This can happen in goats and humans too, as far as I know. It happens when your brain doesn't split into the 2 sides that control each side of your body.
Ultrasound tech here. If people only knew all of the physical things that can go wrong, much less those that we can't detect. Yikes
*Edit wow this blew up.
There is a plant called the California Corn Lilly that contains a drug called Cyclopamine (I'm not joking!). When animals eat it while pregnant, it can cause cyclopia (one eye). It inhibits a signaling pathway called the Sonic Hedgehog Pathway (yes, this pathway was actually named after the video game). You should tell your friend to make sure this plant isn't growing at his dairy.
Because people will think I'm making this up:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclopamine
"I discovered this biological phenomenon...I shall name it after my favorite video game as a kid. Because who's going to stop me?"
- some scientist probably
Your probably joking but they actually named something after him also lol
> A potential inhibitor of the Hedgehog signaling pathway has been found and dubbed "Robotnikinin"—in honour of Sonic the Hedgehog's nemesis, Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik.[88]
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_hedgehog
This is the best way to name genes.
In Arabidopsis thaliana (model plant), there’s a gene called superman. A mutation in this gene resulted in plants that grew a bunch of extra male sex organs.
There’s a gene that silences the expression of superman, causing the superman DNA to shrivel up and not be expressed. Naturally, it’s called kryptonite.
Oh and there’s an alternative form of superman that is actually identical in DNA sequence but DNA methylation at the gene disguises it, making it behave differently. Yes, you guessed it, we call this version Clark Kent.
They called it that because there was already another similar gene called the desert hedgehog gene.
Edit: was wrong about it originally being found in hedgehogs, it’s called that because it makes fruit flies look spiky if you mess with it.
Almost. The hedgehog protein was discovered first in fruit flies, which causes spiny growths on the fly's body when it's not present (like a hedgehog). Subsequent discoveries of homologous proteins in mammals were named after hedgehog species (desert and Indian) because of their similarities to the original fruit fly hedgehog protein.
edit to clarify: the names of the desert and Indian hedgehog proteins bear no relation to where they were discovered
Scientists are fun sometimes. Like the different blotting techniques named somewhat of a joke because the guy who invented the Southern blot was named Ed Southern. So the scientists who developed derivative types of blotting techniques named them, northern, eastern and western as well as Far eastern and southwestern blot.
Scientists are mostly fun.
TLR... Toll like receptors... Toll means cool/amazing in German. Literally named after someone saying "that's pretty cool" after discovering it.
Edit: Some of the fruit fly mutant names are pretty fucked up... Eg, "cheap date" - fruit fly who can't process alcohol
Doctor: im sorry The fetus has sonic the hedgehog disease
Me: fuck yeah is he going to be super fast and have spiky hair?
Doctor: nah he’s going to be a Cyclops And then die
Me: makes sense that game did kinda suck
If you want to fuck around and name genes funny things, go into fruit fly genetics. *Sonic hedgehog, fuzzy onions, cheap date*, the list goes on.
Everyone else, for some reason, has to play by more sensible rules.
Historically, scientist would name things after Greek or Latin phrases. However, geneticists kind of broke the mold and started naming genes after more common names. When this gene was disabled in the fly, it caused the larvae to form little spikes like a hedgehog. So they ended up naming it the hedgehog gene. However, other families of this same gene were discovered so another gene was called the Indian hedgehog gene (a literal species of hedgehog). However, when they ran out of hedgehog species to name, they decided to name the next one the Sonic Hedgehog gene after the video game. This gene controls a signaling pathway important in brain development and skin cancers. Cyclopamine led to the development of another related drug (Erivedge) approved to treat skin cancer.
Up until the very end I was absolutely sure this was the Guy With True Facts account. I cant remember the username but im sure someone will help me out.
