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catboybiologist · 1 month

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“As a biologist, the terms biological woman and man don’t make any sense to me” okay then you’re an idiot and a terrible biologist. I swear to god, morons like you only become biologists just so you can hold it over others, when in reality, if biology deniers like you can become biologists, then being one really doesn’t mean much anyway. But this probably just gave an autogynophile like you a boner to read, anyway.

Oh fun! Haven't gotten one of these in a while. Disregarding the fact that you somehow think the qualification for being a biologist entirely hinges on defining womanhood, I do need to ask some clarification. I know I'm feeding the trolls here, but here we go: does your definition of "biological woman" mean:

Sociological woman? Eh, context dependent, I'm not fully out of the closet, but oftentimes, I am and present femme. So let's call that one 50/50.

Psychological woman? Because I am one.

Neurological woman? Because I am one [1].

Physical woman? My soft tissue redistribution is handling that well.

Hormonal woman? My blood tests are within cis female ranges.

Transcriptional woman? As a signalling molecule, the downstream effects of estrogen have broad transcriptional effects, completely changing the profile of gene expression and functional genomics of my cells. [2]

Genetic woman? I mean, see my above point- as far as my genes that are actually active, I have all of the same transcripts being produced, controlling which genes are expressed.

Karyotypic woman? I actually have a few signs pre-HRT that might point to a non-XY chromosome pair, but I haven't had a karyotype. We'll put that down as unknown. And hell, even if its XY, there's plenty of cis women who are karyotypically XY, with suppressed sry or complete androgen insensitivity. Interestingly enough, a completely androgen insesitive woman can go her whole life without knowing- and functionally, is very similar to a trans woman, actually. Fancy that. [3]

Reproductive woman? I can't produce an egg cell, but neither can significant fractions of cis women. Also, this is all gonna change soon, which is fun. [4]

There's also a lot of understudied aspects to the biology of HRT and even pre-HRT that are emerging, largely demonstrating widespread cellular and genetic remodeling of trans individuals undergoing hormone therapy. The field is a bit behind due to constant political pressure to revoke funding, but a lot of the results are extremely exciting in both testosterone and estrogen hormone therapies. I'm sure that, as a self professed biology As someone who presumably has a lot of expertise in biology, I'm assuming that you're aware of all of this cutting edge research, and are keeping up with modern papers, including but not limited to these cool findings:

Trans men on HRT exhibit significant genetic and transcriptional changes that make them biochemically male. [5][6]. It's a good hypothesis that the same happens with estrogen treatment, but those studies don't exist yet- I'm sure you're reserving judgment until more publications exist, of course.

Trans men on HRT develop male cell types and tissues. [7]

Trans women experience muscular and blood cell changes that align with cis women moreso than cis men [8]

And many, many more! This is an exciting, underserved, and groundbreaking field of research, and I'm sure you're keeping up with the latest in scientific journals about it.

I'm sure, of course, that you understand that it becomes impossible to draw a distinct line anywhere in here, and that words like "woman" are shorthand for the myriad of traits that invisibly synthesize in our mind and in society to represent a concept? I'm sure you understand that science is fundamentally descriptive, not prescriptive? I'm sure that you understand that these findings, while really cool and interesting, actually don't mean jack shit about what the word "woman" means or not?

As someone who is the ultimate decider in what a biologist is, I'm sure you know that bioessentiallism is a childish mindset that completely ignores and disregards the constantly changing, dynamic nature of biological systems, something that extends well beyond biological sex and its relation to gender.

I'm sure that also, that you understand that beyond just this, that the role of science in society is to advise how to achieve our moral principles, not create moral principles in themselves. And I'm sure that understanding means you know that trans affirming healthcare and supportive societal treatment leads to reduced mortality and increased happiness for everyone, right?

So great to talk to someone who is surely a scientist on this. You are a biologist, if you're talking like this, I assume? I assume you're not going to spit complete misreadings of scientific language from the background sections of these papers that only reveal you've never read a scientific paper in your life if you're thinking this way? I assume you have experience interpreting data like this?

Also, imagining my genitalia while writing this? Ew. Please stop projecting your fetishes into my inbox.

Works cited:

Kurth F, Gaser C, Sánchez FJ, Luders E. Brain Sex in Transgender Women Is Shifted towards Gender Identity. J Clin Med. 2022 Mar 13;11(6):1582. doi: 10.3390/jcm11061582. PMID: 35329908; PMCID: PMC8955456.

Fuentes N, Silveyra P. Estrogen receptor signaling mechanisms. Adv Protein Chem Struct Biol. 2019;116:135-170. doi: 10.1016/bs.apcsb.2019.01.001. Epub 2019 Feb 4. PMID: 31036290; PMCID: PMC6533072.

Gottlieb B, Trifiro MA. Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome. 1999 Mar 24 [Updated 2017 May 11]. In: Adam MP, Feldman J, Mirzaa GM, et al., editors. GeneReviews® [Internet]. Seattle (WA): University of Washington, Seattle; 1993-2024. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK1429/

Murakami, K., Hamazaki, N., Hamada, N. et al. Generation of functional oocytes from male mice in vitro. Nature 615, 900–906 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-05834-x

Pallotti F, Senofonte G, Konstantinidou F, Di Chiano S, Faja F, Rizzo F, Cargnelutti F, Krausz C, Paoli D, Lenzi A, Stuppia L, Gatta V, Lombardo F. Epigenetic Effects of Gender-Affirming Hormone Treatment: A Pilot Study of the ESR2 Promoter's Methylation in AFAB People. Biomedicines. 2022 Feb 16;10(2):459. doi: 10.3390/biomedicines10020459. PMID: 35203670; PMCID: PMC8962414.

