: avoid white mushrooms. 

Toxic Megacolon

Also known as the Chernobyl Colon, Poisonous Poo-chute, Septic Shi...

Lactose Intolerance

"So give me coffee and TV" - Blur

You might remember the music video to "Coffee & TV" by Blur or you might not. If you do, you'll probably recall a milk carton walking around town trying to locate Graham Coxon (Blur's guitarist).

And speaking of milk, milk contains lactose, a disaccharide of glucose and galactose. People usually develop an intolerance to lactose because of the absence of the lactase persistence SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism). Lactose intolerance also becomes more common as we age, and can be secondary to a number of syndromes/diseases that disrupt the GI mucosa. Use the lactose-hydrogen breath test to diagnose!

Entamoeba Histolytica

Most people who collect vinyl wear scrotum-crushing tight jeans.

If you're from California, and like the music and independent scene, and are more often than not annoyingly pretentious, you've probably been to the Amoeba Music record store. The one in Hollywood is a bit of a dump, and I'm still bitter that I stood there futilely waiting to see a free Franz Ferdinand gig.

Anyway, onto real amoebas. Entamoeba histolytica is the type amoeba you want to get if you're interested in a getting dysentery (compare that to Entamoeba dispar which doesn't cause dysentery). Sometimes they might affect the liver, creating an abscess, which on aspiration supposedly looks like "anchovy paste". Their virulence factors lyse WBCs, so if you're digging around in the stool and place it under a microscope, you won't find white blood cells hanging around! 

Pancreas!

A tribute to Lichtenstein

I'm probably the only one who thinks the pancreas looks like a gun.

On dissection it looks like mush.