#extremely rare genetic diseases

[muttren]

i have a disability. more specifically, i have a rare genetic condition called camurati-engelmann’s disease, or CED. it is also known as progressive diaphyseal dysplasia (PDD). it is an extremely rare disorder and only around 300 cases have been reported worldwide.

i figured i would make a post talking about it, in an effort to not only educate others, but to possibly connect with others who suffer from it as well. i apologize for the longer post but please this moment to learn about my disorder.

CED is a skeletal condition that is characterized by abnormally thick bones (hyperostosis) in the arms, legs and skull. the overgrowth in bone causes bone pain, muscle weakness and extreme fatigue. the pain feels like an electric stabbing pain, an ever-increasing pressure sensation around the bones affected, or a constant aching. pain can also occur in joints and they will often lock-up, becoming immobile and stiff. the pain is especially severe during 'flare-ups', which can be unpredictable, exhausting and last anywhere from a few hours to several weeks. this is a common occurrence for us, often causing extensive sleep deprivation from the chronic, severe and disabling pain. when this happens, we are often bedridden or housebound for days or even weeks.

those affected also have an unsteady walk and limp. thickening of the skull can also lead to neurological problems, like hearing loss, vision issues, vertigo and tinnitus. symptoms vary in severity from person to person. there are treatments, however it cannot be cured. pain management is a large aspect of living with this chronic disease.

there is very little awareness and research for CED. rare diseases are severely neglected and overlooked, as are those who suffer and live with them. research is often not considered profitable due to their cost to develop and the limited patient population. major federal funding agencies give preference to research that is likely to have a direct impact on patients.

living with a rare disease is extremely difficult and isolating. it impacts the lives of millions of us and our loved ones worldwide. those of us suffering from rare medical conditions should be entitled to the same quality of treatment as other patients. i am disabled, but i am worth it.

[pygmi-cygni]

T Minus Ten

remember that miguel fic I talked about....

here she is!!!!

series warning: eventual smut (light), angst, pining, lovesickness, adorable migs, enemies (?) to lovers, more like emotionally repressed to infatuated, angst, miscommunication, as many tropes as I can possibly manage

warnings for this chapter: lots of exposition, medical inaccuracies, introduction basically, canon violence

miguel o'hara x reader (afab) no description other than reader is v strong and has some small tattoos on hands (important later i swear)

enjoy!

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8

The medical field was essentially obsolete in the Spiderverse. It takes hundreds of years to name a disease, let alone cure it, and then to add in the factors of different biology, different gravitational boundaries, bacterial possibilities....you honestly just felt like hanging up your lab coat and starting an Etsy.

Each branch of the Multiverse was grouped in the extensive medbay located in HQ. The branches with the most similar biology and treatment varieties were closest together. Every spider was given their hall number that had any resources they'd need depending on their genetic makeup.

It was tough work, remembering where everyone was from and the unique characteristics that came with them. Especially when some varieties blurred the lines.

Namely one.

Miguel O'Hara, head of this shit-show and arguably the biggest pain in the ass you'd ever seen, rarely found himself in need of the medical ward's services. Which is probably why nobody thought to figure this problem out.

See, most spider-people were predominantly human. The spider that bit them had only added on to existing capability: extreme strength that improved muscle mass, improved grip on fingers...the only 'inhuman' factor was the webbing.

Miguel had a slightly different build. His DNA had been spliced; like two ropes being braided together. The spider DNA had rebuilt his human DNA, therefore it didn't follow the same pattern in response to medicine or bandages. Which made his medical aversion a little more realistic.

Either way, it didn't matter how much he hated doctors, he couldn't fix a poisoned spear through his chest with an at-home first aid kit.

Eight of HQ's most qualified doctors sat around various scans of the monstrous Spiderman, puzzling through the bizarre data. Your education had been focused on epidemiology, or the spread of disease. Poison wasn't really your thing, but you thought it might be cool to watch.

Dr. Ben Parkinson, the 'head' doctor, was explaining the possible treatments.

"It doesn't seem to be deadly," he reasoned, "but prolonged exposure without medication might have some deteriorating effects." He pointed to a highlighted area of the wound. "See, the muscle tissue is deteriorating, and long-term deterioration could be permanent."

The medical staff shot amused glances at one another, trying to imagine Miguel as anything other than a hulking boulder of muscle.

Ben rolled his eyes and tapped the scans. "Do we have any base vitals for him? Any logged info?"

Maria, his assistant, scrolled on her tablet. "Uhhhh....negative on that. Looks like he hasn't done his immunos either."

You frowned. When HQ had established itself with a medbay, you and the few other nurses had done rounds to make sure any necessary vaccines and medications had been administered. How did we skip him?

"New plan," Ben said slowly, "let's get him up to date and then we'll evaluate. he's relatively stable right now, so let's keep up the current treatment and move from there, yeah?"

He looked at you. "You're the nurse responsible for his wing, right? Do you mind doing his vitals and reporting back?"

You nodded, faltering. What if the spider DNA screwed up his vitals? His resting heartrate was probably higher, and his metabolism had to be insane...the rest of the staff clearly did not share your concern, glad to be rid of the Miguel problem.

Maria handed you her tablet and gave you an apologetic smile. "At least the sedatives will stop him from scratching you," she whispered in your ear.

You shuddered. Here goes nothing.

Miguel was laid out on two beds with the guardrails removed. He couldn't fit on one, so the staff had to quickly improvise. You tried to hum a calming tune, hyperaware of the large claws hanging off the blanket.

Even though he was unconscious, a ripple of fear went through you. He was enormous. If he got mad....you shuddered.

Tenderly, you angled your stethoscope under the mess of tubes feeding into his chest. His skin was unbelievably warm, and you pursed your lips. Definitely feverish. You took his heart rate, tried as gently as you could to do his blood pressure, and measured his blood sugar on the dial near his bed.

Well.

His DNA was definitely strange, because all of his vitals pointed to cardiac arrest and a 104F fever.

"What...the fuck?" He should be dead by those numbers.

You did everything twice more, just to be sure. Still the same. Elevated heart rate, high temperature, and blood pressure that wasn't physically possible.

It confirmed your theory. That meant you had to do a full body scan, analyze the numbers, try to find some kind of pattern....ugh.

His hands were beginning to twitch, and you scurried out of the small room. He'd likely be pissed, waking up in a hospital room with a poisoned stake sticking out of his chest.

Reading through his file, you chewed on your pinky nail. Apparently, a new variant of Green Goblin had been discovered on the fringes of a random universe. It produced a highly acidic venom, the same that had infected the rebar impaling Miguel. The science labs were analyzing the poison, and little info had been found.

Corrosive, acidic, highly destructive on human tissue.

Huh.

Miguel seemed to be holding up okay. Explains the elevated temperature and heart rate. His body was cranking out energy, repairing the damage almost as soon as it occurred.

A grin teased its way onto your face. This was the part of your job that you loved. The puzzle, all the little bits that opened up a bigger picture and eventually, the solution.

You wrote up his chart with your hypothesis and sent it to Dr Ben. Tomorrow would be exciting, to say the least.

-

Exciting was one word for it. Apparently your prediction was correct: Miguel was decidedly not happy with his living situation at the moment. The nurse who'd gone in to give him his IV had dodged a flying chair, and it had escalated from there. Jess had intervened, resorting to an anomaly cage to keep him secure.

After that frazzling morning, Ben was ready for some good news. You were excitedly explaining the deductions you'd found last night, when a small knock came from the office door.

Gwen, one of the newer spiders, shyly poked her head in. Ben went to shoo her away, but you beckoned her in warmly.

Wait a second, you nodded to your boss, and he sat back with a sigh.

The young woman's colored hair hung limp and unwashed. She had been on the backup team to help Miguel and his crew, and the fallout had been hard on her. It was a big mission, especially for a rookie. She was struggling.

"Hi, Gwen, how are you today?" You pulled over a chair, nodding at her to sit. She folded her hands tightly and didn't meet your eyes.

"'M fine," she mumbled, fidgeting with her hoodie. You grabbed the notes you'd taken earlier and a pen.

"...Do...you wanna talk about it? Anything you remember, something we might have missed?"

The room was quiet as you waited. Ben shot you an exasperated look and nodded towards the clock. Not much time.

You sighed and leaned forwards. "it's okay if you don't have anything, Gwen, but we want Miguel to get better, so if you remember-"

"He was glitching," she blurted, cheeks flaming.

You exchanged another glance with Ben.

"He...when the..."she gestured vaguely, "spear thingy went into him, he started glitching. Like, really bad."

That made you stop. "Was...did you see his watch fall off at any point?"

She shook her head sharply. "No. It was like as soon as the venom hit him, he glitched. and it didn't stop until Jess and the guys got there. He was..." she shuddered, and you patted her arm comfortingly.

Though you did technically have spider abilities, you would never in a thousand years want to be fighting. You couldn't imagine dealing with that every day, especially at Gwen's age. You made a mental note to ask the psychiatrist for a check in.

"What were the details of the mission? was there anything specific about the Goblin that made him so strange?" As a member of the med crew, you didn't have access to mission files.

Gwen nodded, wiping her eyes. "Yeah. He was portal jumping like crazy. Miguel was so pissed," she laughed weakly, "he was jumping in circles like a cat."

"Was he glitching?"

"No, he was fine. It was weird...like he somehow belonged to all of the dimensions. We chased him through three different ones before..." A glazed look came over her, and you figured she needed a break.

"Thank you Gwen," you said gently, walking her to the door, "you've been very helpful. Get some rest, honey."

Watching her shuffle down the hall, you puzzled with the information she'd given.

What the fuck was going on?

Ben's serious look confirmed your bewilderment. This was clearly a bigger problem than you anticipated.

"We should give that to the labs," he pointed to your notepad. "They'll wanna know that info."

You nodded wordlessly, handing it over. What did that mean for Miguel? If this Goblin wasn't following the multiverse rules, was there even a possibility of fighting this?

Ben disappeared around the hall as you groaned into your hands. The excitement of the last 36 hours had done a number on you. Despite your heightened energy levels, you still felt sluggish. Flipping to the surveillance footage, you peeked in on your burly patient.

He was laying awake, the sharp spikes on his heart monitor indicating his agitation. His limbs were lightly restrained to keep him from disabling the glowing red net cast over him.

Oddly, you felt bad.

It was hard enough being injured and alone, but he was being treated like a prisoner. Poor guy. No wonder he doesn't socialize much.

Figuring you had some time, you grabbed your med kit and strolled down to his room. Maybe he'd have a good explanation of his situation. He was a renowned geneticist, after all.

The spider positioned outside his door gave you a wary look. "Miss, you might wanna-"

"Doctor," you corrected crisply, "and I'd like to see my patient."

The young man hesitated, but let you through anyway. He rambled about precautions and avoiding Miguel's temper, but you weren't listening.

His eyes were red.

A bitter, furious shade of scarlet that made your tongue dry and your heart cower. He was pulsing with so much restrained energy that you felt three times smaller. Again you were reminded of his size. You clutched your kit and dismissed the guard.

Fuck fuck fuck.

Despite his condition, Miguel could still easily snap your arms in half. Sharp canines dug into his lower lip. Maria's earlier comment came back to you. I'm more worried about the teeth than the claws, honey.

"Miguel?" Your voice was surprisingly stable, though quiet.