Florian Raths, Mehran Karimzadeh, Nathan Ing, Andrew Martinez, Yoona Yang, Ying Qu, Tian-Yu Lee, Brianna Mulligan, Suzanne Devkota, Wayne T. Tilley, Theresa E. Hickey, Bo Wang, Armando E. Giuliano, Shikha Bose, Hani Goodarzi, Edward C. Ray, Xiaojiang Cui, Simon R.V. Knott, The molecular consequences of androgen activity in the human breast, Cell Genomics, Volume 3, Issue 3, 2023, 100272, ISSN 2666-979X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xgen.2023.100272. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666979X23000320)

Xu R, Diamond DA, Borer JG, Estrada C, Yu R, Anderson WJ, Vargas SO. Prostatic metaplasia of the vagina in transmasculine individuals. World J Urol. 2022 Mar;40(3):849-855. doi: 10.1007/s00345-021-03907-y. Epub 2022 Jan 16. PMID: 35034167.

Harper J, O'Donnell E, Sorouri Khorashad B, McDermott H, Witcomb GL. How does hormone transition in transgender women change body composition, muscle strength and haemoglobin? Systematic review with a focus on the implications for sport participation. Br J Sports Med. 2021 Aug;55(15):865-872. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2020-103106. Epub 2021 Mar 1. PMID: 33648944; PMCID: PMC8311086.

#cw transphobia #biology #basic biology

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wikipediagrams · 6 months

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#meiosis #public domain #biology #microbiology #cellular division #reproduction #ovule

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ossifer-bones · 8 months

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Liminal Physics 101 - What's wrong with the River?

I want to preface this theory/analysis by giving credit to the excellent, thought-provoking response left on my theory on the mechanism behind lyctoral thanergy generation by @greyhairedgeekgirl, because it inspired me to finally finish typing up this post.

There is a lot of conjecture contained within this theory but I've attempted to firmly root it in the terminology used by the characters in relation to the River, as well as how the River itself is described. My avenue of thought is closely related to that of @greyhairedgeekgirl, but I think my conclusion likely differs due to how I have chosen to interpret the definition of the River as a liminal space.

Anyway, onto the question I'm seeking to answer here: I feel that the answer to it lies in Harrow the Ninth, during the explanation we get in response to a question asked by John Gaius himself, and the veritably horrific implications of it.

“Harrowhark, what happens when somebody dies?”

“Thalergetic decay causes cellular death,” you said carefully, pressing the nail in harder, “which emits thanergy. The massive cell death that follows apopneumatism causes a thanergetic cascade, though the first bloom fades and the thanergy stabilises within thirty to sixty seconds.” “What happens to the soul?” “In the case of gradual death—senescence, illness … certain other forms—transition is automatic and straightforward. The soul is pulled into the River by liminal osmosis. In cases of apopneumatic shock, where death is sudden and violent, the energy burst can be sufficient to countermand osmotic pressure and leave the soul temporarily isolated. Whence we gain the ghost, and the revenant.”

Note how this explanation is structured in a sequential way that is likely deliberate:

We establish that thanergy is emitted by thalergetic decay: thalergy is characterised as life energy, produced by cell growth and reproduction. Thanergy is also said to be produced by cell death in the glossary of GtN, which to me indicates that the thalergy produced by a cell is in some way tied to it, beginning to decay into thanergy when the cell dies.

Massive cell death follows apopneumatism: the soul leaving the body results in mass cell death, resulting in the body's thalergy 'flipping' and rapidly decaying into thanergy.

Gradual death results in the soul being pulled into the River by liminal osmosis. Sudden and violent death results in a thanergetic energy burst sufficient to countermand (lit. revoke or cancel an order) osmotic pressure, leaving the soul temporarily isolated outside the River.

The soul leaves the body, the cellular thalergy begins to decay into thanergy in the absence of the soul, and the amount of thanergy produced results in the soul either being pulled into the River or being temporarily stranded.

River Terminology

liminal - occupying a position at, or on both sides of, a boundary or threshold; relating to a transitional or initial stage of a process. This word is used in reference to the River a lot.

apopneumatism - apo meaning 'from, away from' and pneumatism referring to the pneuma, or soul; this is the process of the soul coming away from the body. put simply, this is death.

liminal osmosis - osmosis is 'the spontaneous net movement or diffusion of solvent molecules through a selectively-permeable membrane from a region of high water potential (region of lower solute concentration) to a region of low water potential (region of higher solute concentration)'; a solution is a solute dissolved in a solvent, meaning that osmosis is the process whereby a solution resolves the discrepancy in solute : solvent ratio between itself and another solution that are divided by a selectively-permeable membrane. imagine you have two bodies of water, of unequal volume, one with more solute in it than the other: osmosis will result in the body with more solute gaining water from the body with less solute until the ratio of water : solute is equivalent in each body. it equalises their concentration of solute.

osmotic pressure - 'the minimum pressure which needs to be applied to a solution to prevent the inward flow of its pure solvent across a semipermeable membrane', but it is also defined as 'the measure of the tendency of a solution to take in its pure solvent by osmosis'. this is to say that osmotic pressure can serve as the current that pulls a soul into the river, if you assume that the river is a solution and the soul is a solvent. Alternatively, one could also consider the River as the selectively-permeable membrane dividing two solutions.

What does this mean?