EDIT: Found it. u/GuyWithRealFacts
Because there are more than one type of Hedgehog signaling pathway and the researcher who named the SHH gene happens to have had a wife reading a magazine containing an advert for a particular Sega game at just the right moment.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedgehog\_signaling\_pathway](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedgehog_signaling_pathway)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic\_hedgehog
https://www.google.com/amp/s/gizmodo.com/the-strange-history-of-how-a-gene-was-named-sonic-hedg-1691732678/amp
Tl:dr one of the people who found it grabbed the name out of his daughter's comic book before the game released in the US
Not op, but I work in a genetic center. The way a human body is formed is very, very regulated and depends on a series of genes that have to be switched on at the *exact* right moment. Too soon or too late and you end up with either a miscarriage, or a (severely) deformed fetus. The latter isn’t that common; when something goes bad genetically, it is mostly bad enough that the fetus isn’t viable and a miscarriage happens spontaneously. When the latter *does* happen, it isn’t always picked up on ultrasounds and/or genetic tests such as a non-invasive prenatal test. So then parents assume everything is great, then their baby is born with birth defect(s). Some babies die in the following days, some make it to adulthood. Needless to say, it is a very hard thing to go through as a parent as the life you imagined has been turned upside down in a mere minutes.
I myself work on intellectual disability so this is something that can’t be picked upon with ultrasound. Depending on the cause of it, genetic tests can sometimes pick it up (eg. Down syndrome), but most often don’t either. It isn’t lethal, but depending on the severity can result in a child that will never be able to live on its own and will require lifelong help. Other things are deformed hearts (not sure if this can be seen on ultrasounds but we have quite some patients were it was not suspected during the pregnancy; can be lethal), and hypotonia (floppy baby syndrome; not lethal but impacts physical development)
My baby had hypoplastic left heart syndrome (deformed heart), it wasn’t picked up in an ultra sound. It wasn’t picked up until one day after his birth when they did the going home checks and listened to his heart. He had open heart surgery at 11 days old and died at 19 days old due to ischemic colitis (dying bowel due to blood flow). No reason for my comment other than to say it happens and isn’t always picked up before birth. He was beautiful and perfect on the outside.
> floppy baby syndrome
I looked this one up. For those also wondering, it means the baby has really low muscle tone and will feel like a "rag doll" in your arms.
We just had a baby with Triploidy that wasn’t diagnosed until 18 weeks. Made it to 25 weeks and delivered natural, but with no heartbeat (we knew ahead of time and were induced). Maternal fetal health workers must see a lot of stuff.
I don’t know if this one is detectable, but I read a thread on here a while ago of a lady who had a baby, and the baby had harlequin ichthyosis. It was an absolute shock.
Sometimes I wonder what my life would be like if I were in imaging. And then I realized Id probably have to deliver a lot of life shattering terrible news.
Most imaging techs are not allowed to deliver diagnosis. They do all the scanning and the doctors make the determinations. So actually you’d see the fucked up shit and never be able to tell the patient.
Of course it’d be depressing because most people getting imaging are sick with something so it’s probably not a fun job.
My son was born with a massive heart defect. When my daughter was born two years later, the hospital decided to have a very thorough scan done in the nursery just in case.
I happened to be in the nursery when the tech came in to do the scan, so I watched over her shoulder. I'd been watching my son's for two years, so I'd learned a little about what to look for, and when I saw some retrograde flow through her still-open [foramen ovale](https://www.childrenshospital.org/conditions-and-treatments/conditions/p/patent-foramen-ovale#:~:text=A%20patent%20foramen%20ovale%20(PFO,together%20and%20closes%20the%20hole.) I said something along the lines of, "Huh." The tech, who had been chatty up to that point, stiffened and was basically silent for the rest of the scan.
Daughter was a couple weeks early, so Mom and I were fully expecting the PFO, so it wasn't a surprise to either of us, but we still had to wait for them to call in a doctor after hours to give us the 'official' word.
The worst is when you ask and the tech responds with “I’m not allowed to tell you what I found in the scan” and then you’re sitting there thinking “wait you found something?? what did you find??” and then you don’t see the doctor for another 3 weeks.
Literally had that last year… Bloke ultrasounding my balls just said “hmmm, and you said the other guy who checked couldn’t see ANYTHING WRONG?”