He blinked but gave no further answer. Swallowing, you walked slowly around to the side of his bed and sat. His straining thighs were inches away. The net hummed gently, resisting any movement.

You squinted against the bright threads. Miguel continued to scowl, eyes narrowing to slits. Trying to breathe steadily, you pulled out a capped syringe.

"I'm going to give you your vaccines is that alright?" stay calm stay calm oh my god oh holy fuck-

A singular, clawed finger poked through the net.

"Be my guest, mija."

He'd broken the restraints.

______________________________________________________________

part two out on Aug 18! love you xox

let me know if you want to be tagged for updates!

[kangals]

oh i forgot to write up an update on the embark situation!

if you missed my posts last month (or didnt read them because they were certified walls of text): i got kep an embark test and in addition to the expected stuff, it also flagged him as having some genes related to copper storage disease - specifically that he had 1 gene for copper accumulation, and 2 genes that make accumulation less severe, meaning he inherited copper-related genes from both parents. when i did some reading into it,i couldnt find ANY studies or resources regarding copper disease in collies - it was almost entirely focused on labradors and dobermans, with an occasional hand-wavy comment of "sometimes seen in other breeds idk." because this test only got added by embark last month, i ended up doing a new test on stellina to check and see if she also had it.

basically my thinking was: A: does the presence of these genes mean that kep is actually at risk for copper storage disease, OR B: was this an incidental finding and the genes really only affect labs and dobes.

with stellina's test results, i think i'm pretty confident in guessing that the answer is B!

stellina's results also flagged as having one gene for copper accumulation - which, since i know that kep and stellina are pretty distantly related, indicates to me that it's much more likely that the genes are widespread in the greater collie gene pool as opposed to both of them just so happening to pick up a rare and harmful gene.

and most notably, now that's been a month and embark presumably has more data, they also had this new information listed:

those are HIGH numbers - and is an even bigger indicator that the gene, for whatever reason, simply doesn't affect these breeds that much. great pyrs, for example, are primarily working, livestock guardian dogs - there's no way that 80% of these dogs are suffering from copper storage disease. and while frenchies and cavs are certainly poster children for "breed with lots of serious health problems", copper storage isn't one of them. given the extreme popularity of frenchies, if 90% of them had this disease, someone would have noticed.

(interestingly, last week when i looked at this instead of pyrs it had pembroke corgis listed in that spot at around the same numbers - i wonder how many other breeds have large percentages of this gene but embark is just only listing the top few. this is such a new test that i expect a lot of information to change)

so i'm guessing that copper storage genes are actually pretty common in dogs - especially breeds with known low genetic diversity, such as collies, cavs, and dobermans. but given that there's nothing noted in studies about breeds besides labradors, dobermans, and a few terrier breeds, it just might not affect the rest of them. similarly, i know stellina carries the gene for "saddle tan" coloration, as do a certain %age of collies - but collies don't come in saddle tan. it's suspected there's another gene needed to "'activate" the pattern that's missing from collies. i'd guess the same thing is happening here - lots of dogs have the gene, but the "activation" genetics are only in a few specific breeds.

i'm definitely still going to be keeping a close eye on it, the test only released in May so it's still very early and i imagine they're getting a ton of data from this - would love some research into if my thinking is correct. if you have a dog that's gotten an embark health test from may and onwards this year, i'd be interested to know what breed(s) your dog is and if they also carry these genes. but i think, overall, this indicates that it's more incidental than a real concern.

[adaginy]

Big Guide to Humans: Lifespan and Development

Humans are not invincible, but despite their reputation for risk-taking, most humans do not die of injuries. Mostly, they die of time. Unlike many species that reach an adult stage and stay there until something (disease, war, mating, cultural practices) kills them, human bodies are in a constant progression into and through maturity. At the end of this progression, their cells damage themselves or each other faster than they can recover from, the human becomes weaker until one or more organ systems ceases function (beyond the ability of medicine to repair), and the human dies.

Most humans measure their age in "years," a time measurement based on their home planet. (A human in a non-human-majority ship or settlement will often figure out the formula for local time conversion soon after arrival; if the formula is not in your records, simply ask them.) A human with no abnormalities may live, on average, to around 150 "years," though this varies based on their personal history and genetics, with some humans being noticeably infirm before 100, and 200 years being rare but not unheard of. Diseases, injuries, and most abnormalities lower this span, some by a great deal and/or abruptly.

All Humans begin life as "babies," not literally a larval stage but similarly underdeveloped, in which for the first year of life they are unable — physically or intellectually — to walk or talk. For another year or two they are not able to do them very fluently. (Their external genitalia are present as part of their excretory system, but with no reproductive ability.) They are entirely dependent on their guardians (often but not always their biological parents). For the next eight to twelve years, they experience mostly steady growth, mentally and physically. Sexual dimorphism is negligible when clothed. Hair and clothing styles are used to signal gender, but this is based on human culture and requires a certain level of expertise to interpret. Although they are still dependent on their parents for securing provisions and for being taught, they are mobile and can take care of their short-term needs. Especially at the end of this range, other humans would consider it safe to leave them briefly unattended. At approximately twelve years old, plus or minus two years, or plus/minus four or more in extreme cases, they enter a multi-year stage of rapid growth called "puberty" in which their reproductive system begins to mature and they start to display sexual dimorphism. By around 18 years of age, and almost certainly by age 20, they will have reached their full adult height and level of "secondary sexual characteristics," the most obvious being a deeper voice and facial hair for males (though they may remove the hair for aesthetic reasons) and breast weight for females, along with body hair and that particular human scent. During this time, they are nearly as intellectually capable as an adult human. However, as they are experiencing adult emotions for the first time, their moods can be unstable. Additionally, their understanding of risk is poor even by human standards, and it is important to check with their guardians before engaging in activities that you may be tempted to think sound reasonable for a human. Because their intellectual and emotional development lags sharply behind their reproductive development, and because they do not have a "finished" adult stage, humans have declared "18 years old" to be when adulthood begins and one is allowed to register for military service, enter into legal agreements, consume mind-altering substances, and engage in cross-species sexual relationships. !! Clarification: If you mate with or even attempt to mate with a human under 18 years old, they will not be punished. You will face severe repercussions from the human and/or Unified legal systems, in addition to high risk of humans' Protected Cultural Practice of violence to protect family and children. !!

As imprecise as developmental timing is before adulthood, it is even more so afterward. It is simply not possible to give an accurate accounting of when certain markers of human age will appear, or even in what order. Like a human's life span, it depends on personal history and genetics, and even a person who will live to be 200 might show signs of aging by age 30. Some humans never display certain signs. This list is not exhaustive. - New head or face hairs growing in grey or white instead of their original color. - Facial skin softening until it begins to crease and fold under its own weight (while human facial expressions often involve wrinkling the skin, those lines are not permanent). - Head hairs not being replaced when they fall out (earlier and more apparent in males, sometimes beginning even before adulthood). - Loss of teeth: Humans lose some teeth and replace them before puberty, but teeth lost later in life will not grow back. Because loss of teeth makes eating difficult, it is very likely for lost teeth to be replaced artificially. - Irregularly-shaped patches of darker skin, about .01-03 LocalAreaUnits, on some lighter-skinned humans. - Complaints of pain in joints. - New weakness in the sense of hearing. - New weakness in the sense of vision, beyond what can be easily corrected with adjustment lenses. - Weakness of memory, moreso for recent events than distant events. - A "stooped" posture in which the neck (the support column for the head) is held at a forward angle and the shoulders are in front of the chest. Some younger humans may have this for non-aging reasons, but otherwise it is one of the last signs of aging to develop, signaling the progression of the body's inability to repair itself.

If you are only encountering humans in a work environment — on a battleship for example, as opposed to a residential or mixed-use ship or a settlement — it is likely that all the humans you meet are adults who, regardless of age, are not nearing the end of their lifespan.

[misc-obeyme]

Hi there! Can i request the brothers reacting to MC having heterochromia eyes (two different color eyes). Im pretty sure there might be some demons that have it as well but what if just for this request, they dont. So the brothers never saw anyone have it until MC, although what do you think about that? Do you think there might be some demons that have heterochromia eyes?

Hellooo, anon!

You know, I hadn't considered this before, but I absolutely think there are some demons that have heterochromia. Especially if we consider that some demons are based on animals, there are animals with a higher likelihood of having heterochromia than humans. I also think you could argue that all our demons have a version of heterochromia. Partial heterochromia is usually where you've got a chunk of a different color in one eye, so it's slightly different where our boys are concerned. But each of them have at least two colors in their eyes. But if we don't count that, I do think there are probably at least a few demons that have two completely different colored eyes. I would think they're probably pretty rare, though.

Of course I wrote the request as though the brothers had never seen it before, as you asked! I also only considered complete heterochromia, with both eyes being completely different colors. I think this can be acquired by disease and injury in some cases, but for the sake of this request, I went with it just being genetic.

Thanks for the request!

the brothers react to GN!MC with two different color eyes/heterochromia

Warnings: none!

Lucifer

When he first saw you, back at RAD the day you were brought to the Devildom, he was instantly struck by your eyes. He had never seen anyone with eyes like yours before.

He wanted to ask you about it, but he decided to wait until a quieter time. When he does ask, you'll have to explain to him that this is just how you were born. It's rare, but it happens sometimes.

He likes this unusual trait of yours. Often says something to you if you're avoiding his gaze. Look at him, MC. He wants to see those different colored eyes of yours.

They're his favorite thing to compliment, too. If you're in an argument with him, Lucifer will completely derail you by talking about your unusual eyes, how he likes to lose himself in their different colors. You get to decide if this works on you or not.

Mammon

Huh? What's up with your eyes, human? This comes directly after he's just been threatening to eat you when you first meet. He's surprised enough to just straight out ask you the moment he notices.

You'll have to take the time to explain heterochromia to him at a later time. He doesn't care about the details, but he is absolutely fascinated by them.

Mammon loves them, but tries to act like he doesn't, as usual. You catch him staring into your eyes from across the room more than once.

Because he's looking at your eyes all the time, he's extremely familiar with how they change depending on your mood. He can tell exactly how you're feeling at any given time just by meeting your eyes. Acts like he knows nothing, but you can tell.

Leviathan

Woah. MC. Y-your eyes are so pretty. He doesn't really have a chance to realize until after he's done yelling at Mammon about owing him money. But as soon as he registers your eyes, this is what he says.

He loves them, he likes how unique they are. He's never seen a human with eyes like yours, or anyone else for that matter.

When he's more comfortable with you, he's going to tell you about all the anime characters he knows about who also have heterochromia. You can be sure he'll want you to cosplay as some of them. You won't even need to use contacts!

Levi's too shy to look into your eyes all the time, but he kind of wants to. They're so different, he can't really help it. But he'll only glance at them every once in a while, if he thinks you won't notice.

Satan

Notices immediately, but doesn't say anything right away. He first notices them when Lucifer introduces him to you that first day.

Satan already knows what heterochromia is, but he's never seen it in real life. Starts by asking you questions about how you have it. He thinks it's likely genetics, but isn't it possible for humans to acquire it in certain ways, too?

Not at all concerned about staring too much. He'll look into your differently colored eyes all day if he wants to. And sometimes he does. If this makes you nervous, he'll stop if you ask.

Absolutely pulls out the poetic descriptions of your eyes when he's trying to get romantic with you. But sometimes, he's simply struck by their beauty. Your eyes truly are unique, MC.