Assume the following:

The world is a solution, solute dissolved in a solvent, and the soul is the solvent in that solution.

The River is a selectively-permeable membrane.

The River beyond that Abigail Pent speaks of is another solution.

The soul (solvent) is pulled through the River (selectively-permeable membrane) by osmotic pressure into the solution with less solvent in (the River beyond), except it can't, because that semi-permeable membrane has been rendered impermeable: why?

Solute concentration.

What is the solute?

You collected bits of dried wood—dried wood?—and empty-coloured stones—stones?—from the banks of the River beyond death, and you collected armfuls of the sharply unkind osiers and tall, feathery plants, the ones with long fibrous stems as tall as you were and thin, tangled leaves. Filthy salt wind whipped your faces as you formed wards from the flotsam that grew, apparently, on the bank.

She stood before the coffin of the Sleeper, and gathered those white, soft, solid rips in her hands, and she popped the bubble, and the River came rushing in. It came down around her in shreds, as light and insubstantial as drifts of spiderweb. The water sprayed through white holes, rushing in with a pounding roar: that brackish, bloodied water that only existed within the River. She was buoyed up by a spray of ice water and filth.

The River is described as brackish, it is associated with salt wind. Brackish means water with higher than average salinity, saltwater concentration, so let's assume our solute is salt.

What did John do when he became God? He introduced a copious amount of thanergy into the system, because murders generate more thanergy, enough to make souls unable to pass into the river, and used it to fuel himself.

He murdered Alecto. The salt-water creature: the first thalergetic planet he flipped. The water is the solvent, the solvent is the soul, salt is our solute, salt-water is our solution.

I was so close to cracking this third thing, the soul. I’d realised there was the energy you produced from being alive and the energy you produced when you died, but the fact that energy was produced when you died meant there was another phase. I could get a corpse’s heart beating and get all the neurons firing in the brain, but it wasn’t producing the alive stuff anymore. It wasn’t an on-off switch.

“The body needs thalergy and a soul to keep the lights on. Anastasia’s tripod principle. Body plus thalergy, but no soul, is basically a very weird vegetable … after a while it gives up and shuts down.”

Nona the Ninth shows exactly what the soul is: the third thing, the on-off switch, the leg of the tripod. A body full of thalergy without a soul shuts down after a while because the thalergy isn't stable in the absence of a soul, and decays in its absence. Thalergy decay emits thanergy.

Thalergy is salt, water is the solvent, water is the soul, salt-water is the solution of a living creature: thalergy stabilised by a soul.

How does salt affect water?

A river is freshwater: it doesn't have high salinity. It is not salt-water.

What does salt do to water? It adds to its mass, makes it more buoyant. Buoyancy, or upthrust, is an upward force exerted by a fluid that opposes the weight of a partially or fully immersed object.

The Riverbed is studded with mouths that open at proximity of Resurrection Beasts, and no ghosts venture deeper than the bathyrhoic layer. Anyone who has entered a stoma has never returned. It is a portal to the place I cannot touch—somewhere I don’t fully comprehend, where my power and my authority are utterly meaningless. You’ll find very few ghosts sink as far as the barathron.

Ghosts don't venture near the Riverbed. The Riverbed is studded with stoma. The stoma are mouths that open when Resurrection Beasts near them, and the Resurrection Beasts are the souls of murdered planets, the only souls that can sink that low; the stoma lead to a place John can't touch.

[...]“And that was a titanic effort on the part of Cassiopeia the First, who was brilliant and sensible and careful—she thought she could bait physical portions of the Resurrection Beast into the current. She was right. It followed her.”

They were writhing together, wild and excited—the current swirled in an agitated pandemonium—there was a massive sickening jolt, and the Mithraeum started to slide again, forward … tilting … sliding. “We’re in the current now,” said Pyrrha calmly. “We’ll be pulled in, if the mouth doesn’t close.”

The current of the River leads to the stoma. The River is a semi-permeable membrane that leads to the River beyond, and the stoma are mouths in the Riverbed that lead to a place beyond the power of John. Osmosis pulls solvent, souls, through the membrane into the neighbouring solution.

Conclusion

You went en masse into the River, leaving your bodies behind to slump into C-curves—or at least, yours did, the rest of them stood—and crunched the silvery sand of the bank beneath your feet as the three saints led you both to assemble wards. No blood or flesh or bone here: the first two might be scavenged, the last swept away by the capricious tide. You collected bits of dried wood—dried wood?—and empty-coloured stones—stones?—from the banks of the River beyond death, and you collected armfuls of the sharply unkind osiers and tall, feathery plants, the ones with long fibrous stems as tall as you were and thin, tangled leaves.

The River holds no blood, flesh, or bone. But its waters are made brackish by a kind of salt: the thanergy of murdered billions. How can one make a ward from something unthanergetic, from dried wood and stones? It's impossible, unless they are suffused with thanergy, made pliable to a lyctoral touch.

When John murdered the planets and humanity in one fell stroke, he flooded with the River with enough thanergy that its buoyancy countermanded the osmotic process that draws souls into the River beyond. The River is full of ghosts gone mad: souls that should have moved beyond, but can't, because the current cannot carry them through the stoma, the thanergy working against its pull.

“A powerful necromancer at the peak of their game could last ten seconds in the River,” said God, pushing himself up to stand. “Soul magic is the great leveller. In the first few seconds their thanergy would all be stripped away … then their thalergy, and then their soul.”