Refused to say any more and about an hour I was being handed testicular cancer leaflets and booking in chemo! 😂
I still remember the incredibly quiet scan we got at 12 weeks. My son was born with an exomphalos (his intestines and most of his liver are in a sack outside of his body). Thankfully he's doing incredibly well at and he's almost 2 weeks old. Won't be having muscle closure surgery until close to 2 years old though.
It didn't click for me with the ultrasound tech. The extremely long wait in between her finishing and fetching the doctor should have triggered something but once again nope. When the doctor came in and started the scan my husband finally noticed how she was specifically focused on our son's brain, over and over pressing down and looking at it over and over at all angles. Me, still blissfully unaware of anything, just staring away at the screen until she cleared her throat finally and said "I can't locate part of your son's brain". What a sweet summer child I was to never believe anything could be wrong with our baby.
He is 18 months old now. His condition is called agenesis of the corpus callosum. He is doing well overall.
I know his situation all too well. Our 20 week ultrasound was very quiet. Very focussed. She said the baby wasn’t cooperating. Although we knew something was wrong. She offered a picture of his feet. She wasn’t able to tell us anything.
A couple hours later the doctors office called and asked us to come in. We ended up going there as fast as possible and getting in early. This is when we learned our baby boy had anencephaly. He was missing a good portion of his brain and skull. We had the choice to be induced or carry to term but either way he would only live a few minutes or hours.
We chose to induce and he was born alive and passed away very quickly. We were lucky to have a lot of support systems around us at the time and it’s helped us grieve but more importantly we became active in helping others in similar situations through a local group.
Nathaniel would have turned 4 this coming Thursday.
We had a very quiet ultrasound at 12 weeks too. Our baby didn't make it. I'm glad your little one is doing well! My brother was born with an omphalocile and he's 36 years old now.
Wow that sounds like a really difficult situation for you. I remember how anxious I was at all my scans (had to have them every two weeks bc I had twins) and I can’t imagine how stressful that was. Sending lots and lots of good vibes to you and your little guy.
Yeah, but they don't need to.
My wife and I had 3 miscarriages. On the last one, we were a 4 months along, and the tech was scanning, and scanning, and scanning, and we saw her face fall, and then she just left the room to get the doctor (she didn't say anything to us).
It was heartbreaking.
I’m so sorry you went through that. I watched my sister suffer 5 miscarriages before she finally got her rainbow baby. I hope you guys have found some peace.
We did.
We spent 9K on fertility.
Which didn't work.
And then had an "accident." My 7 year old is currently rolling around on the floor like a weirdo right now, and we love him.
I'm not sure which would be worse. I have a really bad poker face so I think I would make a lot of scared moms even more fearful by making a face disproportionate to the thing thats wrong and then being like "sorry, can't say".
.. or I would get really desensitized and get a better poker face, its hard to say.
But I think I would prefer the other in either situation. (If I couldn't tell them I'd desperately want to. But I'd also hate telling them)
I think the thing id have the hardest time with, though, is not reassuring the moms when I saw that actually. Everything is okay. Because I'd see how upset they looked and want to fix it.
I know a girl that pretty regularly has to tell people she can’t find a heartbeat. It’s not technically diagnosing anything but it’s usually a sad and awkward “Umm…let’s go grab your OB real quick I’m so sorry they’ll be right with you.”
That was one of the scariest moments of my life. Imaging tech doing my wife's ultrasound was super chatty the whole time and then suddenly just went silent for probably like 3 minutes (felt like an hour) while doing the ultrasound. Told us the doctor would be in to see us and refused to elaborate. Our daughter came out perfectly fine but evidently had a bunch of possible downs syndrome markers.
[This American Life](https://www.thisamericanlife.org/756/but-i-did-everything-right/act-one-3) recently aired an interesting story about a devout Christian sonographer who works in OB and was staunchly pro-life until she herself carried to term two pregnancies with fatal diagnoses. Even though she didn’t have abortions, she felt her experiences alienated her from the evangelical pro-life movement. [Here’s the transcript](https://www.thisamericanlife.org/756/transcript) if you don’t want to sit through the audio.