Asmodeus

He also notices right away that first day at RAD, but doesn't say anything until later. You look pretty overwhelmed, so he's not going to add onto that by asking you all kinds of questions.

But you can bet he is bursting because he loves them so much. MC, your eyes are so amazing! Please say you'll model for him, he has so many ideas for beautiful photos!

His favorite thing is to do your eye makeup so he can compliment the rarity of your two different colored eyes. Piles compliments on you about them while he does it. Insists on taking a million photos.

Just like his brothers, though, Asmo is not immune to the desire to just… look at them. He's getting a little lost in them. He can't charm you, but he starts to think you have the ability to charm him with your eyes alone.

Beelzebub

It takes him some time to mention your heterochromia. Not because he didn't notice, but just because he doesn't feel the need to comment on it. You must already be aware of how unusual your eyes are. He doesn't want to make you feel weird about it.

But eventually he can't help it. They're so different. They kind of remind him of himself and Belphie. Twins that look nothing like each other - part of a set and yet different.

Has no problem staring at them, either. Beel can get pretty intense without meaning to. He's already pretty quiet, so to have him just stare into your eyes can be a little intimidating. Say something to him about it and he'll apologize. He didn't even realize he was doing it.

Sorry, MC. He just really likes your pretty eyes. He wants to look at them all the time. You end up getting used to it and it's not like he's the only brother who can't stop looking into your eyes all the time.

Belphegor

Considering how Belphie first sees you from behind the door that keeps him locked in the attic, it's kind of surprising that he noticed at all. But he did. He noticed right away, but he didn't say anything. He doesn't say anything until much later, after you've made your pact with him.

He wants to tell you how much he likes your two different colored eyes, but he doesn't want you to think he cares too much. So he starts out saying how he's noticed the way Beel finds your eyes so interesting.

Call him out on it and he'll admit, he likes them, too. Of course he does, MC. He's never seen anyone with eyes like yours.

You're the only person with which he'll try to wake up first. If you're napping together or he just decided to spend the night in your bed, he'll do his best to wake up before you. Because it turns out that he really loves to watch your differently colored eyes flutter open when you wake up. Won't tell you this, but you figure it out when he always wakes up before you.

part two with the dateables and Luke

masterlist | Thank you for reading!

[luinhealthcare]

Gatto coming with Dr Time to cause a new trauma

Joking xD

I have a question ^^)/

In LU HC how do the boys deal with other Hyrule races (gorons, zoras, dekuscrubs...)? Do they have specialized personnel?

Haha what a fantastic gif 😂

Honestly, I kind of humanized the other races, they still have different aspects to them but they’re not, like, completely different races. I mainly did this just to fit with the modern/normal setting, but in retrospect it also makes my life easier for medical stuff, because I can’t be bothered to theorize all the different ways to treat appendicitis in multiple species 😂😅

I had a post a million years ago that kind of talked about the other races, but I have not had any luck finding it so I’ll just cover some things.

Zora are typically paler than Hylians, and their hair color is extremely different, matching canon Zora color schemes. They also typically have some facial markings. And they have a larger lung capacity. Their people live by the water. For example, Mipha is quite pale, has coral red hair and amber eyes, and has some dots in her cheeks that match her hair. She’s a little diminutive in build compared to a Hylian woman her age. Many Zora tend to be a little taller than Hylians, though. Oh, and their nails grow out sharp like claws.

Gorons and Gerudo are both buff, typically very tan to chocolate skinned. Gorons are shorter and stockier, with white hair and black eyes. Their population is overwhelmingly male. Gerudo are very tall, basically look very similar to their canon counterparts (except their proportions are NORMAL. Their hips drive me insane, like they look ridiculous. Or overwhelmingly underweight.), and their population is overwhelmingly female. But there are male Gerudos and female Gorons.

Deku scrubs, Kokiri, etc are all very rare people to find and typically are never seen in Castle Town. Time is quite familiar with them, though.

Rito hail from the mountains. They have exceptional vision and traditionally wear their hair in braids. Hair color varies - men usually have brighter colored hair than women, and their eyes can do that fun little pinning that some birds can do when they’re excited. Their culture is very bird oriented - Sky and Sun hail from their region (they’re not Rito genetically, but they’re basically Rito culturally)

As for the medical side, they’re generally the same on the inside. Some groups are predisposed to certain problems more so than others (real life example, people with African descent are more likely to get sickle cell disease than those with European descent), and there might be certain doses of meds or kinds of meds that vary (real life example, it takes way more anesthesia to knock out a redhead than other people). So no specialties to just take care of Zora vs Hylian, but probably there are those who specialize in research pertaining to one group over another.

[bigsoftmarshmallow]

For each of the different races/cultures of Hyrule (Gorons, Rito, Zora, Hylians, Gerudo, and Sheikah), what are some possible chronic and genetic diseases they could get from their regions and bloodlines? What are some illnesses they watch out for? Feel free to create some diseases and illnesses if needed, as long as they fit the species.

Certainly! Here's a list of possible chronic and genetic diseases for the various races/cultures of Hyrule, taking into consideration their unique characteristics, environments, and lifestyles:

Gorons

1. Rockscale Dermatitis:

Description: A chronic skin condition where Gorons develop hard, painful scales on their skin.

Cause: Genetic predisposition, aggravated by certain types of volcanic ash and heat exposure.

Symptoms: Hard scales, skin irritation, pain during movement.

2. Volcanic Lung:

Description: A respiratory condition caused by prolonged inhalation of volcanic ash.

Cause: Environmental exposure to volcanic ash.

Symptoms: Chronic cough, difficulty breathing, decreased stamina.

Zora

1. Aquatic Scale Syndrome:

Description: A genetic disorder affecting the development of scales, leading to weak, brittle scales.

Cause: Genetic mutation.

Symptoms: Frequent infections, skin lesions, difficulty swimming.

2. Deepwater Pressure Sickness:

Description: A condition resulting from spending too much time in high-pressure deepwater environments.

Cause: Environmental pressure changes.

Symptoms: Joint pain, dizziness, headaches, fatigue.

Rito

1. Wing Joint Degeneration:

Description: A degenerative condition affecting the joints of the wings.

Cause: Overuse and genetic predisposition.

Symptoms: Pain in wing joints, reduced flying ability, inflammation.

2. High Altitude Sickness:

Description: A condition caused by spending too much time at high altitudes.

Cause: Environmental exposure to thin air at high altitudes.

Symptoms: Headaches, nausea, shortness of breath, dizziness.

Hylians

1. Hylian Heart Disease:

Description: A chronic condition affecting the cardiovascular system, common among Hylians.

Cause: Genetic predisposition, lifestyle factors.

Symptoms: Chest pain, fatigue, shortness of breath.

2. Light Sensitivity Disorder:

Description: A genetic condition causing extreme sensitivity to sunlight.

Cause: Genetic mutation.

Symptoms: Eye pain, headaches, blurred vision.

Gerudo

1. Desert Heat Syndrome:

Description: A condition caused by prolonged exposure to extreme heat.

Cause: Environmental heat exposure.

Symptoms: Dehydration, heat stroke, kidney problems.

2. Sand Lung:

Description: A respiratory condition resulting from inhaling fine desert sand particles.

Cause: Environmental exposure to sandstorms.

Symptoms: Chronic cough, difficulty breathing, chest pain.

Sheikah

1. Shadow Affliction:

Description: A rare genetic disorder linked to the Sheikah's ancient connection with shadows and secrecy.

Cause: Genetic predisposition, possibly linked to their ancient magical practices.

Symptoms: Fatigue, weakened immune system, sensitivity to light.

2. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome:

Description: A long-term condition causing extreme tiredness.

Cause: Genetic predisposition, stress, and lifestyle.

Symptoms: Severe fatigue, muscle pain, sleep disturbances.

These diseases and conditions reflect the unique environments and genetic backgrounds of each race in Hyrule, providing a deeper understanding of their health concerns and the challenges they face.

[fatphobiabusters]

Scientific articles and official health websites talk about lactose intolerance the same way they talk about fatness.

This is how the National Institutes of Health describes it: "Lactose intolerance is a clinical syndrome that manifests with characteristic signs and symptoms upon consuming food substances containing lactose, a disaccharide." "Lactose intolerance is a common disease; however, it is rare in children younger than 5. It is most often seen in adolescents and young adults."

It's a syndrome. A disease. A medical problem with symptoms and signs.

And then...

"On average, 65% of the world's population is lactose intolerant. The prevalence of lactose intolerance is variable among different ethnicities. It is most common in African Americans, Hispanics/Latinos, and Asians and least prevalent in people of European descent."

Wait wait wait, hold up. It's in 65% of the world population??? 65% of all humans are lactose intolerant??? 65% of the world is diseased and has such a serious health condition?

Then you start learning more about it outside of these medical articles and organizations. You learn that other animals can't digest lactose past infancy either. Not even cats, even though we all believe they love milk. Animals, including humans, have a special enzyme as infants that allows babies to drink breastmilk. And after a child stops drinking that milk, the enzyme goes away, leaving the child unable to digest milk anymore.

In the 300,000 years that humans have existed, drinking milk past infancy did not start happening until about 10,000 years ago. It wasn't until ancient populations in Europe who were pastoralists, and thus raised cows as livestock, forced their bodies to drink milk and caused it to slowly became a genetic mutation that spread throughout different human populations over thousands of years.

You realize that the ability to drink lactose is not the norm. It's not the default body at all. The ability to digest lactose is a human adaptation that only some humans have, like missing wisdom teeth, blue eyes, and red hair. Lactose intolerance isn't abnormal. It's what human bodies were designed to do in the first place! No wonder it's "rare in children younger than 5." That's when babies still have the ability to drink breastmilk!

And what does such a serious disease as lactose intolerance require?

Not consuming dairy.

That's it.

This "disease" requires avoiding lactose and taking a pill to help you digest it if you need to in a given situation. And if you don't? The awful consequence of this disease is DEATH—oh, wait, that was a typo. I meant diarrhea. Dairy products like butter and some cheese have very low levels of lactose compared to straight up milk and can sometimes even be eaten without any pills for lactose intolerance at all.

So then why do health organizations and scientific articles consider this a "disease" when it's just genetic diversity? Well, you were already given the answer.

The people most able to digest lactose? White people. Europe. America. Canada. Australia. Groups so often considered the default. The quotes I gave are from the American government itself, as described by the organization's website: "Founded in 1887, the National Institutes of Health today is one of the world's foremost medical research centers, and the Federal focal point for medical research in the United States. The NIH, comprising 27 separate Institutes and Centers, is one of eight health agencies of the Public Health Service which, in turn, is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services."

It's also important to recognize that the US government extremely subsidizes dairy. There are underground caves of billions of pounds of cheese surplus that the government has stockpiled. Billions upon billions of dollars have been spent on keeping the dairy industry afloat, no pun intended, to the point that everything from those "Got milk?" advertisements to milk in school-provided lunches to Taco Bell's double steak quesadillas were funded by federal tax dollars put into some cheesy goodness propaganda. Federal tax dollars were even used after the 2010 recession to bail out Domino's and keep the cheese uh-flowing.

So in a country where most people can digest lactose, most of the people who can't do so have bodies that are not viewed as the default already, and the government is extremely invested in getting people to eat dairy products, it becomes clear why that country—that government—believes lactose intolerance to be a disease.