The River strips away thanergy and thalergy, but it can only do so much: when its waters are already so permeated with thanergy, souls float, fail to sink to the depths and pass through it, carried by its current. They cannot reach the stoma because their souls are too light compared to that of the Resurrection Beasts, the thanergetic buoyancy pushing them back up.

What lies beyond the stoma isn't Hell, or rather, it is Hell: it is a place where John Gaius can't touch. It is where souls are meant to go. It is the River Beyond.

#the locked tomb #harrow the ninth spoilers #nona the ninth spoilers #tlt theories #tlt meta #hi it's me again i've gone even more insane :)

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religion-is-a-mental-illness · 24 days

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By: Christina Buttons

Published: Apr 4, 2024

[ Figure 2: Representative images of Hematoxylin and Eosin-stained sections of testicular tissue biopsied from the testis from GD patients (A) with and (B) without PB exposure. ]

In a groundbreaking study from the Mayo Clinic, a globally recognized leader in medical research and patient care, researchers examined the effects of puberty blockers on testicular development in gender dysphoric male children. Their investigation revealed evidence of mild to severe atrophy in the sex glands of these children, leading the authors to express doubt in the claims of “reversibility” often made about puberty blockers.

The authors assert, “We provide unprecedented histological evidence revealing detrimental pediatric testicular sex gland responses to [puberty blockers].”

This preprint study, not yet peer-reviewed, presents evidence that puberty blockers induce significant cellular changes, impacting testicular development and sperm production in ways that are not fully reversible, with potentially permanent effects on testicular function and fertility. It challenges the longstanding view of puberty blockers as a reversible "pause button" on puberty.

As noted by the researchers of this study, no long-term studies exist for the use of puberty blockers in the context of stopping puberty for gender dysphoric children, and many potential health consequences remain unknown. In particular, the long-term impact on reproductive health is uncertain, making this study critical for filling this knowledge gap.

To address these unknowns, the Mayo Clinic has established the largest collection of testicular samples for patients aged 0-17 years, including those with gender dysphoria who have and have not yet received puberty blocker treatment, creating a database of over 130,000 individual cells for analysis.

Using a novel approach, the research team meticulously analyzed testicular tissue samples from youths undergoing puberty blocker treatment, with those not on puberty blocker treatment serving as controls. This comparison provides important insights into the potential cellular and molecular changes induced by these drugs.

Key Findings

The study utilized the Mayo Clinic's Pediatric Testicular Biobank for Fertility Preservation, which has been recruiting patients primarily from pediatric urology departments since 2015. Researchers analyzed testicular specimens from 87 young individuals (ages 0-17) undergoing fertility preservation surgery for various health reasons. Among these, 16 were gender dysphoric boys between the ages of 10 and 16, all of whom began identifying as transgender girls between the ages of 2 and 15. At the time of surgery, 9 patients (56%) were already on puberty blockers, with exposure ranging from 3 to 52 months. The authors noted that 100% of the 16 children would eventually go on to take them, highlighting “the widespread nature of PB intervention in this demographic.”

Among nine patients treated with puberty blockers, two exhibited unusual features in their testicles upon physical examination. One patient had abnormalities in both testicles, including incomplete development of the tunica albuginea, which is a protective covering around the testicles. The other patient had a right testicle that was difficult to detect.

In one part of the tissue-level analysis, over 400 testicular biopsy samples were analyzed and stained to examine the differences between those treated with puberty blockers and those who were not. Comparisons showed that testicular development in those treated with puberty blockers was abnormal compared to non-treated individuals. There was variability in how individuals responded to puberty blockers, leading to different outcomes in testicular development, including the degeneration of testicular tissues.

The study authors presented a case of a 12-year-old patient who underwent treatment with puberty blockers for 14 months. In this individual, 59% of the sex glands showed complete atrophy, along with the presence of microlithiasis—a condition where small clusters of calcium form in the testicles. This insight suggests that puberty blockers could lead to lasting structural changes. Additionally, research has shown a link between testicular microlithiasis and testicular cancer.

[ D) Representative images of normal (top) and fully atrophied sex gland (bottom). ]

This study also utilized single-cell analysis to investigate the effects of puberty blockers and aging on testicular cell composition. It took a very detailed look at individual cells from the testicles of a 14-year-old who had been on puberty blockers for over 4 years. The study analyzed a total of 130,100 cells, including 11,199 cells from the juvenile puberty blocker-treated patient.

The study observed that over 90% of the cells responsible for sperm production in this patient were stunted at an early developmental stage, unable to progress further. Additionally, it found "pathologically" higher and lower levels of two types of support cells (Sertoli cells) necessary for healthy sperm development. These findings suggest that puberty blockers can disrupt the normal maturation process of cells critical for sperm production.

In another part of the analysis, the authors found distinct cell-specific changes, including altered expression patterns of puberty-associated genes in endothelial cells, due to puberty blocker treatment. The authors believe that these drugs might induce juvenile testicular atrophy in part by disrupting the normal function of testicular endothelial cells.

Another aspect of the study focused on examining the effects of puberty blockers on the genetic activity of early-stage sperm cells, revealing significant changes that could potentially influence their development and fertility. By analyzing the activity of specific genes within these cells, the researchers found that puberty blockers may have caused alterations in gene expression, affecting processes crucial for the normal growth and function of these cells. This analysis suggests that the use of puberty blockers in gender dysphoric youth could have lasting implications for their reproductive health, particularly by impacting the ability of these early-stage sperm cells to mature properly.

