@ladykrampus / ladykrampus.tumblr.com
Balbal - A Tagbanua ghoul with sharp curved nails and a long proboscis-like tongue. It glides in the night sky using the flaps of membranous flesh between its arms and the sides of its body like a flying squirrel . It uses its tongue to suck the blood of a fetus or the innards of a person. It licks a sick or dying person to suck the victim’s life force. It could steal corpses undetected, replacing them with banana stalks that resemble the deceased.
Perinatal Osteogenesis Imperfecta (probably type II) and Blue Sclerae of OI
Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI), also known as brittle bone disease, is a set of disorders that involves the malformation or insufficient formation of collagen.
All types of this condition are genetic, and are present at birth. Types I through V are autosomal dominant, and Types VI through VII are autosomal recessive. Given the severity of types II and III, the fact that they’re autosomal dominant rarely comes into play.
Most variants of OI (but not type IV) display blue sclerae, which is one of the primary diagnostic criteria. X-rays showing multiple bone fractures in varying stages of healing are also common in OI, and the x-ray above shows many nodules where the ribs and arms have fractured during the antenatal period.
In the past, OI was often assumed to be rickets or osteomalacia, and in the modern era, child abuse is often suspected when symptoms aside from frequent fractures are not present.
A Text-Book of Pathology for Students of Medicine. J. George Adami and John McCrae, 1912.
See Through Science
Three days marinating in a sugar-water sauce turns opaque tissue (left) to clear (right), allowing scientists to probe the inner workings of the brain and other organs. The combination of fructose, water, and small amounts of other chemicals is a new technique called See Deep Brain. It works by reducing the scattering that occurs when light passes through materials with differing refractive properties.The technique, described online this week in Nature Neuroscience.