Then when you consider:

how fat people are not viewed as the default body either and face immense oppression

how the facts of fatness being incredibly genetic and intentional weight loss not being sustainable in the slightest are kept under the radar from the public

how weight is not actually equal to health when you take all context into account beyond stereotypes and studies with horrendous methodology

how the BMI was created by a statistician (who was never a doctor in the first place and whose work was later used to support eugenics) during the 1800s in order to figure out which body was the average, not the healthiest, in select populations of white European men in the 19th century (and thus which body was the "default," the "norm," superior)

how the population measuring tool that is the BMI, never meant or designed to be used on an individual scale, was not commonly used as a measurement of "health" until insurance companies wanted a way to fabricate reasons for charging people more money

how the weight loss industry makes hundreds of billions of dollars every year off of pretending fatness is inherently bad and selling a "cure" that doesn't work while blaming consumer error to keep people buying said "cure"

and how creating a weight-based social hierarchy benefits the people on top who have power over the rest

...you start to understand why fatness is medicalized.

It's even a common talking point of people and companies obsessed with dieting that humans have evolved to hold onto fat and refuse to lose it in case of potential starvation. In fact, facing starvation even changes your body to want to hold onto body fat even more than it did previously, which includes when you diet since dieting is just self-inflicted starvation. When you face starvation, your descendants are more likely to have genetics that prefer fatness too. And there's evidence of fatness in human populations going back tens of thousands of years despite diet culture wanting people to believe fatness is a new trend due to people's "lifestyle choices." The Venus of Willendorf, an ancient figurine of a fat woman, is estimated to have been created around 30,000 years ago, and there are numerous other Venus figurines of fat women from that era too.

It's human diversity, but people who aren't fat and who pedal diet culture can make so much money and obtain such powerful positions by pretending fatness is abnormal, inhuman, and wrong. Why give up an easy money-making punching bag or admit that your body is not the only "correct" human body when you have no reason not to and so many incentives for keeping the status quo?

As a side note, one of the best examples of diet culture is how you can find countless news articles about whether milk is "good" or "bad" for you despite humans having consumed milk for the past 10,000 years. I think by year one thousand we would have learned if milk was "bad" for us, but the headline "Milk still okay" doesn't get a news website any clicks.

-Mod Worthy

[horsesarecreatures]

Are we still breeding or are we just multiplying?

At the VZAP general meeting, the agricultural scientist Andreas Perner gave an interesting lecture on current problems in purebred Arabian breeding, which we used as an opportunity for the following interview. This is about undesirable developments in Arabian breeding, which have arisen primarily through specialization and selection on individual characteristics, and he sees parallels in cattle breeding where the changes are scientifically substantiated.

IN THE FOCUS: Mr. Perner, in your presentation at the VZAP general meeting you pointed out some parallels that exist between cattle and horse breeding. Why should we concern ourselves with cattle when we are actually interested in horses?

Andreas Perner: Because there are numerous parallels. The primitive cattle were characterized by an enormous chest cavity with plenty of space for the organs, relatively fine legs and a pelvic shape with a high sacrum so that birth could proceed quickly. Through breeding selection, a major change in this appearance has taken place over the last 100 years, including extreme specialization in beef and dairy cattle. Since cows as farm animals have long been the focus of science, one also has easy access to data, e.g. milk yield, slaughter weight, but also bone measurements, etc., which can also be used to document such changes. In animal breeding, a distinction is made between two constitution types: the asthenic and the athletic. The representatives of the Holstein cattle, a highly specialized breed of dairy cattle, today almost exclusively belong to the asthenic constitutional type: large, tall and narrow, i.e. less space in the chest for the organs, rather poor feed conversion, etc. Male calves of this breed are so weak in the muscle development that they no longer have any economic (slaughter) value. Before this extreme specialization in milk production, this breed corresponded to a dual-purpose cattle (milk and meat) and thus more of the athletic constitution type, which has become very rare today. One can definitely draw parallels here with Arabian breeding, where the Arabian show horse was bred through specialization – and became also an asthenic, tall, long-legged, with little depth to the trunk. And among Arabians, too, the athlete, the medium-sized, broad, deep-rumped Arabian of the “old type” who is also a good feed converter, is becoming increasingly rare. From a population genetic point of view, this is a major catastrophe and countermeasures must be taken.

IN THE FOCUS: If we ignore the outside appearance, i.e. the conformation – are there any other changes that have occurred as a result of this specialization?

A. P.: In the last 30-40 years, dairy cattle have increasingly been bred for maximum performance (milk production) in the young animals, i.e. there has been conscious selection for early maturity. This has resulted in serious changes in the animals: through selection for early maturity, the useful life has been extremely shortened due to high susceptibility to disease and fertility problems – the latter is the main cause of loss in cattle breeding. This can also be proven with figures: In Germany today a cow has an average of 2.4 calves, but biologically it can have 14-15 calves. The “useful life” of cows is now at an all-time low. The selection for early maturity also has an impact on the quality of the claws: the early maturing animals need claw care three times a year, because the claws are soft and grow very quickly. In contrast, slow, long-lasting growth – i.e. late maturity – ensures healthy development of the entire organism and a long lifespan. Late-maturing cattle only need hoof care once a year, sometimes only every two years, because they have extremely good, strong hoof horn. All this can also be transferred to the horse, because the horse’s hoof horn is also of better quality in late-maturing animals. This all depends on the high quality of the connective tissue. If you breed late-maturing animals, they often look underdeveloped when they are young and breeders often do not recognize their true quality. It is also a feature of breeding for longevity that it produces healthier animals, which statistically incur significantly less veterinary costs (i.e. only a quarter of the costs) in cattle breeding. Here, too, the parallels to horse breeding seem clear to me: the late-maturing types have no chance at shows in the junior classes, which is why show horse breeding promotes the early-maturing type. Late maturing horses often look like “ugly ducklings”, but often they only become “beautiful swans” when they are 6 years old or older. Egyptian breeding has had this problem for a long time, which is why you see fewer and fewer Egyptians at international shows or they have their own shows where they are not in competition with the early-maturing “show horses”.

IN THE FOCUS: When you say that a late-maturing horse is characterized by long-term growth, which then ensures healthy development of the entire organism and a long lifespan, the Russians come to mind. But it is precisely these that are tested on the racetrack very early, as early as two-year-olds. Isn’t that a contradiction?

A. P.: As far as I know, the two-year-old horses are prepared very carefully for the racetrack and the trainers make sure that they are not overstrained. The horses also have time to develop further – they are encouraged to exercise without being overstrained. As a result, they develop better, become wider in the chest, more muscular overall, the entire organism becomes stronger, etc. But ultimately what matters is: How old do the horses get in good health – and therefore without major veterinary costs? And in the case of breeding animals there is also the question: How good is their fertility? There are Russian stallions with racetrack careers who are still mating naturally at the age of 28, mares who still have foals at well over 20 years of age, and the Arabian mare Nefta in Pompadour, France, had one foal every year between 1975 and 1995, i.e. 21 foals in total! I don’t know of any such examples from show horse breeding without the use of embryo transfer (but I’m happy to be informed!). In warmblood breeding you can see what selection for early-maturity does, especially with show jumping horses, the horses often have a nerve cut at 8 to 9 years of age, then you have two more years of use, so to speak, and then they go to the slaughterhouse. Or think of the hypermobility of dressage horses, which have weak connective tissue and the resulting weakness of the joints, capsules and ligaments as well as the tendons and muscles. That cannot be the breeding goal.

Any selection that is not also focused on fitness and longevity or long-term performance automatically causes these characteristics to deteriorate.

IN THE FOCUS: To what extent have modern selection methods influenced the development of specialization?

A. P.: Specialization in cattle has been driven forward in the last 10 years by genomic breeding value estimation, which has now also found its way into horse breeding. For this method, the entire genome had to be sequenced and all performance parameters were then assigned to specific gene loci. Then, using complicated calculations, one could get an estimate of what performance the animal in question will perform in the future. In this way, it was possible for a young cow to achieve a milk production of over 40 kg per day, but the animals are no longer physiologically able to absorb enough nutrients to be able to achieve this output at all! As a result, over 90% of young cows end up with severe organ damage in the slaughterhouse. This means that the animals can endure it for a certain amount of time, mobilize all their body reserves but at some point their metabolism switches off and liver damage occurs, which ultimately leads to death. Part of the problem is that selection according to the wrong parameters took place. Instead of taking “longevity” and “health” into account, they only selected for “milk production”. A lot of breeding knowledge is also lost due to the convenient catalogue selection. The people who are in charge of cattle breeding today only use the preliminary breeding value or the genomic value for planning the matings. We are not quite there yet in horse breeding and especially not in Arabian horse breeding. But here too, a lot of breeding knowledge has been lost in recent years!

IN THE FOCUS: How can you avoid such a development in horse breeding as you have outlined for cattle breeding?

A. P.: In our association “European Association for Natural Cattle Breeding” we have selected cow families that have proven to be long-lived over several generations and in which the animals have produced over 100,000 litres of milk in the last 3 to 4 generations. We buy bulls from these cows. We have also inseminated such cows with semen from bulls that lived 30 or 40 years ago, and we now have the first 200 daughters of this F1 generation of the appropriate age. What’s exciting is that the animals produce almost as much milk as their “high-performance relatives”, but are significantly healthier! The question now is: How to continue breeding with the F1 generation – this requires a lot of breeding experience and knowledge. But this is exactly what young farmers are missing. In horse breeding we have the same problem, where the most diverse bloodlines are crossed together and due to Mendel’s rules the appearance then splits in all directions in the F2 generation, and top horses that cost a lot of money produce maximum average offspring, as can be seen from the example of the gelding Agnat (pedigree see AP 2-22). That’s why we offer information in our association on the topic: How do you have to breed in order to achieve a high level of heredity reliability? To do this you have to use the old breeding methods, i.e. line breeding, occasional inbreeding, always working with blood connection. Then I don’t have the problem of anything splitting.

IN THE FOCUS: Let’s stay with Arabian breeding: What are the breed-typical characteristics that you should select for?

A. P.: Breeding means selecting. That doesn’t mean that the horses that are not suitable for breeding go to the slaughterhouse. But you have to decide which horses go into breeding based on which characteristics and which don’t. Those that do not go into breeding should still have enough quality that they can survive in their respective market segment (riding horses, show horses, racing horses). Characteristics typical of Arabians that need to be maintained are a hard constitution, suitability for long-term performance, high age, high fertility, good feed conversion, lively but benign temperament, sociability and people-oriented nature. The suitability for long-term performance is due, among other things, to the fact that the Arabian has the most haemoglobin per litre of blood (compared to warm-blooded and cold-blooded horses). Haemoglobin is responsible for supplying oxygen to the muscles, and it is therefore important that the Arabian can also mobilize the haemoglobin reserves in the body most efficiently at the same time. In this context there is also a high regenerative capacity. All of this is deeply anchored genetically, but if you don’t pay attention to these characteristics, i.e. if you don’t select for them, then these characteristics are lost within few generations. In animal breeding we speak of genotype-environment interaction, i.e. if I decrease the selection for certain characteristics, then these are gradually (and unnoticed) lost. The lifespan of Arabians is often 25 years, and horses over 30 are not uncommon. Regarding fertility, there are examples from the state stud farms where mares had 15 to 20 foals and demonstrated high fertility into old age. In addition, the Arabian horse has the highest milk yield (in grams) per kg live weight, which is also a sign of good feed conversion and efficiency. In Tersk Stud, milk production is used as a selection criterion because they don’t want mothers who don’t produce enough milk.