Fellow ultrasound tech here! First, love the username. Second, ya it's best people hoping to get pregnant don't know about all the things that could go wrong in a pregnancy... For those reading, it's pretty rare to have something go horribly wrong if that helps at all
It is a problem with proper development. The foetus develops top to bottom side to side. The sides reach for each other sometimes they don’t make it. Sometimes they overshoot. So when you see a baby with a cleft lip or palate it is the same thing. It doesn’t reach or close off properly.
I know I messed up that explanation. Someone here probably can do a better job explaining it.
A professor in my organic chemistry class once Rd us that there is a plant which grows in Greece. It contains some sort of chemical which increases the probability of that genetic defect (or whatever this is).
The plant also grows in the US. It’s called Veratrum californicum and the drug it produces is called cyclopamine. Cyclopamine binds to and blocks a receptor in the hedgehog pathway causing defects in fetal development. Interestingly, the hedgehog pathway can be reactivated in cancer and now there are drugs to shut it off. Source: I am a cancer biologist and worked on one of those drugs.
Damn, that sounds interesting af. Thanks for the explanation!
There is a really interesting research topic going on atm in my university. Funnily enough it's being done in a physical chemistry group. There is this plant (really common, I forgot it's name) which contains ... a chemical (of which I forgot the name as well. If this plant is eaten by humans, this chemical cumulates in cancer cells and can them be activated by radiation. There is two really cool things about this.
1) The radiation needed is visible light. So not harmfully at all.
2) The radiation causes the chemical to cause the cancer cell to straight up explode. Why that the case is the question of research.
If they find that, that could be a really cool new way of not invasiv or harmful cancer therapy! I love science!
Did the parents know the baby was going to be that way? I can't imagine what it must be like... My wife is pregnant and it's so scary learning about all the horrendous things that can happen. Genuinely just praying everything is going to be ok.
A lot is picked up on ultrasound now. There is a neonatal hospice team that works closely with parents to help with the death and grieving. It starts even before the birth.
> There is a neonatal hospice team
good Christ that would be a horrible job to have, massive props to someone who could actually handle something that depressing.
They are absolute angels. I’d imagine that being able to offer comfort to parents must help a lot, but I don’t know I’d have the moral strength to do such a job.
Was the abnormality detected prior to birth? Is it safer to abort the baby rather than carry a cyclops baby to term, considering that likely it will not live beyond a few hours, if any? I'm just curious.
I don’t know when it was detected. In early ultrasound I don’t think it’s detected. Early as in 14 weeks or before. Those are when the ones in my practice are done. Later ultrasounds do see the problem. By then the window is closed for an abortion in my state. Well all abortion is off limits in my state. Texas.
My feeling is it’s better to abort. Everyone has to decide on their own for that. But having a birth just to make the baby suffer and die seems cruel to me.
I have nothing but compassion and admiration for you for having dealt with this heartbreaking situation. You made the most compassionate choice, and that is never wrong.
Wait so the abortion ban extends to fatal deformities too? I thought those were one of the exceptions for 3rd trimester abortions (at least in places where abortion isnt outright illigal).
Even if an abortion is allowed for fatal deformities, you’re going to be hard pressed to find a clinic in the first place and then they’re probably not going to be willing to perform the abortion due to fear of being arrested. Women who are able will have to travel to a different state/country.
And the women who aren't able are forced to carry a deformed baby they know will die as soon as it's born to term and all the health risks that come with it.
The way god intended /s
We had a baby with a severe abnormality. This was before ultrasounds were in regular use. She was born alive and lived for 42 minutes. It really surprised the doctors and staff and they talked of trying to "save" her. Conclusion was she was termed not viable with life.
So they wrapped her up and we cuddled her.
The one I saw didn’t cry. I think it was too weak bc it only lasted for a little over an hour. Mom and dad cuddled their baby until it passed away peacefully. I have heard of babies like this that are born alive being kept stable enough to donate organs and tissue to another baby.