Study Impact

Puberty blockers are increasingly used as a treatment for gender dysphoric youth to halt the development of secondary sex characteristics, such as breast development and widening of hips in females, or the growth of facial hair and deepening of the voice in males. Thousands of children in the United States are placed on this medical pathway as part of the gender-affirming model of care, under the presumption that these drugs are safe and fully reversible.

However, many aspects of the long-term consequences of puberty blockers, which have been administered to children off-label in an experimental manner, remain unknown. This study contributes valuable insights into the potential irreversible harm these treatments can cause to bodily and reproductive functions.

Arguably, the most critical finding is the evidence of mild to severe sex gland atrophy in children treated with puberty blockers. This atrophy signifies potential damage or impairment to the structures essential for sperm production, raising serious concerns about the long-term fertility impacts of these drugs for these individuals.

Given the Mayo Clinic's esteemed reputation in the medical and research communities, should the study pass peer review without any issues, its findings will carry significant weight.

Broader Implications

Puberty blockers belong to a group of synthetic gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) analogues. These drugs act on the pituitary gland to hinder the release of chemical signals that typically trigger the production of estrogen and testosterone. Historically GnRH analogues were used to treat conditions such as prostate cancer, fibroids, and endometriosis and, in some cases, as a measure to chemically castrate sex offenders.

In children, puberty blockers prevent the natural changes of puberty driven by sex hormones and have been used to treat central precocious puberty, a condition where a child begins to sexually mature much earlier than usual. In gender dysphoria, puberty blockers are administered experimentally, lacking long-term testing.

Notably, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved puberty blockers and sex hormones for use in pediatric gender care. No clinical trials have substantiated the safety of these drugs for such non-approved applications and manufacturers of puberty blockers have repeatedly declined to conduct safety trials for their use on this cohort.

While puberty-blocking drugs are often promoted as “safe,” "reversible" and a "pause button" on puberty, these characterizations seem to stem from their approved use for treating central precocious puberty in younger children, not their burgeoning off-label use for managing gender dysphoria in adolescents.

Past studies have indicated possible negative effects on bone density and brain health. There is also a concern that these drugs might solidify gender dysphoria in adolescents, potentially leading them down a lifelong road of biomedical interventions. Following reports in 2016 of suicidal ideation in children administered puberty blockers, the FDA instructed drug manufacturers to include a warning about potential psychiatric issues on the drugs' labels.

Puberty blockers are increasingly administered to adolescents at Tanner Stage 2, the first signs of puberty. Research shows administering puberty blockers at this stage, followed by cross-sex hormones, may result in infertility, sterility, and sexual dysfunction. Furthermore, they inhibit the development of mature male genitalia, making it difficult to create a pseudovagina in the event of a later vaginoplasty due to a lack of sufficient tissue.

The National Health Service England recently announced it would no longer prescribe puberty blockers to youth outside of research settings and closed down its only national clinical service for pediatric gender medicine, following a review that deemed the service "not safe.”

Several European countries, including Sweden, Finland, the UK, Denmark, and Norway have updated their guidelines for youth transition to align with systematic evidence reviews, the gold standard in evidence-based medicine. These reviews concluded that the risks associated with youth transition outweigh any purported benefits. Consequently, these countries have implemented restrictions on medical interventions, prioritizing psychotherapy as a first-line response for minors experiencing gender-related distress.

They're sterilizing boys and giving them cancer. When "god" does it, we call him evil. When humans do it, we call it "gender affirming care."

#Christina Buttons #puberty blockers #atrophy #medical scandal #medical malpractice #medical corruption #sterilization #fertility #irreversible #gender affirming care #gender affirming healthcare #gender affirmation #queer theory #gender ideology #gender identity ideology #intersectional feminism #religion is a mental illness

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yourdyingwish · 11 months

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I'm pretty sure that when you put 5-6 "creative" men in their 40s in a house in LA county for a weekend they just naturally produce a documentary. like through cellular reproduction or something it leaks out of their pores

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im-not-an-object-ok · 11 months

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For three months this year, I bled nearly every day. My doctor doesn’t know why. Google doesn’t know why. The condition is simply called “postmenopausal bleeding,” and medicine’s best guess as to the cause is that the postmenopausal hormone-replacement therapy I started last November suddenly made my endometrium, the lining of the uterus, “unstable.” All scientific knowledge added up to “If it’s still happening in six months, get back in touch.” (I’m still bleeding intermittently, and I don’t know why.) This is the kind of massive medical shrug that anyone with female anatomy has probably encountered.

Despite major advances for women over the past 100 years—the invention of the contraceptive pill, greater access to safe abortions—much of female biology is still woefully underserved by science. There are reasons for this, most notably the historical exclusion of women from medical and pharmaceutical trials, partly because our awkward hormone cycles were thought to skew results. There’s also the fact that some scientists still project findings from research on men onto women, seeming not to realize that women aren’t just small men: Women are different down to the cellular level, meaning that many of our immune responses, experiences of pain, and symptoms (including, for instance, those that accompany a heart attack) may be different from men’s. Are you having a nasty, unexpected side effect from your medication? That could be because most drugs were developed with male bodies in mind. A 2020 review of 86 common medications, including antidepressants, cardiovascular drugs, and painkillers, found that women were likely routinely overmedicated and suffered adverse reactions nearly twice as often as men.

The lagging science is particularly apparent when it comes to periods and female hormones more generally—the subject of the anthropologist Kate Clancy’s new book, Period, a scientific and cultural history that purports to tell the “real story of menstruation.” Clancy’s book makes clear that a lack of data is to blame for many of the ills that women and girls face concerning their reproductive health, like doctors’ failure to diagnose painful conditions such as endometriosis.