IN THE FOCUS: Which other results from constitutional research on cattle can be transferred to horses or the Arabian horse?

A. P.: A whole series of points come to mind: we have already covered some of the constitutional types and early maturity/late maturity, plus there is sexual dimorphism, i.e. the difference between male and female animals, breeding rules, breeding methods, the importance of mare families, the selection for size and the effects of show breeding, which also occurs with cattle!

The more masculine the male animals are in their appearance, the more feminine are their female offspring.

Sexual dimorphism is a true secondary sexual characteristic caused by different hormone constellations between the sexes. These sex hormones are produced in the adrenal cortex of stallions and mares. In addition, testosterone is produced in the testicles of stallions and estrogens are produced in the ovaries of mares. One such secondary sexual characteristic is, for example, the “stallion neck or crest”. If we now breed horses where stallions and mares look the same, where there is no longer any visible difference between the sexes – what happens on the hormonal level? The natural hormonal balance shifts, testosterone decreases, and the stallion’s neck disappears. In the long term, however, we are selecting against fertility, i.e. fertility will deteriorate! That’s also what you hear more and more often – behind closed doors: stallions have poor semen quality and mares are becoming increasingly difficult to conceive – you often have to use all the tricks of modern reproductive technology to get the animals pregnant at all. By the way, there is an old animal breeding law that says: “The more masculine the male animals are in their appearance, the more feminine their female offspring are.”

IN THE FOCUS: Breeding is a very complex matter, as we can see. What breeding principles can you give to a “young breeder”?

A. P.: Yes, what have we learned for breeding from all this research?

Never massively select for individual traits if you don’t understand the whole thing. This is going to shit. I would like to cite one of the most significant experiments in the history of animal breeding here: In the 1950s, the Russian biologist Dimitri Belyayev and his colleagues began to capture wild silver foxes, select them for tameness and repeatedly breed the animals selected according to this criterion with each other. The aim was to recreate domestication (becoming pets) in an experiment. So what happened? Already after the 3rd generation, serious changes occurred in the phenotype (external appearance): change in fur color, lop-eared ears, curly tails, shortening of the extremities, shortening of the upper and lower jaw, change in the texture of the fur, change in torso length, etc. There are a number of hypotheses to explain this phenomenon, but explaining them here would go too far. It is important to know that only a small part of the entire genome is activated; the rest are so-called “sleeping genes”. Environmental influences or selection pressure from outside (= breeding) do not change the genetic material itself, but rather the intensity with which certain parts of it are read and converted into molecules such as hormones. The conclusion for the breeder remains: selection for one characteristic ultimately changes entire complexes of characteristics!!!

Any selection that is not also aimed at fitness and longevity or long-term performance automatically causes these characteristics to deteriorate. As already mentioned at the beginning, the physiological basis for longevity and long-term performance is slow, long-lasting growth (=late maturity). Opposite to this is the complex of characteristics of “early maturity”, i.e. fast, short growth, high and intensive performance at a young age and the associated rapid aging. Research on cattle has shown that intensive selection for early and high milk production of the animals dramatically reduces their useful life. Before the animals are even fully grown (with 4 calves), a very high percentage of dairy cows have to leave the stable due to illness. These early-mature animals are physiologically incapable of maintaining this performance. On the other hand, late-maturing animals begin with medium performance, develop slowly and only achieve high and highest performance when they are fully grown. The organism with all its metabolic processes is then well “trained”, connective tissue, cartilage, joints, tendons, ligaments and claws are of high quality (because they have grown slowly) and the animals produce well into old age without any health problems. Everything that has just been said also applies in reverse to horse breeding. The rapid success pushes breeding towards early maturity with devastating consequences for the horses and ultimately for the horse owner.

Function determines form. I have to think about what breeding goal do I have? If I want to breed a riding horse, it needs certain riding horse points and it has to be ridden so that these can be checked. If I want to breed a racehorse, it has to be fast – it is this function (speed) that dictates the form. But if I want to breed a show horse, it has to fit into a conformation template that was developed by some people (judges). So here the form comes first, and the horse is bred to adapt to this form, which is fundamentally wrong.

IN THE FOCUS: There are different breeding methods to achieve your breeding goal. Could you briefly explain to us what these are?

A. P.: I actually come from a generation before population genetics. My grandfather had nothing to do with these theoretical considerations. But these people still developed different breeding methods based on their experience – and these are still valid today. The breeding methods commonly used for the Arabian horse are:

Line breeding – this means that we find a (minor) relationship on both the father’s and mother’s side, so we bring together related genes, so to speak, from breeding animals that correspond to our breeding goals and are selected as best as possible. Because of the slight relationship, I have a high degree of certainty that the next generation will be as good as or better than the parent generation.

We talk about inbreeding when you have outstanding breeding animals and you want to consolidate or increase this gene pool through breeding close relatives. Of course, inbreeding is only possible if the animal is free of any genetic defects. Inbreeding not only solidifies the good sides, but also the hereditary defects or undesirable traits and brings them forward. Two recessive genes can appear homozygous, i.e. monozygotic, through inbreeding. If the genetic makeup then contains a genetic defect, this genetic defect is present in a monozygotic form and it comes into play (e.g. CA, SCID). How close the inbreeding can be is a matter of debate. Basically, a generation postponement is always good. Before it was possible to test for hereditary defects using genetic tests, father-daughter matings were made – if the father was a hidden (recessive) carrier of a hereditary defect, this would come to light. Today’s genetic tests can save you from having dead or deformed foals. In any case, the use of inbreeding must be embedded in a breeding plan and strict selection must take place!

“Unplanned mating” – here the nice stallion around the corner or the super show crack is used without much consideration as to how well he suits the mare and what effects this has. Let’s take Agnat’s example again: His sire Empire was bronze champion at the European Championships as a junior and in the top ten at the World Championships. Grandfather Enzo was US National Champion, his grandmother Emira was All Nations Cup Champion, his other grandfather QR Marc was World Champion, and Kwestura was also World Champion and the most expensive horse at a Polish auction. His pedigree really shows the “Who’s Who” of show horse breeding and yet the combination of all these illustrious names resulted in a completely ordinary horse. So what happened there? It’s simple: In this pedigree everything is mixed together and then Mendel’s splitting rule kicks in and it splits in all directions in the F2 generation. As a consequence, the major show horse breeders then switch to embryo transfer, producing embryos from different sires, e.g. B. 10 foals, 9 of the resulting foals do not meet the requirements of a show horse and are sold cheaply, and the one that meets expectations goes into the show. But the fact that 9 foals do not meet the breeding standard is kept quiet. This is “trial and error” and has nothing to do with “breeding”. That’s why I am an absolute opponent of these methods.

Outcross – how an outcross works properly in terms of breeding is generally not known to many. So here’s an example: the stallion Kurier, bred at the Khrenovoje stud farm, a stud farm that was known for its extreme racing performance breeding. The damline is Russian, the outcross comes through the stallion Egis from Poland, a Derby winner of which the Russians have hoped to get not only a blood refreshment, but also the highest performance. In terms of breeding, the way it works now is that the stallion Egis gets the 5 best mares from the entire mare population to cover and his two or three best sons then go into breeding. Only these sons are then widely used in the broodmare band. Breeding means thinking in generations!

Displacement breeding – generally speaking, this involves replacing certain traits with others. In animal breeding, this is usually done by crossing with other breeds. In Arabian breeding this happens through a different type of horse within the breed. This can currently be seen in the Polish state stud farms, where show horse stallions, sometimes in the third generation, are being used indiscriminately on the thoroughly bred Polish mare base, so that Polish blood is being increasingly suppressed. What is currently happening there is a displacement crossing with show horses. In doing so, within 20 years they are ruining everything that has been built and consolidated over 150 years of breeding work.

Selection – in the large stud farms you could actually still select. Every year you have 50 or more foals and you select the 3 to 4 best ones, the rest go to the remonte, i.e. they become riding horses and are therefore taken from the breeding gene pool. But if, as a small private breeder, I only breed one foal in 10 years, the selection becomes difficult. The golden rule in animal breeding is: always double the good! Then you have a high degree of security in inheritance.

IN THE FOCUS: Mare families traditionally play a major role in horse breeding – and in Arabian breeding in particular. Why is that?

A. P.: Scientifically, this can be attributed to the so-called cytoplasmic inheritance. During fertilization, the stallion only contributes the sperm, and of that only the cell nucleus. The mare, however, contributes the egg cell with the cell nucleus and around it the cytoplasm with the cell organelles, and especially the mitochondria. The mitochondria are also carriers of genetic material and are responsible for the energy metabolism of the cells. These mitochondria are always passed on from mother to foal in the egg cell. A colt has the benefit of this, but cannot pass on this mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) to its offspring. Only a filly can pass this on to the next generation. Therefore, the female line can be traced back into the past using mtDNA. Maternal performance lines such as Sabellina in Poland and Sapine in Russia are also known in Arabian horse breeding.

IN THE FOCUS: What advice would you give to a breeder who wants to buy a mare for breeding?

A. P.: A breeder should look at the damline of the mare in question. If possible, you should choose a mare from a damline that has undergone performance tests. Ask the breeder about the number of foals for the mother, grandmother, etc.? This gives an indication of fertility. If the last three generations consist of mares that meet all the criteria, you can also count on a resounding inheritance in the mare that you want to buy or with which you want to breed, i.e. a high degree of heredity security. If you buy a broodmare that has already had foals, you should ask whether this mare gave birth without any problems, did she become pregnant immediately, did she accept the foal? If we select better with regards to fertility, this will save a lot of unnecessary veterinary costs! The problem today is that it is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain such data, because even studbooks usually only contain those foals that are born healthy and are considered “worthy of registration” by the breeder – the number of coverings that are used to become a mare pregnant, the number of resorptions, abortions, stillbirths, all of this is unfortunately no longer recorded today. Another problem is that most broodmares are kept by small breeders where they have no chance of having 10 or more foals because they are only bred once or twice in their lives. Based on today’s studbook data, it is not possible to determine whether a broodmare that only had two foals in 10 years was bred more often but did not produce a live foal, or was only used for breeding twice. And a good broodmare also has good milk production! In the large state stud farms in Poland and Russia, this was recorded as a selection criterion because it is also one of the good maternal qualities.

IN THE FOCUS: How can the “lack of data” be remedied, since it is the members of the associations who have decided that only the absolutely necessary data will be recorded, or that stillbirths or abortions will not be reported to the stud book at all?

A. P.: Yes, that is a problem. But I think we’re at a point now where we have to think about where do we want to go with breeding Arabian horses in the next 20 or 30 years? The breeders should arrange for the associations to collect the relevant data. The same applies to proof of performance, regardless of whether it is equestrian sport, racing, endurance or show.

