A mess of heart tees from over at Rumplo. Our faves include, from left to right, these bomb grenade hearts by T-post, a t-shirt magazine out of Sweden; a really truly giant heart by Design by Humans; and this coffee-powered heart by Ffee.
Slightly less anatomical, but still interesting, are the above offerings from Graniph, with the plug-in pink heart and casette tape heart. In the middle, we have a sweet vein-y heart by Rosa Loves. Nice!
Hysterectomies are such a common way of solving lady-part woes that the idea of a uterus transplant sounds totally foreign. Oddly enough, the uterus transplant, while rare now, might become more commonplace in the future. We can only imagine how difficult it would be to transplant such a blood-vessel rich organ, and that’s only the beginning of the trouble with this particular transplant. The first uterus transplant, performed in Saudi Arabia in the year 2000, was rejected after 99 days because of major blood clotting. Weirdly enough, the woman who received the transplant was 26 years old, and her donor was a 46 year old woman with a history of ovarian cysts who was advised to have a hysterectomy (uh, correct me if I’m wrong, but if one doctor says to take it out, maybe don’t transplant it into someone else?). On those days when one feels like ripping out her uterus with a fork, the idea of a uterus transplant actually sounds pretty good. {photo courtesy of the Washington Post}
This super-gorgeous plush heart actually pulsates and thumps loudly when shaken. We heart the vein-y details. Cute and cuddly like your own heart, yet, unlike your heart, needs AAA batteries. Available via Nucleus Gallery and ThinkGeek online.
According to Money magazine, the second best job in America is being a physician’s assistant. Forget the office woes and wrangling with insurance, and just get the benefits of helping people and, let’s face it, pretty good money and lots less schooling. Considering the shortage of nurses and doctors, PAs are also very much in demand. Time to crack those books!
If your love enjoys chocolates in the shape of open wounds found on corpses in the morgue, then these chocolates, created by conceptual artist Stephen Shanabrook, are for you. Pretty fantastically gross. I don’t really want to know how he got those molds made in the first place. {via Street Anatomy}
Love this gutsy poster by Dora Drimalas! We always like it when someone includes the ol’ kidneys. {via Shelterific}
As if we hadn’t already guessed that soft drinks are lousy for your organs, a new study links soda drinking to pancreatic cancer, pretty much one of the worst cancers you can get. According to the University of Minnesota study, it’s all about the sugar. Researchers followed 60,524 folks in Singapore over 14 years, and found that those who drank more than two sodas a day increased their risk for pancreatic cancer by 87%. Scientists not involved with the study warn that cigarette smoking may also have something to do with it (Singaporeans are big puffers). Considering what diet soda does to your kidneys, it’s safe to say that sticking to less than two soft drinks a day is better for ya. {via US News and World Report}
The body has some wonderfully-named nooks and crannies, including, but not limited to, the pancreas’ islets of Langerhans, the part of the pancreas that contains endocrine cells. Lately we’ve been entranced by the sphincter of Oddi, a region of the duodenum in the lower stomach where digestive juices –mainly bile from the gallbladder and pancreatic juices — like to collect, socialize and digest. Even odder? The juices flow through something called the ampulla of Vater. We imagine most of the body’s naming rights were claimed long ago by the likes of Paul Langerhans, Ruggero Oddi and Abraham Vater, but I wouldn’t be suprised if pharmaceutical companies starting branding yet-unclaimed body parts. Pfizer Phagocytes or GlaxoSmithKline Glia anyone?
File this under terrible afflictions with really funny names: hypersensitivity pneumonitis is also known as hot tub lung, known as it is for being contracted in unclean jacuzzis. Let’s hope mycobacterium avium intracellulare, the bacterium that cause the condition and thrive in super-hot water, aren’t growing inside your favorite hot tub. Via Radiology Picture of the Day.
Fun and free thyroid and spleen e-cards available for all your friends and family having not-so-fun thyroidectomy and splenectomy procedures. We’ve also got a vasectomy sympathy card with happy testicles and a pair of high-fiving kidneys to give to someone generous to donate his or her own kidney. Don’t see the special guts-related e-card you need? Let us know and we’ll try to make something special.