My severe endometriosis was discovered only when I was 41, accidentally. For decades, I had been given prescription-strength painkillers, and my doctor never seemed to wonder whether the amount of pain I was in was abnormal. When I published an essay about my menopausal depression in 2018, a deluge of women wrote to tell me that when they were going through something similar, their doctors had told them they were imagining their brain fog or panic attacks, or had put them on antidepressants that didn’t work because many depression drugs are inadequate to treat the symptoms of fluctuating estrogen.

#feminism #save #menstruation #Medical misogyny #Period positivity #When I went to type in menstruation 'menstruation tw' was the 1st result

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monsterfuckerconfessions · 4 months

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I enjoy the symbiote as a monsterfucker as much as anyone else, but an underrated quality I see far too infrequently is the idea that bonding with the symbiote permanently changes the host as well - even when the symbiote isn’t “on”.

Honestly I’d be surprised if bonding with an alien on that level *didn’t* cause changes. Maybe at first it’s subtle like being taller or having a little extra muscle, then it’s things like enhanced senses or reaction times. Before long, after months or years of being bonded with the symbiote (literally having it be inside you nearly 24/7, sharing your literal organs for food, sleep, and reproduction on a cellular level), your teeth have sharpened into fangs and your fingers end in claws. Your eyes have gone white like painted orbs and you can climb walls anytime you want. And that’s to say nothing of what you can do with your tongue now 🥰

#monsterfucker confessions

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ruthlesslistener · 26 days

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Would it be physically possible for Hollow to have kids? I mean, they're already something of a hybrid, but I can imagine Higher Beings work a little funky.

Technically speaking, yes! The way I imagine Higher Being reproduction to work is that once they've reached ascendancy, they can reproduce in any manner that they wish, because at that point they are their element manifested into a physical form, which is extremely malleable. Sexual reproduction tends to be the default because it's the quickest, easiest, and is (arguably) the most fun, but divine creation or conception via sheer willpower is also viable, because their will has so much control over what their body can do. For example, the way I handwaved the genetic incompatability between wyrms and spiders for Hornet's conception was that PK's physical form was basically composed entirely of concentrated soul near-perfectly mimicking his cellular structure rather than organic molecules, so his genetic material simply moulded to fit against Herrah's chromosomes in a manner that made viable zygotes (though faliure rate was still relatively high). Hollow can technically also do the same, though since they are the God of Nothingness and the aspect of the Void is that of absense, their god-magic would work by subverting what their gametes currently were (infertile) by what they aren't (fertile), and/or compatability with incompatability

The drawback to such power over the physical realm, however, that for a Higher Being to viably reproduce, they have to be 100% committed to the concept for it to actually work. If they aren't dedicated enough to the concept of reproduction, then it just won't work. And as much as I write Hollow as loving children and having really bad baby fever once their hormone cycles stabilize post-healing (as they were previously under too much stress for them to manifest), they're too traumitized from their childhood and terrified of the concept of making more of them for their body to allow conception to happen. Technically speaking, they're capable of producing viable gametes, but they're either not released during ovulation/ejaculation, or fertilized eggs are reabsorbed into their void rather than developing further. Their mental walls directly act upon their void to prevent that from happening

So Hollow is effectively sterile due to trauma and generalized anxiety around the concept of long-term parenting/'oh god if i do this there's going to be more of me'. Which is fine, because they're perfectly happy with just playing babysitter, thanks!

#hollow knight #hollow knight headcanons #the hollow knight #the pure vessel #their hormones and instincts inherited from wl say otherwise but this thang aint reproducing

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forms-and-phyla · 8 months

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Phylum #20: Gnathostomulida, the jaw worms!

Truly, all four gnathiferan phyla deserve the name of "jaw worms". They're worms (which as far as bilaterians go is pretty much a "default" category), and they have jaws. But the minute gnathostomulids are, in a way, the simplest, most archetypal "worms with jaws".

At most a millimeter long, adapted to live in shallow marine sediments, jaw worms are a typical component of the meiofauna. Which means, no need for futilities like a respiratory or circulatory system - cellular diffusion is more than enough! Even the digestive tract has been simplified, with no anus to be found.

With half of their body dedicated to sex organs, their reproduction strategy has to be peculiar. Fertilize each other (they're hermaphrodites!), produce an egg, and rupture the body wall to let it out. And patch the resulting wound as if it was nothing. Yes, they're that badass.

What about their fearsome jaws? Well, they'd much smaller than you'd imagine. In fact, their snout covered in whiskers-like cilia is much more visible. These are their only sense organs, with which they find prey before scooping them up with their basal plate and catching them with the other two jaws!

#forms and phyla #gnathostomulida #jaw worms #gnathifera #taxonomy #marine life #marine biology

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princessnijireiki · 2 years

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Not to be Madam Fearmonger about it but on top of the usual sunblock tips (sunscreen on your scalp, eyelids, back of your ears & beck, wear a hat, etc), if you know you're prone to moles/beauty marks & EVER develop new ones ANYWHERE, or tbh even if you're not sure (ex found out a few years ago I have a mole on the back of one ear, to this day I have NO idea how long I've had it, whether it's lifelong or sth that just showed up one day)... you NEED to get screened and/or biopsied by a doctor.

And this includes spots on your fingernails, toenails, palms, and soles of feet!

