Cool X-Ray Video of What Happens Anatomically During Speech

Voice is sound production. Speech is what ultimately comes out the mouth after the sound is modified by the tight coordination among the throat muscles, palate, tongue, lips, teeth, etc. An example of a voice problem is hoarseness. A speech problem would be stuttering, or nasal-sounding words, or mumbling.

Speech researcher Christine Ericsdotter precisely captured the intricate movements of the tongue, lips, pharynx and jaw during speech using a rapid-fire X-ray.

Check out the video she created here!

This link provides a cartoon animation of how each sound in the English language is produced from an anatomical standpoint.

Taking Tylenol and Ibuprofen Also Has A Potential Risk of DEATH!

The New York Times in July 6, 2009 published an interesting article regarding the potentially fatal risk of taking tylenol and ibuprofen. The story titled "Reasons Not to Panic Over a Painkiller" states that tylenol (due to liver damage) kills about 400 people and hospitalizes about 42,000 every year in the United States. Ibuprofen is even worse. More than 100,000 Americans are hospitalized each year with complications associated with ibuprofen and an additional 15,000 to 20,000 die from ulcers and internal bleeding linked to their use.

The reason I am mentioning these facts with such a ubiquitous medication like tylenol and ibuprofen is because many patients have a distorted sense of what is risky and what is not. I had one parent who refused to give her child zyrtec or benadryl for severe allergies as she did not want to "add poison to her child's body." Though such sentiment is usually laudable (and in some cases, even encouraged by me), in these particular cases, it's odd to say the least, mainly because she was giving her child repeated doses of motrin and tylenol for symptom relief. As far as I know, zyrtec and benadryl has not killed anyone. Tylenol and motrin have... many times.

There are many other such examples, but it is always nice to have in perspective that even supposedly "safe" medications really aren't safe if taken improperly.

Read the NYT story here to read more about the risks of tylenol and ibuprofen.

Machine Gun Sneezing

ABC News on November 11, 2009 aired a story about a 12 year old girl with an unfortunate condition called "machine gun sneezing". Apparently, she sneezes up to 16 times a minute all day except while sleeping and started after recovering from a mild cold.

To be frank, it's a condition I've never seen before.

Per an allergist interviewed for this story, the condition is extremely rare and "can be triggered by hundreds of causes, including allergies, sinus problems, or growths in the nasal passage."

Read more here. A video of the report can also be found at the link.

A personal thought of mine, the absence of sneezing during sleep suggests a psychogenic or habitual process. It might not have started out that way, but with all the attention, which is now national, there may be positive feedback from all the doting, to perpetuate the problem.

NYT: Single Gene Mutation Allows Humans to Talk and Not Animals

In the Nov 11, 2009 New York Times Science section, a story has been published titled "Speech Gene Shows Its Bossy Nature" where a single gene known as FOXP2 has been found to be responsible for speech (or lack thereof). All animals have an FOXP2 gene, but the human version’s product differs at just 2 of its 740 units from that of chimpanzees, suggesting that this tiny evolutionary fix may hold the key to why people can speak and chimps cannot.

Read more of the story here.

Google Flu Shot Finder

The brainy folks at Google has been at it again... Not only did they produce a map showing the flu trends in the US... but now they have produced a Flu Shot finder based on zip code for both seasonal as well as H1N1 vaccines. The locations are displayed on their Google Maps page.

Check it out here!

McGovern Nipple for Infants Born Unable to Nasally Breathe

I recently received a phone call regarding a newborn who the pediatrician suspected had bilateral choanal atresia. This is a situation in which the infant is not able to breath through the nose. This inability to nasally breath is a major problem because newborns are obligate nasal breathers (newborns do not know how to mouth-breath unless they are crying).

As such, there are two options to immediately perform in order to allow a newborn to breath to stay alive. Intubate... or place a McGovern Nipple. A McGovern Nipple is made by (see picture below):

1) Cutting off the tip of the nipple used in a milk-bottle creating a hole about 1cm in size. Try to preserve as much length as possible!
2) Inserting the nipple into the newborn's mouth
3) Placing a surgical mask such that the mask part is behind the baby's head and using the strings to keep the nipple in place inside the infant's mouth.

This forces the newborn to mouth-breath. Without this contraption, the child will literally suffocate.

I have specifically created this blog article because I had a lot of problems trying to find a picture of this contraption to show the pediatrician. Hopefully, this will make it easier for others to figure out what the heck a McGovern Nipple is and how to make and use one.

The only way to definitively correct this problem is by surgically removing the blockage that is blocking the infant's nasal passage.



Source:
Cummings Otolaryngology Head & Neck Surgery 4th Ed. Chapter 178: Congenital Malformation of the Nose. Volume 4, Page 4101.

RANDOM: Washington Post Cartoon Making Fun of ENT

A patient of mine brought the funnies from the Oct 28, 2009 Washington Post of a cartoon by John McPherson poking fun at ENT.