IN THE FOCUS: Let’s move from mares to stallions: Stallions have a much greater influence on breeding in terms of numbers. For example, QR Marc has sired over 850 offspring in the last 15 years…

A. P.: What makes a good stallion? For me he has to have performance-tested ancestors, he must be free of hereditary defects, proven performance, best conformation and – very important – an impeccable character. If a stallion is problematic and cannot be handled, he has no place in breeding. Let’s get to the question: How do I breed a good stallion? For me, this is the most exciting question of all! I currently see far too few good young stallions in Arabian horse breeding in order to have a few good stallions available for breeding in 5 or 10 years. How to address this problem? In breeding you can say: behind every good stallion there is a good stallion mother. The mare from which you want to breed a future sire is extremely important. Good mares in particular should remain in breeding and planned, targeted matings should be encouraged.

IN THE FOCUS: What dangers do you see in show horse breeding?

A. P.: My job here as a population geneticist is to point out developmental trends. One must be aware of the dangers of where the path leads if we continue in this direction for a long time. I want to come back to the cattle here to show what effects show breeding has, because it really runs in parallel:

Just like in Arabian breeding, in cattle breeders try to achieve a straight topline. The topline must be completely straight, only then it corresponds to the show standard. But what happens when this has been achieved? By selecting for the straight topline, the sacrum descends into the pelvis and makes birth more difficult. The birth ducts become smaller (narrower) because – as desired by breeders – the sacrum lowers.

Poorly developed muscles in the hindquarters – let’s remember again the male calves mentioned at the beginning, which have poor muscles. This is due to the fact that the spinous processes of the sacrum have shortened by 2-3 cm due to incorrect selection. This means that the attachment area for the muscles is lost and this creates these muscle-poor pelvises. And I see exactly this tendency with the show horses.

In cattle breeding, a survey has shown that over 90% of Holstein cattle are asthenics, i.e. tall, narrow animals, while less than 10% are athletics, i.e. the medium-framed type with the broad chest, which could compensate for this in the population. Now you actually want to breed an animal that is as well balanced as possible, but to do this you would have to have a medium-framed, broad stallion/bull available for the vast majority of animals. However, these only make up less than 10% of the population. And this is exactly the direction horse breeding is going in!

The position of the hip joint, in cattle this is called the inverter, meaning the point at which the thigh attaches to the pelvis. The selection for the straight topline tends to shift the hip joint backwards, which means that the animal has to put the hind legs behind the body, which in turn has a negative impact on movement, creates kidney pressure and significantly worsens the resilience of the back.

The extreme “typey” head with dish is, in my opinion, a deformation. Anyone who demands a minimum level of performance from their horse will recognize that a horse with an extreme dish will have trouble breathing. This would require research to understand the exact connections. But we know from dogs and cats that the shortening of the nose does not reduce the amount of mucous membrane material in the nasopharynx. However, this is no longer tight, but rather “wrinkled”, which leads to the familiar wheezing breathing noises. The lower jaw and the ridge are no longer straight, but are curved, which leads to dental problems. Teeth change very slowly in evolutionary terms. The desert Arabians’ teeth are too large for today’s delicate heads and therefore have space problems in their jaws.

The refinement of the head in particular, but also of the entire horse, and the associated lack of gender type in the stallions. This has, for example, effects on the pituitary gland. The pituitary gland controls the entire hormonal process in the organism. It shrinks and you intervene directly in the animal’s hormonal balance and ultimately select against fertility. Here is also an example from cattle breeding: we are increasingly receiving feedback from farmers about weak contractions during birth. What happened here: the hormone oxytocin is responsible for water retention in the tissues before birth and during birth for triggering contractions. All of these natural regulators are significantly weakened by the change in the pituitary gland; the hormone levels are too low. As a result, the contractions during birth mean that the remaining blood is not sufficiently pressed from the placenta via the umbilical cord into the foetus. A normal calf has around 7 litres of blood in its system shortly after birth. If contractions are weak, the calves are usually taken out using mechanical pulling aid and the calves often only have around 3.5 litres of blood in their system and are therefore clearly weak and have to be brought with great effort through the first three weeks of life or even die.

Insufficient depth of the thorax means that the animal has no space for the organs, especially for the heart and lungs. Such animals lack endurance and performance, and the performance of the lymphatic system is significantly reduced.

The middle section is too long – although a feature of the Arabian horse is its short back! Nevertheless, long backs are selected here, which means that the animals have backs that are far too soft and the backs are no longer stable. The long back causes the loins to sink and the animals can no longer walk without pain.

Significant weaknesses in the connective tissue. Selection for early maturity and the associated rapid growth lead to a significant weakening of the connective tissue. We examined this in cattle over long periods of time based on the suspension of the uterus in the abdomen/pelvis and the back formation of the uterus after birth. Swollen legs and swollen hocks are a sign of this weakness in the connective tissue in horses – and these animals are ultimately completely useless as riding horses.

IN THE FOCUS: An important aspect today is size. The Arabian horse, which was imported to Europe 200 years ago, was often smaller than 1.50 m, but today customers demand a horse that should be 10 cm taller. What “dangers” can we expect when our “cultural Arabs” become bigger and bigger?

A. P.: In cattle, we examined what happens when the animals get bigger and heavier and what effects this has. On average, a cow weighs around 600 kg. If we now have 100 kg more body weight, this inevitably means an enormous increase in resources just to maintain the body. I agree with H. V. Musgrave Clark, an English Arabian breeder who valued small horses around 1.45 m and did not use any animal for breeding that was over 1.53 m. He lived in America for several years and worked there as a post rider and his insight was that medium-sized horses always had the greatest endurance. For us, this means that selection for excessive size, i.e. for animals that are over 1.60 – 1.65 m, is not effective. The size must fluctuate freely, which means there may well be animals that are larger, but you shouldn’t select especially for this.

IN THE FOCUS: What could happen next?

A. P.: The state stud farms are dissolving, unfortunately one has to say that. In Russia, Khrenovoye was privatized and Arabian breeding was abandoned. Tersk is also privatized and today has three different breeding programs, racehorses, show horses and “Classic Russian”, although this last group is becoming smaller and smaller. In Poland we have seen that displacement breeding with show horses is taking place. If this goes on for another 10 years, there will be nothing left of the original Polish Arab. But there are also small glimmers of hope. A very interesting project was launched in Spain back in 2003. A breeding value for performance tests was developed; there are different selection levels, including young horse selection, tested sires and elite sires. Finally, I would like to introduce a project that we have launched here in cattle breeding. We have decided to maintain long-term performance breeding because this type of cattle has no chance at all due to genomic selection and breeding value estimation as currently carried out. We therefore founded an association and then looked for cow families that met our criteria for long-term performance breeding. Then we bought bulls from them, i.e. we now have almost 40 bulls in the insemination station, we have our own semen depot, and we use it to supply farmers who are interested in this type of breeding. Something similar could also be applied to the Arabian horse. You would need a Europe-wide breeding platform, and of course you have to think about how you could finance something like that. Then you need much better data collection, research work would have to be done, you would have to network the individual initiatives (like in Spain, see above), record stallion and mare lines to see which ones are at risk, start a survey to find out which frozen semen from older stallions still exist and – and this is very important to me – there needs to be a transfer of knowledge. It would be necessary to offer breeding advice for the next, younger generation of breeders, because otherwise the old hippological knowledge would be completely lost.

IN THE FOCUS: Thank you very much for your clear words and your commitment to preserving the old values in our breed.

The interview was conducted by Gudrun Waiditschka.

[aloeverified]

What To Know Before Writing an Albino Character

1) General Information:

Albinism is a genetic disorder that results in decreased production of a pigment called melanin in the skin, hair, and eyes, resulting in light color or no color. Albinism is not a disease, nor do people "suffer" from it — though every albino person has their own thoughts and feelings regarding their condition. There's no cure for albinism. People with albinism are more likely to be diagnosed with skin cancer, as well as dealing with things like sun burns, but besides sight problems and eye sensitivity, most people with albinism are just as healthy as everyone else.

People with albinism are typically diagnosed at birth, as doctors can tell by their appearance. If albinism is suspected, a doctor can order a genetic test to get the most accurate results regarding type and gene mutation. Due to eye complications that come with albinism, some doctors will asks for babies to be seen by optometrists. During those eye examinations, doctors can find out if the patient has rapid eye movement, sensitivity to bright light, or misalignment of the eyes. Most people with albinism have photophobia (extreme sensitivity to bright lights), refractive errors (such as astigmatism, myopia, hyperopia), nystagmus (involuntary movement of the eyes, which can lead to abnormal head positioning), or strabismus (misalignment of the eyes).

Due to low or reduced melanin, people with albinism are extremely vulnerable to UV sun damage. To avoid damage from the sun, people with albinism are advised to wear protective clothing, hats, and sunscreen.

Along with that, people with albinism wear glasses that block out UV rays. They also use softer lights in their homes and on their electronic devices. Some albinos experience pain or headaches after being exposed to intense bright colors or eyestrain, which causes them to lean more towards pastels when regarding things they'll have to look at a lot.

People do not always like being referred to as albino, sometimes preferring the term "person/people with albinism." Many don't care, but it's overall regarded as disrespectful and sometimes derogatory to call someone "an albino/albinos" rather than an albino person or the previous listed term.

2) Types of Albinism:

There are two main types of albinism: oculocutaneous albinism (OCA) – the most common type, affecting the skin, hair and eyes, and ocular albinism (OA) – a rarer type that mainly affects the eyes. OCA is the type of albinism that most people are familiar with and that is represented more in the media. People with OA typically look the same as non-albino people, with the exception of their eyes. However, some do have slightly ligher hair and skin colors from their family members, but not by a very big extent. Their visual acuity is typically lower than normal, ranging from 20/60 to 20/400.

OA1 is caused by a change in the GPR143 gene that plays a signaling role that is especially important to pigmentation in the eye. OA1 follows a simpler pattern of inheritance because the gene for OA1 is on the X chromosome. Females have two copies of the X chromosome while males have only one copy (and a Y chromosome that makes them male). To have ocular albinism, a male only needs to inherit one changed copy of the gene for ocular albinism from his carrier mother. Therefore almost all of the people with OA1 are males. While possible if the mother is a carrier of ocular albinism and the father has ocular albinism, it is extremely rare.

As for OCA, there are currently seven forms of oculocutaneous albinism recognized – OCA1, OCA2, OCA3, OCA4, OCA5, OCA6 and OCA7. Some are further divided into subtypes. For OCA, both parents must carry the albinism gene for their child to inherit the condition.

OCA1, or tyrosinase-related albinism, results from a genetic defect in an enzyme called tyrosinase. This enzyme helps the body to change the amino acid, tyrosine, into pigment. (An amino acid is a “building block” of protein.) There are two subtypes of OCA1. In OCA1A, the enzyme is inactive and no melanin is produced, leading to white hair and very light skin. In OCA1B, the enzyme is minimally active and a small amount of melanin is produced, leading to hair that may darken to blond, yellow/orange or even light brown, as well as slightly more pigment in the skin.

OCA2, or P gene albinism, results from a genetic defect in the P protein that helps the tyrosinase enzyme to function. People with OCA2 make a minimal amount of melanin pigment and can have hair color ranging from very light blond to brown.

OCA3 is rarely described and results from a genetic defect in TYRP1, a protein related to tyrosinase. People with OCA3 can have substantial pigment.

OCA4 results from a genetic defect in the SLC45A2 protein that helps the tyrosinase enzyme to function. People with OCA4 make a minimal amount of melanin pigment similar to people with OCA2.

