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Post by Lone Wanderer on Apr 2, 2019 11:10:02 GMT
A woman in Scotland can feel virtually no pain due to a mutation in a previously-unidentified gene, according to a research article. She also experiences very little anxiety and fear, and may have enhanced wound healing due to the mutation, which the researchers say could help guide new treatments for a range of conditions. The woman in Scotland experiences similar traits. She notes that in her lifelong history of cuts and burns (sometimes unnoticed until she can smell burning flesh), the injuries tend to heal very quickly. She is an optimist who was given the lowest score on a common anxiety scale, and reports never panicking even in dangerous situations such as a recent traffic incident. She also reports memory lapses throughout life such as forgetting words or keys, which has previously been associated with enhanced endocannabinoid signalling. The researchers say that it's possible there are more people with the same mutation, given that this woman was unaware of her condition until her 60s. "People with rare insensitivity to pain can be valuable to medical research as we learn how their genetic mutations impact how they experience pain, so we would encourage anyone who does not experience pain to come forward," said Dr Cox. The research team is continuing to work with the woman in Scotland, and are conducting further tests in cell samples, in order to better understand the novel pseudogene. "We hope that with time, our findings might contribute to clinical research for post-operative pain and anxiety, and potentially chronic pain, PTSD and wound healing, perhaps involving gene therapy techniques," said Dr Cox. "The implications for these findings are immense," said Dr Srivastava. "One out of two patients after surgery today still experiences moderate to severe pain, despite all advances in pain killer medications and techniques since the use of ether in 1846 to first 'annul' the pain of surgery. There have already been unsuccessful clinical trials targeting the FAAH protein -- while we hope the FAAH-OUT gene could change things particularly for post-surgical pain, it remains to be seen if any new treatments could be developed based on our findings." "The findings point towards a novel pain killer discovery that could potentially offer post-surgical pain relief and also accelerate wound healing. We hope this could help the 330 million patients who undergo surgery globally every year," Dr Srivastava said. "I would be elated if any research into my own genetics could help other people who are suffering," the woman in Scotland commented. "I had no idea until a few years ago that there was anything that unusual about how little pain I feel -- I just thought it was normal. Learning about it now fascinates me as much as it does anyone else." www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/03/190327203450.htm
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Post by Elizabeth on Apr 2, 2019 15:58:11 GMT
I think I got the optimist part down great. I'd also not mind what she has. It would be great not to feel pain during childbirth.
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Post by Lone Wanderer on Apr 2, 2019 17:38:19 GMT
I think I got the optimist part down great. I'd also not mind what she has. It would be great not to feel pain during childbirth. Only "enhanced wound healing" trait is positive. You know, her life could be in danger due to no pain.
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Post by Elizabeth on Apr 2, 2019 18:39:10 GMT
I think I got the optimist part down great. I'd also not mind what she has. It would be great not to feel pain during childbirth. Only "enhanced wound healing" trait is positive. You know, her life could be in danger due to no pain. But the obly way to fight it is with positivity. Otherwise with negativity you're just waiting to die. She could become depressed over it and not care. This will shorten her lifespan. She needs to accept it and work with it to still get a positive life.
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