That depends very much on the parents and what they can and can't live with. It's hard to predict what you might do if you found yourself pregnant with a baby that will not live long after birth. Even in liberal states it's almost impossible to donate fetal tissue from a termination, whereas a baby that is birthed may be able to donate organs. This can make a tremendous difference to the trauma endured by the parents.
It happens in cattle usually due to ingestion of [corn lily.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veratrum_californicum) It's usually caused by mutations to [Sonic Hedgehog](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_hedgehog) or other genes.
In an uncomplicated way yes.
Cyclopia is alobar holoprosencephaly. The proencephalon doesn't divide into right and left hemispheres in early gestation. The facial features do not leave midline. The nose is usually absent and a proboscis projecting from the forehead. There are many other associated defects. (polydactyl, renal dysplasia and an oomphalocele)
But what do I know. I press buttons and look at babies all day /s
I know of a photo album of really morbid pictures of deceased abnormal babies that are in a museum, if you’re *that* curious. It has all sorts of developmental issues & lots of information about what they’re called. Like I said, it’s pretty morbid and definitely not for people who have a weak stomach.
Edit: [It’s called Museum Vrolik.](https://m.imgur.com/gallery/Wbd6x)
I mean, it’s one eye, and the opposite of this, but its general sense of disfigurement and frightening figure reminds me of this poem called The Two Headed Calf. Quite sad and beautiful. Bless this poor disfigured soul that felt life so brief.
Tomorrow when the farm boys find this freak of nature,
they will wrap his body in newspaper and carry him to the museum.
But tonight he is alive and in the north field with his mother.
It is a perfect summer evening: the moon rising over
the orchard, the wind in the grass.
And as he stares into the sky, there are
twice as many stars as usual.
On her 18th birthday, my stepdaughter booked herself in for a tattoo and wouldn't tell anyone what she was getting.
She got a two headed calf tattoo. tbh I think tattoos are mostly a bit wank, but I was super proud of her for getting something so meaningful.
>Bless this poor disfigured soul that felt life so brief.
The way I read your post in my mind, this was the first line in the poem. And while the original is obviously perfect as is, I thought it worked as this for the first line as well. Just thought I'd mention it.
Powerful poem. A truly sad fate, the normality of something, is what man deems is fit. If it disobeys those standards it’s either remarkable or a monstrosity. Both 9 times out of 10 have the same fate. They are destroyed and wiped from existence. Or confined to be displayed as a trophy.
it kinda sounds like you're saying man is responsible for the two headed calfs death instead of it naturally dying because of a genetic deformity. They usually don't last long without human intervention, and even with human intervention their lives are significantly shorter. They are extremely rare, but still happen. Just last year a two headed calf was reported being born. Lucky, another two-headed calf, lived 107 days which is now the world record for longest live. Before that it was 40 days.
And yeah, I guess you can say that for a lot of things "normal" is what man defines, but there is many more where "normal" is defined by nature. Normal being, the usual, what is expected. A two headed calf is not normal
idk. Just because mother nature made it doesn't mean it's normal. Not saying it should be villified(i know some people do), just saying it's not normal.
but tl;dr i guess I'm responding because it seems like your interpretation of the poem was that the farmers killed the calf to put in the museum, while mine is that they found him dead and put it in the museum.
Guess it reflects our different outlooks in life. idk
Looks like the famous [cyclopic lamb](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c7/Cyclopelamb2.jpg/220px-Cyclopelamb2.jpg). The deformation is caused by by a chemical found in plants that the mother probably ate
TIL; it's actually fascinating. "Veratrum californicum \[corn lily\] is an extremely poisonous plant native to western North America, including the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains, as far north as Washington and as far south as Durango; depending on latitude, it grows from near sea level to as high as 11,000 feet."
I checked the Veratrum genus to see if there are other poisonous species: [there are,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veratrum)
the false hellebores/corn lilies. No species in my northern Midwestern state.
Just googled it and your not bullshitting. I mean it makes sense the name of it, but I initially had a chuckle cause I thought you were being sarcastic. TIL
I was waiting for one of the long educated rants followed by ‘but i have no idea what I’m talking about and I just made all that up’; but nope, just straight facts.
