Never heard of 'Hair Brushing Syndrome'

Tak sangka penyakit macam gini pun wujud!

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No Rapunzel, schoolgirl may die if she combs her hair

By Indo Asian News Service | IANS – Thu, Aug 18, 2011

London, Aug 18 (IANS) A schoolgirl in Scotland has a rare condition following which she has been asked not to comb her hair too vigorously as it could lead to her brain shutting down.

Megan Stewart, 13, has a rare condition - Hair Brushing Syndrome - which means she must avoid wearing polyester or touching balloons. Any contact with electrical charges could confuse her brain into switching itself off or sending signals to her heart and lungs to make them do so, Daily Express reported.

Stewart has to dampen her hair to reduce static and lie down before combing it and is banned from participating in school science experiments.

The teenager, from Wishaw, Lanarkshire, Scotland was diagnosed three years ago, after she collapsed as her mother -Sharon brushed her hair.

Her mother Stewart, 41, said: 'I was brushing her hair when she flopped over and her lips turned blue. I thought she was having a fit, so we called the paramedics. It was really scary.'

The girl was taken to a hospital where medics revived her. It was two months later that neurologists made the diagnosis.

Doctors at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children at Yorkhill in Glasgow, believe birth complications may be responsible for the condition.

She also suffers from asthma and dorsal stream dysfunction, a problem with the connection between her eye and brain which means she can't see fast-moving objects.

But the determined girl says: 'I know not to brush my hair too fast and if I feel unwell to stop doing it. I think I know what my limits are. I don't let it affect me and I can still live a normal life.'

My first time..

To LDMM's Art Studio at Bukit Timah Shopping Centre



It was national day and Abang, kak Maya, Aqila and I were on our way to our cousin's place for Iftar. Kak Maya had to drop by her workplace to take something. Since I had not yet seen it (the rest of the family have, except Ayah), I followed her. It was my first time stepping to Bukit Timah Shopping Centre as well. Bila dah masuk, I thought "ohhhh... begini rupanya!" Not a place for retail outlets. I saw maid agencies, a pedicure/manicure shop, a shop selling shoes. I think ni memang tempat untuk service providers (like, renovation companies, music school..) and stockists.

I like the ambience of the studio very much! Even though it is small, it is bright with colourful artworks. Kinda cozy too. I just hope it doesn't get crowded, you know, when students are there.


To a car inspection center at Sin Ming Road



This was 2 days ago. Followed my colleague to inspect her car (but turned out she didn't have to. Just had to pay road tax) en route to Toyogo. Her car is not the blue one by the way. The vid ended abruptly coz a pak cik suddenly appeared from behind and said that I may be caught for taking a video. Yikes! I freaked out and quickly pressed the stop button.

A Sunday in The Lab

This was back in February. Morning of 27th. I think there were 2 things I had to do. But I remember just one - adding antibiotic to the LC3 cells.

By the way, in the video the setting looks very dark and dim, but actually it is not. And there is this one moment where I did not pick the forceps right the first time. Mind you, I was looking into the cameraphone, so I thought I was reaching for the forceps but ter-overshot plak. heh.

After everything's done, I went to masjid Muhajirin for the camp run-through.

There are people who don't have fingerprints? I didn't know that.

Mutated DNA Causes No-Fingerprint Disease

Genetic difference found in people with immigration-delay disease.

The rare condition adermatoglyphia causes people to be born without fingerprints (file picture).

Photograph courtesy Eli Sprecher, American Journal of Human Genetics

Rachel Kaufman

for National Geographic News

Published August 9, 2011

A genetic mutation causes people to be born without fingerprints, a new study says.

Almost every person is born with fingerprints, and everyone's are unique. But people with a rare disease known as adermatoglyphia do not have fingerprints from birth. Affecting only four known extended families worldwide, the condition is also called immigration-delay disease, since a lack of fingerprints makes it difficult for people to cross international borders.

In an effort to find the cause of the disease, dermatologist Eli Sprechersequenced the DNA of 16 members of one family with adermatoglyphia inSwitzerland. Seven had normal fingerprints, and the other nine did not. After investigating a number of genes to find evidence of mutation, the researchers came up empty-handed—until a grad student finally found the culprit, a smaller version of a gene called SMARCAD1. (Get a genetics overview.)

The larger SMARCAD1 is expressed throughout the body, but the smaller form acts only on the skin. Sure enough, the nine family members with no fingerprints had mutations in that gene.

Being born without fingerprints doesn't occur simply because one gene has been turned on or off, Sprecher said. Rather, the mutation causes copies of the SMARCAD1 gene to be unstable.

That mutation is also the first link in a long chain of events that ultimately affects fingerprint development in the womb. The rest of the links in the chain are still a mystery, said Sprecher, of the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center.

(See skin pictures.)

No-Fingerprint Disease Not Harmful

Other inherited diseases that result in a lack of fingerprints—such as Naegeli syndrome and dermatopathia pigmentosa reticularis—are caused by problems with the protein keratin-14.

(Related: "Born Without Fingerprints: Scientists Solve Mystery of Rare Disorder.")

These conditions "manifest not only with lack of fingerprints, but also with a number of other critical features—a thickening of the skin, problems with nail formation," Sprecher said.

By contrast, immigration-delay disease doesn't come with any side effects besides a minor reduction in the ability to sweat. In general, people with the disease "are otherwise completely healthy, like you and me."

By further studying the Swiss family, Sprecher said, it might be possible to solve the mystery of fingerprints overall.

"You go from a rare disease to a biological insight of general importance," he said. "We would never have been able to get to this gene if not for the study of this family."

The fingerprint research was published August 12 in the American Journal of Human Genetics.

From the outermost to the deepest

Oh wow! Simply amazing, what this infographic shows. I love the way all this information is presented. Ilmu baru nih! Among other things - Didn't know one kind of bird can fly above the death zone, and that it takes 18 minutes to boil an egg at Everest's altitude, and that temperature rises as atmospheric pressure increases. Didn't know about Mariana Trench as well.

Read on ok? ^___^

p.s. and, it is my first time coming across ouramazingplanet.com. Some of their contents are interesting!



Source OurAmazingPlanet.com, Exploring the wonder and beauty of planet Earth through exclusive news, features and images.