OCA5–7 were recognized in humans in 2012 and 2013. They have reported mutations on three additional causative genes. As gene testing becomes available, and more people with these types of albinism are identified, the complete range of physical manifestations will be recognized, and may overlap with other known types of OCA. Currently, these types of albinism are considered to be uncommon.

Albinism occurs in all race and ethnic groups across the world, but there are some types that are more common amongst certain groups. The most common types of albinism found in the black population of Southern Africa are OCA2 and OCA3. OCA3 is also the most common type found amongst Asian populations. It's important to do research on people with albinism who are the same ethnic/racial group as your character(s) to make sure you are representing them correctly as albinism looks different for each group of people.

As a side note, it's important to know that people with albinism do not always have red eyes. Even those who appear to have red eyes don't actually have that eye color, but it's rather a result of the lack of pigment, which makes the iris paler and thus, the retina more visible. People with albinism can have pretty much any eye color as long as it's a light shade; I've personally met other albino people who've had blue, red, pink, green, purple, and even yellow. In pictures, however, they eyes typically always appear some shade of red.

3) Recognize How People With Albinism Are Treated:

In places like China, having albinism is considered bad luck and many who have it are ostracized and excluded from mainstream society. They're also considered unattractive and inferior to many. Besides their physical disabilities, many Chinese people with albinism say that finding a partner is their biggest struggle.

Africa is one of the most dangerous places for albino people. In West Africa, some communities and families consider it a misfortune to give birth to Albinos and hence, attempts are made to either kill them at birth or banish them from the community. They are constantly abused and ridiculed by the public with derogatory names and social tags that serve as a form of stigmatization.

In many countries of sub-Saharan Africa, people with albinism suffer discrimination and ostracism and are seen as a curse. Many superstitions look at people with albinism as a source of income, so they are mutilated and the parts of their bodies are used in rituals of black magic, under the belief that they give wealth and fortune to those who own them. Some cultures believe that they do not die, but disappear, or that having sex with a person with albinism cures AIDS — which causes a high rate of sexual assault amongst those with albinism.

Not all places view albinism as bad though. In Panama, many people view those with albinism as lucky. In America, many people don't may much mind to those with albinism besides staring and making comments.

Overall, it's worthy to note how people with albinism are treated in the country your character(s) live in. Albinism dictates a lot in people's lives, but for some it can be the cause of their death or severe injury and trauma. People with albinism don't want extensive descriptions of their own trauma, but it's important to not gloss over how they're treated. If your character is from a fantasy setting then you can attempt to reflect how they're treated by looking at countries in the real world most similar to your fictional one.

4) Things To Avoid:

In Hollywood, people with albinism are often depicted as evil. It's become very rare that someone with this condition is viewed positively, they're always either a villain or a comedic relief character whose condition is used to mock them. Avoid both of these as much as you can. If you'd like to make your character with albinism a villain, make them compelling and give them a justifiably reason for their path: don't just make them someone whose naturally evil. If they're comedic relief, don't make them being albino apart of their jokes — give them a personality and make them likable.

Don't make them albino just because you think it's cool. Almost every person with albinism identifies as disabled and it's important to showcase their struggles, specifically with their sight and how they interact with situations that involve bright lights and such. Make sure you're not making them into a pity show, though, as disabled characters shouldn't solely revolve around their disabity. A good example of a character whose disability is a main part of her character but not the only part of it is Toph Beifong from Avatar: The Last Airbender, who is blind like many albino people. That's not to say that people with disabilities are or should be defined by their struggles, but that those struggles are real and often difficult to navigate. They are part of us and help to make us who we are. It might just be my opinion, but if you can ignore all their hardships then that's not an authentic portrayal of anything, really.

People with albinism are also very likely to be bullied for their appearance and viewed as unattractive, so it can be very positive representation to show your albino character as attractive. They don't have to be the most beautiful person in the cast, nor should you fetishize them for being disabled, but it can be nice to show other characters having feelings for them or giving them a romantic partner.

And most importantly, don't make them albino for no reason. Why does your character have albinism? What character or narrative purpose does it serve? How would the story be different if they didn't have albinism? Ask yourself these questions, and if you can't come up with good answers then maybe your character shouldn't have albinism. Think about how being albino affects them, the people around them, their story, and the overall plot. Are you making them albino for the sake of seeming diverse and woke or because you want to represent this group of people?

If your story is leaning into fantasy then you can come up with very easy explanations for why your character is albino. Maybe their people live underground and evolving to have albinism was what as best for their survival. Maybe your character is a clone, in which case they don't need their parents to have the albinism gene.

5) Closing Notes

This is just a general overview for people to get started on writing their albino characters. It's important to talk with actual albino people as you continue writing. Please do your own research on people with albinism to get more detailed insight on the condition.

If you're making a professional piece of work then you consider hiring an albino sensitivity reader to help ensure your depictions are appropriate. If there's anything you're unsure of in the meantime, researching or asking an albino person is best.

[gallifreyinstituteforlearning]

what are gallifreyan attitudes towards disability? can disabled time lords whose disabilities last through each regeneration exist?

What are Gallifreyan attitudes towards disability?

🧐 What Counts as a Disability?

Gallifreyan perceptions of disability differ significantly from human views. Here’s a breakdown of how they might see things:

Physical Impairments: Any physical condition that hampers a Time Lord’s abilities or regenerations might be considered a disability. However, Gallifreyan technology can compensate for these, making them less noticeable.

Mental Health: Conditions affecting cognitive or psychic functions could also be viewed as disabilities, especially if they impact a Time Lord’s duties or abilities. Given their advanced telepathic abilities, disruptions here can be quite significant.

Temporal and Psionic Sensitivity: Issues with handling time travel or psychic abilities could be classified as disabilities. This includes difficulties in time perception or problems with their innate psychic connections.

Interestingly, some conditions that humans consider disabilities might not be viewed with he same eye by Gallifreyans. For example, things like needing a prosthetic are probably easily rectified or managed with tech, so not considered disabilities at all.

🔬 The Ideal of Perfection

Being the Gift of Rassilon, regeneration is obviously a 'completely flawless process'. As a result, disabilities could be viewed as anomalies, mismanagement or failures in the regenerative process. This could lead to stigma and prejudice against the affected individual.

🏛️ The Official Stance

Officially, the Gallifreyan elite state that disabilities among Time Lords are exceedingly rare, and that regeneration ensures perfect health and functionality. The High Council maintains that any claims of persistent disabilities are not true or merely minor issues, attributing them to misinformation or misunderstandings of the regenerative process.

However, such places as Shadow Houses did exist at some point, and may still do.

Can disabilities persist through regenerations?

Yes - disabilities can either persist through several incarnations or be more of a one-time thing:

Genetic Anomalies: These might lead to disabilities that appear in every regeneration. Some genetic issues are deeply rooted in biodata and are difficult to eliminate without getting biodata rewritten through the proper legal channels.

Severe Trauma: Extreme physical or psychic trauma could leave lasting effects over multiple regenerations. These effects could sometimes carry over in subtle ways, such as chronic pain or psychic scars.

Regenerative Malfunctions: Shock, horror! The regeneration process can be unpredictable, leading to unique conditions or disabilities that persist throughout life.

Chronic Illness: Certain diseases disrupt the regenerative process, causing persistent disabilities. These illnesses can be rare and might require continuous management across incarnations.

Disabilities in Time Lords could vary significantly in each regeneration. While one incarnation might struggle with a disability, the next might not, depending on the nature/cause of the condition.

🏫 So ...

What constitutes a disability differs on Gallifrey, but persistent and incarnation-specific disabilities might occur due to genetic anomalies, severe trauma, regenerative malfunctions, or chronic illnesses. Everything’s fine, though - just ask the High Council.

Related:

Do Time Lord-specific disabilities exist?: Types of disabilities specifically for Gallifreyans, both known and theoretical.

How do Gallifreyans deal with regeneration disparities?: How Gallifreyan society perceives and deals with those unable to regenerate.

What counts as a safety hazard for regeneration?: Risk factors in regeneration.

Hope that helped! 😃

Any purple text is educated guesswork or theoretical. More content ... →📫Got a question? | 📚Complete list of Q+A and factoids →😆Jokes |🩻Biology |🗨️Language |🕰️Throwbacks |🤓Facts ��🫀Gallifreyan Anatomy and Physiology Guide (pending) →⚕️Gallifreyan Emergency Medicine Guides →📝Source list (WIP) →📜Masterpost If you're finding your happy place in this part of the internet, feel free to buy a coffee to help keep our exhausted human conscious. She works full-time in medicine and is so very tired😴

[wheelie-sick]

hi, feel free to ignore but i was curious about your opinion as someone with SLE

i was prescribed a new drug, a proton pump inhibitor for my GI issues. one of the side effects (aside from diarrhea, bone fractures, and kidney failure) is development of lupus. seeing all of those kinda freaked me out tbh. also, as someone who has strong autoimmune genetics (graves’ disease, RA, and vasculitis mostly) i’m nervous about messing w my immune system.

do you know of any statistics or personal experience with people who have gotten lupus symptoms from PPIs? and i’m fully aware this is an “ask your dr” question, i’m planning on it but mychart sucks and my next appt with her isn’t for a month

that is most likely referring to drug induced lupus erythematosus (DILE) which is different from SLE and most importantly is temporary. if you were to get DILE then stopping the drug would completely resolve the problem

DILE is pretty extremely rare for most drugs that can cause it (typically less than 0.1%) so while it's definitely something to watch out for it's not by any means a likely side effect. from what I could find proton pump inhibitors sit in the "extremely rare" category when it comes to developing DILE

here's some more information on DILE

I couldn't find any information on whether a family history of autoimmune disease raises risk for it

[harmonia-university]

Interview with Dr. Jelle Wauters, from the Department of Biology!

Do you have a specialization of some kind (types, wildlife, etc.) or do you just general biology? - @nobetternamethanthat2 , anonymous

My research is mainly related to type genetics! Although every Weavile is an ice type, the potency and the ability to control those ice powers may vary between individuals. I also study type-related diseases as they seem to be genetically passed down as well. During the Domestication era, this kind of variance was extremely rare among Pokemon. Nowadays, Pokemon have at least a bit of human DNA in them, and this seems to have affected some family lineages. So this is a bit of a new phenomenon that a lot of research is being put into.

What got you into biology? Why do you like it, do you have a favourite thing about it? - @megamannickblog , @ecoxlar-maybe, @theonlycampix , @tailsluigi

Well for my specific interest, I've been around Pokemon who suffer from type-related deficiencies all my life. I am actually one of them! My ice powers are very weak, almost nonexistent. I always wanted to know the science behind that so I decided to get more into it.

Biology is so fascinating as a whole though! There are so many different species of Pokemon with their own quirks and abilities, it's fun to learn about how every single one works. Even Pokemon that seem man-made and robotic, they have their own central nervous systems, digestive systems, etc. I think the diversity pulled me in too.

Is there any part of the curriculum you look forward to teaching most? -anonymous

When teaching my Type biology classes I am always excited to talk about the genetics behind it of course! It is only a small portion of the course, a lot of it is on the more “physical” side of things, how the powers are generated, how it affects our bodies and stuff like that. But it is nice to talk about my specific interest, even for a bit…

Do you have a least and favourite part about teaching biology? - @neonellie

I think my favourite part is being able to educate passionate students about something I am passionate about as well. It's hard to think of a least favourite aspect. Probably the grading, but I don't know anyone who enjoys that.