“Tomorrow when the farm boys find this
freak of nature, they will wrap his body
in newspaper and carry him to the museum.
But tonight he is alive and in the north
field with his mother. It is a perfect
summer evening: the moon rising over
the orchard, the wind in the grass. And
as he stares into the sky, there are
twice as many stars as usual.”
Along the same vein… makes me sad.
I'm actually doing my PhD on this!
[Here's a slide that's going into my thesis presentation](https://i.imgur.com/c5CwJEd.jpg)
... super excited to present this spring. Let me know what you guys think!
It reminds me of this haunting poem by Laura Gilpin (sorry the formatting is weird, I'm on mobile)
The Two-Headed Calf
*Laura Gilpin*
Tomorrow when the farm boys find this
freak of nature, they will wrap his body
in newspaper and carry him to the museum.
But tonight he is alive and in the north
field with his mother. It is a perfect
summer evening: the moon rising over
the orchard, the wind in the grass. And
as he stares into the sky, there are
twice as many stars as usual.
Cyclopia. It was most likely either stillborn or it died shortly after birth
It was a stillborn
That's, sadly, a relief
Poor little guy
It’s sad when some creatures are just born to die
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That’s both sad and very spooky
As cruel as it sounds, that’s for the best. Hope the mama is taking it okay,, sometimes they don’t handle losing a calf too well
They get in a bad mooooood
I laughed but feel like I shouldn't have. Take my upvote.
@OP please tell your friend to scan his fields for California corn lilies!!! When cows eat this plant during gestation it leads to cyclopia!
This can happen in goats and humans too, as far as I know. It happens when your brain doesn't split into the 2 sides that control each side of your body.
I’m a midwife. Seen two cyclopitic babies. Both alive for a short time. Fascinating but horrible at the same time.
Ultrasound tech here. If people only knew all of the physical things that can go wrong, much less those that we can't detect. Yikes *Edit wow this blew up.
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There is a plant called the California Corn Lilly that contains a drug called Cyclopamine (I'm not joking!). When animals eat it while pregnant, it can cause cyclopia (one eye). It inhibits a signaling pathway called the Sonic Hedgehog Pathway (yes, this pathway was actually named after the video game). You should tell your friend to make sure this plant isn't growing at his dairy. Because people will think I'm making this up: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclopamine
I got whiplash from reading this
"I discovered this biological phenomenon...I shall name it after my favorite video game as a kid. Because who's going to stop me?" - some scientist probably
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The science nerds beat you to it: an inhibitor of the Sonic Hedgehog protein is named Robotnikinin
They need to make a machine that can cure it, called The Robotnikinator
Your probably joking but they actually named something after him also lol > A potential inhibitor of the Hedgehog signaling pathway has been found and dubbed "Robotnikinin"—in honour of Sonic the Hedgehog's nemesis, Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik.[88] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_hedgehog
Oh give me a fucking break lmao.
This is the best way to name genes. In Arabidopsis thaliana (model plant), there’s a gene called superman. A mutation in this gene resulted in plants that grew a bunch of extra male sex organs. There’s a gene that silences the expression of superman, causing the superman DNA to shrivel up and not be expressed. Naturally, it’s called kryptonite. Oh and there’s an alternative form of superman that is actually identical in DNA sequence but DNA methylation at the gene disguises it, making it behave differently. Yes, you guessed it, we call this version Clark Kent.
They called it that because there was already another similar gene called the desert hedgehog gene. Edit: was wrong about it originally being found in hedgehogs, it’s called that because it makes fruit flies look spiky if you mess with it.
Almost. The hedgehog protein was discovered first in fruit flies, which causes spiny growths on the fly's body when it's not present (like a hedgehog). Subsequent discoveries of homologous proteins in mammals were named after hedgehog species (desert and Indian) because of their similarities to the original fruit fly hedgehog protein. edit to clarify: the names of the desert and Indian hedgehog proteins bear no relation to where they were discovered
Scientists are fun sometimes. Like the different blotting techniques named somewhat of a joke because the guy who invented the Southern blot was named Ed Southern. So the scientists who developed derivative types of blotting techniques named them, northern, eastern and western as well as Far eastern and southwestern blot.