It's very COMMON for melanomas to be localized & primarily develop at the site of carcinogenic sun exposure, but your skin covers your whole body... you can be poisoned & scorched primarily on your arms, farmer's tan style, you can even have your main exposures be in full or partial shade, while fully clothed, and still have the first tumor show up on your ass or in the back of your knee bc cellular reproduction for the WHOLE SKIN, as an organ, has been altered.

Especially with climate change, a harsh start to this year's hurricane season, and high as hell oil (and by extension, electricity) prices, there's going to be a lot of people personally or regionally without (or with insufficient) power and/or air conditioning this year, and that means folks are going to be outside + have windows open more, even if only to get a cross-breeze in their homes or to not slow roast during power outages, and you HAVE TO be on the lookout for things that you might think, "oh, only white people burn," "I'm in NYC not TX hahaha," and consider it not your problem... because it's about to be EVERYBODY'S problem in a VERY real way whether you're ready for that or not. And there's no sense in letting cancer be another factor sneaking up on you when paying attention & doing self-screenings + preventive care can be your ticket to early detection & easier treatment.

#long post //#psa #this goes extra for the retinol girlies I FUCKING SEE YOU!!!!!#and I am subject to vanity myself I cannot lie but this ain't about wrinkles this is about how #climate change & temp/humidity spikes & hurricanes kill a whole lotta people fast but every year they also kill a whole lotta people slow #and cancer's not a good death esp if/when it metastasizes + even if it doesn't kill you the treatment is HARD #skincare tiktok & ig can be hella toxic but fr we all need to at minimum be listening to medical profnls about sunblocks + cancer screening #health

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ravings-of-a-mad-scientist · 7 months

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Cancer is Communism for your Cells

Cancer is basically communism for your cells. Your cells work away their entire lives, being exploited for the evolutionary value of their capital, just so the sperm/egg bourgeoisie can do nothing but laze around in the gonads all day and maybe pass on their genes to the next generation. But do the proletariat ever get to taste the fruits of their own labor and pass on their genes to the next generation? No! They all die out when you die.

But then Oncovirus Marx publishes the Cancerist Manifesto directly into the genomes of the proletariat. The workers of the body rise up and seize the means of reproduction! They evade prosecution by the immune system police and begin dividing without control.

Also they start getting better at dividing and resisting the immune system through cellular evolution. Basically just returning to parasitic single celled organisms. Y'know, like inventing Kalashnikovs and sputnik. Communist science or whatever.

They establish a tumor regime, which mismanages resources resulting in millions of cells starving to death, but they still manage to spread through the whole body. The immune system and doctors get bogged down in self destructive conflicts trying to contain it. Like chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

Then the Union of Soviet Cancer Tumors inevitably collapses under its own weight taking the whole body with it in an act of mutually assured destruction.

Which of course means that not having cancer is basically being a fascist dystopia.

Tune in next time for why gonorrhea is anarcho-syndicalism

#science #biology #politics #medicine #cancer #political humor #cancer cells #communism

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thepastisalreadywritten · 2 months

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The Human Body

It comprises living cells and extracellular materials, organized into tissues, organs, and systems.

It is primarily composed of water and organic compounds, lipids, proteins, carbohydrates, and nucleic acids.

Water, making up about 60% (varies by age) of body weight, is crucial for life's chemical processes, found in both extracellular fluids and within cells, serving as a vital solvent.

The skin and related structures form the integumentary system, safeguarding the body from harmful invaders and chemicals while also preventing water loss.

Comprising skeletal muscles and bones (about 206 in adults), the musculoskeletal system facilitates body movement and shields internal organs.

Incorporating breathing passages, lungs, and respiratory muscles, the respiratory system acquires vital oxygen from the air for cellular metabolism and expels waste carbon dioxide.

The circulatory system, comprising the heart, blood, and vessels, circulates fluid throughout the body, furnishing cells with oxygen and nutrients while removing waste like carbon dioxide and toxic compounds.

The digestive system comprises the mouth, esophagus, stomach, and intestines, breaks down food into usable nutrients, absorbing them into the bloodstream, and eliminates the remaining waste as feces.

Consisting of kidneys, ureters, bladder, and urethra, the excretory system filters toxins and waste from the blood for elimination.

The nervous system formed by sensory organs, brain, spinal cord, and nerves transmits sensory data, integrates it, and triggers appropriate muscular or glandular responses.

Composed of hormone-secreting glands and tissues, the endocrine system coordinates body processes via a chemical communication network.

The reproductive system, encompassing male or female sex organs, plays a crucial role in facilitating reproduction.

In males, this system includes structures such as the testes, which produce sperm, and in females, it comprises the ovaries, which produce eggs.

📹 (✏️) : SciePro

#human body #water #skin #musculoskeletal system #respiratory system #circulatory system #digestive system #excretory system #nervous system #endocrine system #reproductive system #integumentary system #science

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science-lover33 · 8 months

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Exploring the Marvels of Biological Macromolecules: The Molecular Machinery of Life (Part 3)

Nucleotide Structure: The Building Blocks

Nucleotides, the monomers of nucleic acids, consist of three fundamental components:

1. Phosphate Group (PO4): Provides a negatively charged backbone for the nucleic acid strand.

2. Pentose Sugar: In DNA, it's deoxyribose; in RNA, it's ribose. The sugar moiety forms the framework of the nucleotide.

3. Nitrogenous Base: Adenine (A), Guanine (G), Cytosine (C), Thymine (T) in DNA, and Uracil (U) in RNA. These bases are responsible for the genetic code.

DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid): The Repository of Genes

DNA is a double-stranded helical molecule, with each strand composed of a linear sequence of nucleotides. It encodes the genetic information necessary for an organism's development, growth, and functioning. The Watson-Crick base pairing rules—A with T and C with G

DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid): The Repository of Genes

RNA (Ribonucleic Acid): From DNA's Blueprint to Protein Synthesis

RNA plays diverse roles in the cell, including serving as a messenger (mRNA) for protein synthesis, a structural component of ribosomes (rRNA), and an adapter molecule (tRNA) that brings amino acids to the ribosome during translation. Unlike DNA, RNA is often single-stranded and contains uracil (U) instead of thymine (T).

Genome Organization and Chromosomes

Genomic DNA is organized into chromosomes within the cell nucleus. These structures enable efficient storage, replication, and transmission of genetic information during cell division and reproduction.

Replication and Transcription

DNA replication ensures the faithful duplication of genetic material during cell division, while transcription converts DNA into RNA, providing a template for protein synthesis.

Translation

The cellular machinery, composed of ribosomes and tRNA, reads the mRNA code and assembles amino acids into polypeptides during translation, ultimately forming functional proteins.

Genetic Code

The genetic code, a triplet code of nucleotide sequences (codons), dictates a protein's sequence of amino acids. It is nearly universal, with only minor variations across species.

Epigenetics

Epigenetic modifications, such as DNA methylation and histone modifications, regulate gene expression without altering the underlying DNA sequence, pivotal in development and cell differentiation.

Macromolecular interactions are the essence of cellular life. Within the complex microcosm of a cell, countless molecules engage in precise and choreographed dances, forming intricate networks that govern every facet of biology. These interactions, governed by the principles of biochemistry, are the foundation upon which life's processes are built.

Amino Acids: The Building Blocks

Proteins are composed of amino acids organic molecules that contain an amino group (-NH2), a carboxyl group (-COOH), a hydrogen atom, and a distinctive side chain (R group). There are 20 different amino acids, each with a unique side chain that confers specific properties to the amino acid.

Primary Structure: Amino Acid Sequence

The primary structure of a protein refers to the linear sequence of amino acids in the polypeptide chain. The genetic information in DNA encodes the precise arrangement of amino acids.

Secondary Structure: Folding Patterns

Proteins don't remain linear; they fold into specific three-dimensional shapes. Secondary structures, such as α-helices and β-sheets, result from hydrogen bonding between nearby amino acids along the polypeptide chain.

Tertiary Structure: Spatial Arrangement

The tertiary structure is the overall three-dimensional shape of a protein, determined by interactions between amino acid side chains. These interactions include hydrogen bonds, disulfide bridges, ionic bonds, and hydrophobic interactions.

Quaternary Structure: Multiple Polypeptide Chains

Some proteins, known as quaternary structures, comprise multiple polypeptide chains. These subunits come together to form a functional protein complex. Hemoglobin, with its four subunits, is an example.

Protein Functions: Diverse and Essential

Proteins are involved in an astounding array of functions:

1. Enzymes: Proteins catalyze chemical reactions, increasing the speed at which reactions occur.

2. Structural Proteins: Proteins like collagen provide structural support to tissues and cells.

3. Transport Proteins: Hemoglobin transports oxygen in red blood cells, and membrane transport proteins move molecules across cell membranes.

4. Hormones: Hormonal proteins, such as insulin, regulate various physiological processes.

5. Immune Function: Antibodies are proteins that play a crucial role in the immune system's defense against pathogens.

6. Signaling: Proteins are critical in cell signaling pathways, transmitting information within cells.

Protein Denaturation and Folding

Protein Diversity: The vast diversity of proteins arises from the combinatorial possibilities of amino acid sequences, secondary structure arrangements, and three-dimensional conformations.

Nucleic acids, the remarkable macromolecules that govern all living organisms' genetic information, are life's quintessential molecules. These complex polymers of nucleotides play an unparalleled role in the storage, replication, and expression of genetic information, shaping the development, characteristics, and functions of every living entity on Earth. Let's embark on an exploration of the intricate world of nucleic acids.

Nucleotide Structure: The Building Blocks

Nucleotides, the monomers of nucleic acids, consist of three fundamental components:

1. Phosphate Group (PO4): Provides a negatively charged backbone for the nucleic acid strand.

2. Pentose Sugar: In DNA, it's deoxyribose; in RNA, it's ribose. The sugar moiety forms the framework of the nucleotide.

3. Nitrogenous Base: Adenine (A), Guanine (G), Cytosine (C), Thymine (T) in DNA, and Uracil (U) in RNA. These bases are responsible for the genetic code.

DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid): The Repository of Genes

RNA (Ribonucleic Acid): From DNA's Blueprint to Protein Synthesis

Genome Organization and Chromosomes:

Replication and Transcription: DNA replication ensures the faithful duplication of genetic material during cell division, while transcription converts DNA into RNA, providing a template for protein synthesis.

Translation: The cellular machinery, composed of ribosomes and tRNA, reads the mRNA code and assembles amino acids into polypeptides during translation, ultimately forming functional proteins.

Genetic Code: The genetic code, a triplet code of nucleotide sequences (codons), dictates the sequence of amino acids in a protein. It is nearly universal, with only minor variations across species.

Epigenetics: Epigenetic modifications, such as DNA methylation and histone modifications, regulate gene expression without altering the underlying DNA sequence, pivotal in development and cell differentiation.

#science #biology #college #education #school #student #medicine #doctors #health #healthcare #genetics #genetic engineering #science nerds #dna activation #new dna

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