If you had to pick another subject to teach what would you pick? - @ecoxlar-maybe

Biology related? Probably the anatomy of different kinds of Pokemon. Non biology related, maybe chemistry? Biochemistry. Oh, I made that related to biology. Haha!

What's your biggest achievement during your time as a student? - @smartguy18

Oh, I've done many many research projects as a student! I guess the one I'm most proud of is the work I did with one of my professors on grass type decay. Some grass types inherit a trait that makes their body decay quite fast…like a flower that is constantly deprived of water. I worked on trying to identify what gene causes this. It is a topic very significant to me!

How did you end up teaching at Harmonia? Did you grow up around Arboria, what brought you here? -Bijoux from @redolentgrove , Minuy600

Oh, I didn't grow up here! I grew up in a region overseas called Rhinia. Honestly I was desperate to look for anywhere that would take me in. Harmonia University was the first one that got back to me, I had heard good things about it so I decided to come here! And I don't regret it!

How do you deal with rowdy students? -anonymous

Oh, I barely get any. I usually teach upper year students and grad students. They are usually pretty well-behaved. There's the occasional dispute with grades and stuff like that but I think the best thing to do is to listen, stay as calm as possible and try to reach common ground.

What do you do in your free time? - @dawnnotsomom, @askgodmotherdaringdo

I love sports! Especially winter sports, such as figure skating and snowboarding. During other seasons I like to hit the badminton court. Other than that, I building and painting figurines.

Do you like video games? If so, what genres? -anonymous

I do play occasionally. Mostly farming and city-building sims.

Your hair always looks really pretty. Do you have a specific morning routine to keep yourself looking so nice? If not, have you tried experimenting recently with your fashion at all? - @missclovercat

Haha, thank you! My hair is naturally puffy like this due to my mother being a Flareon. A little wash and blow dry gets it like this! I'm not really one to experiment with fashion at all, anything comfortable and keeps me cool works.

Do you have anyone special in your life? - @wevelocityteampresents-blog

Oh hoho….yes….I have two! My lovely wife and daughter. I wouldn't know how to live without them.

This isn't a question but @winguontheweb has said that they love that you look like pink lemonade!

Oh! Well…thank you! That is quite the compliment. I love pink lemonade, haha!

Any tips for someone who wants to learn biology? -Wil from @ask-the-shiny-pokemons

Well, you're interested - that's a great start! If there's an aspect of biology you're interested in, such as microbiology, genetics, anatomy, etc… the easiest thing to do is just look up resources to learn about that topic! You may want to borrow books about it in the library, listen to lectures, watch educational videos, etc. Then you can expand to other topics! Soon enough you'll be an expert!

That concludes the interview! Do you have any closing remarks?

[weirdstrangeandawful]

Okay look. I really really love how much attention hEDS is getting because it is really hard for rare diseases to get treatment and diagnosis and hEDS is definitely underdiagnosed (still rare but also underdiagnosed). I also disagree strongly with the EDS society's gatekeeping of hEDS. Especially when their goal is to identify the genetic marker which means you need to rule more people in not out!!! If you end up with an extra group of people that's fine! I'm already convinced that hEDS is more than one subtype that have been erroneously combined.

But I will say that I've been finding a lot of people with joint hypermobility, and even generalised joint hypermobility, self-diagnosing makes it difficult to get treatment and diagnosis because the tone among doctors is shifting from 'devastating incurable illness that reduces quality of life to near zero and requires management as soon as possible' to 'just hypermobility'.

Yes, hypermobility is a pain. But I could deal with it.

I can't deal with (in no particular order) not being able to eat or drink, nausea, fainting, low blood volume, seizures, partial paralysis and ataxia, paresthesias, akathisia, extremely delayed wound healing and therefore infections, bruising from the lightest bump or blood draws, stretch marks, dermatographia, and other things that affect body image, thousands of dollars in dental work, constant cavities, ingrown nails, accessory toenails, extremely tight hamstrings (part of the reason I'm not diagnosed yet because they compensate for my lumbar spine), finger and thumb hyperextension, greatly reduced grip strength, dystonia, dislocations of both joints and tendons, trachea hypermobility causing me to stop breathing, severe TMJ issues, flat feet that have required mobility aids since I was 4 and continue to get worse, fragile and slightly hyperextensible skin, urinary retention, bladder and pelvic pain (including contraction-like symptoms without a uterus), severe headaches, tunnel vision, visual snow, tinnitus, insomnia, hypersomnia, joint pain, musculoskeletal pain, myofacial pain, nerve pain, nerve damage, extreme fatigue, hearing issues, vision issues, tremors, nutrient deficiencies, medication intolerances, and so many more symptoms and comorbidities.

And yes, I recognise that it's not the patients' faults. They should absolutely be able to bring up concerns of hEDS without it negatively influencing other patients. But doctors suck a lot of the time.

[absolutely-normal-about-x]

CARBON LORE: Carbons

What are carbons? Carbons are biomechanical beings that are “Artificial Humans” in a sense while having organic traits like humans like flesh, blood, etc. They are also part machines capable of replacing their limbs with robotic implants and parts with ease. These can range from simple implants to drastic full body overhauls. Carbons are more resilient than they look. This allows them to take more punishment than regular organic beings. However, in certain cases, Carbons can manifest unique variations that weren't there in recent times Some possess animalistic traits or abilities that are similar to their reploid predecessors but remain to be seen. They are also known to adapt to the environment of the island that they reside on, depending on the weather, state, etc. Like any other lifeform they can eat, sleep, contract diseases, get injured and die.

In terms of reproduction, where Carbons came from can actually vary. There are two types of Carbon creation: One method is when Carbons are born, similar to how lifeforms are born through conception by two parents. This type of carbon is called “Organic” because of how it is born, this type is basically the major population of Terra. The second method is more complicated than the first, which is artificial creation. Because of their robotic nature, they can be created from scratch using specialized technology and genetic coding known as "Anthro Unit." The Anthro Units are extremely rare because most of them are possibly found in specific ruins or, commonly, in Elysium.

There is a third method called RE:birth. It's more akin to anthro units being created, but there is a distinction as a form of resurrection rather than creating new life, it requires two key components: an empty carbon shell and a unique ancient artifact called a Biometal. The biometal must house the soul of an ancient warrior of the past in order for the process to be successful. What the process does is fuse the biometal to the carbon body, permanently giving the ancient soul a new body. The appearance of the individual is a reflection of the soul’s desire or resemblance to their past life. Currently, the knowledge of RE:birth and the methods is shrouded in mystery, as only The Master himself is the only one who developed this process of bringing Biometals to physical form.

Hence why they are “Biomechanical” as they aren't fully organic nor, at the same time, robotic. Essentially, they are a completely new species that completely destroys the line between man and machine itself.

On average, carbons are known to have a regular lifespan of 150 years if they remain in their organic form or longer if they decide to go full on machine.

[catboybiologist]

can you elaborate on why some animals can self fertilize but it's bad for lots of animals to screw their siblings?

This has been sitting in my ask box forever bc I just keep forgetting to answer it LOL

Imma roll back to some basic genetic principles for this one, many of y'all will probably already know a good chunk of this.

If you remember your Mendelian genetics, you'll know you have two copies of every gene. Those genes come in forms called "alleles". The different alleles in a population are responsible for variation within that population, as each allele causes a different version of that trait. Now practically, a "trait" here is some deeply rooted biochemical concept that is extremely difficult to be visible in the organism overall because its linked to a million different signaling processes that will get obscured by it. The most strictly Mendelian example in humans that everyone knows is probably A/B/O blood type (I'm beating the horny people off with a stick if you read A/B/O differently). This is a great example because it also demonstrates the most common type of way that alleles can be recessive. Put simply, A and B are genes that code for functional proteins. O codes for a nonfunctional protein, and therefore is a lack of a protein. This is why someone that is genotypically AO has an A blood type overall, whereas AB is it's own distinct blood type. The recessive gene codes for nothing, the dominant gene codes for something, and the cell just produces a bit more off of the "functional" version (sometimes. broad generalizations all around. There are dominant loss of function genes but they're rare.). So to actually have an O blood type, both copies of that gene need to be O. Why is this relevant? Well, in blood type, the nonfunctional version of the gene doesn't affect the body really in any way, other than immune system reactions during transfusion. This is also the case with many other recessive genes. But for many, MANY genes, having a nonfunctional version is a genetic disease- something in the cell that needs to happen, or be built, isn't happening. But remember, you need to have both copies of the nonfunctional version of the gene for the gene's function overall to be nonfunctional.

So why are these genes still in the population? Well, their frequency is too low to be a problem most of the time, so there's really no selection pressure for them. Occasionally, you'll get a "disease" allele that happens to be useful in a different situation. The classic example is of course sickle cell anemia, which increases resistance to malaria. But these situations are rare. And of course, evolution happens over changing circumstances, so the selection pressure for a particular gene to be functional might just vanish before the opportunity for it to be bred out of the population arises, and the gene simply disappears from the species overall (looking at you, L-gulono-γ-lactone oxidase).

So those genes are lurking in your genome. You're probably carrying multiple recessive genes that, if you had both copies, would cause debilitating or fatal disease. Its just kind of a fact of the human condition. If you produce offspring with a random person, its highly likely that they won't carry the same nonfunctional genes as you, and your offspring are less likely to get both copies. That random mated partner will give their own set of random nonfunctional genes, but again, its likely they won't be the same as your set. But, if you produce offspring with someone genetically closer to you, the probability of that offspring getting both copies goes up, since that mate is more likely to have the same set of nonfunctional alleles as you.

So that's why inbreeding sucks. But other animals do it all the time- sometimes within family units, sometimes even via self fertilization and/or some other mechanism of parthenogenesis. What gives? There are two reasons why inbreeding could be okay in a given population of organisms, and they're kind of the opposite of each other: 1, the genetic variation in the population is so low, and has been through so many harsh evolutionary bottlenecks that there are very few deleterious mutations left in the genome. Sometimes, these organisms will be homozygous at every locus, meaning that different combinations of two different alleles is impossible. This is the extreme case, but humans have created exactly this organism- the lab N2 strain of C. elegans. This is horrible for a species long term, however, since you're essentially stalling gene flow between populations, meaning that all future natural selection has to happen on literally the same lineage of organisms from a single parent. These species are rare and tend not to be adaptable to long term change- many will have the ability to cross fertilize, and just do so on rarer occasions than most other organisms.

2, the genetic variation of the population is so high that the probability of finding a mate with the exact same deleterious mutation as you is very low, especially for multiple genes at once like humans get. Similar to the other situation, this can't hold up long term, because multiple generations of inbreeding will slowly increase the frequency of certain alleles in the population over time- but with some gene flow and/or careful mate selection, its possible.

Humans are at the messy little sweet spot between these two. Our genetic variation is incredibly low when compared to similar complex chordate species (thanks, pleistiocene population bottleneck), but we still have enough variation kicking around for those pesky mutations to still be here. Additionally, we're a species that cares for each other more intensely than most others, and uses social units to compensate for the entire group. So one or two individuals over the years with a genetic disease will survive, and pass that on. This is a good and incredible thing about the resilience of our species, so if you're gonna be weird about using evolution as morality you can gtfo.

So uh... yeah. Hope that answers your question! Now go play the Coffin of Andy and Leyley to answer any other questions you may have about incest.