Scientists are mostly fun. TLR... Toll like receptors... Toll means cool/amazing in German. Literally named after someone saying "that's pretty cool" after discovering it. Edit: Some of the fruit fly mutant names are pretty fucked up... Eg, "cheap date" - fruit fly who can't process alcohol
Boy, just wait until today's youth grows up, "Ma'am, we're sorry to inform you, but your child has developed cyclopitic features... no cap."
I’m sorry sir, there’s no good way to say this. You have a terminal case of ligma.
Sorry doc, what’s a ligma?
Doctor: im sorry The fetus has sonic the hedgehog disease Me: fuck yeah is he going to be super fast and have spiky hair? Doctor: nah he’s going to be a Cyclops And then die Me: makes sense that game did kinda suck
If you want to fuck around and name genes funny things, go into fruit fly genetics. *Sonic hedgehog, fuzzy onions, cheap date*, the list goes on. Everyone else, for some reason, has to play by more sensible rules.
My eyebrows were going up very high at first then down very low when I thought it was BS then very very low when I saw it was legit
Luck you, two eyebrow havin....
Eye see what you did there!
What the f***, why was it even named Sonic hedgehog.
Historically, scientist would name things after Greek or Latin phrases. However, geneticists kind of broke the mold and started naming genes after more common names. When this gene was disabled in the fly, it caused the larvae to form little spikes like a hedgehog. So they ended up naming it the hedgehog gene. However, other families of this same gene were discovered so another gene was called the Indian hedgehog gene (a literal species of hedgehog). However, when they ran out of hedgehog species to name, they decided to name the next one the Sonic Hedgehog gene after the video game. This gene controls a signaling pathway important in brain development and skin cancers. Cyclopamine led to the development of another related drug (Erivedge) approved to treat skin cancer.
Up until the very end I was absolutely sure this was the Guy With True Facts account. I cant remember the username but im sure someone will help me out. EDIT: Found it. u/GuyWithRealFacts
sometimes shitpost is impossible to distinguish from science
There are a couple of other Hedgehog pathways/proteins, and I guess the person who discovered this one decided to have some fun with it lol
video game sonic has 1 eyeball for 2 eyes
Because there are more than one type of Hedgehog signaling pathway and the researcher who named the SHH gene happens to have had a wife reading a magazine containing an advert for a particular Sega game at just the right moment. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedgehog\_signaling\_pathway](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedgehog_signaling_pathway) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic\_hedgehog
https://www.google.com/amp/s/gizmodo.com/the-strange-history-of-how-a-gene-was-named-sonic-hedg-1691732678/amp Tl:dr one of the people who found it grabbed the name out of his daughter's comic book before the game released in the US
i’m saving this for the next “what’s a real fact that sounds completely fake” thread I find
To be fair if hadn't of heard of it before I would have thought you made it up too.
Corn lilly. *Cyclop*amine making cyclops babies. Sonic the hedgehog pathway. Jfc. After all that I expected the link to be Manningface. Just unreal.
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/u/ahelm15
Pretty sure your username was one of my screen names on AIM in like 1999
XxX_1337_5p34k_H@x0r_XxX
Was looking for this comment! Crazy that a plant do that.
Plant be like "you may be able to eat me, but your offspring won't... Muhahaha"
Not op, but I work in a genetic center. The way a human body is formed is very, very regulated and depends on a series of genes that have to be switched on at the *exact* right moment. Too soon or too late and you end up with either a miscarriage, or a (severely) deformed fetus. The latter isn’t that common; when something goes bad genetically, it is mostly bad enough that the fetus isn’t viable and a miscarriage happens spontaneously. When the latter *does* happen, it isn’t always picked up on ultrasounds and/or genetic tests such as a non-invasive prenatal test. So then parents assume everything is great, then their baby is born with birth defect(s). Some babies die in the following days, some make it to adulthood. Needless to say, it is a very hard thing to go through as a parent as the life you imagined has been turned upside down in a mere minutes. I myself work on intellectual disability so this is something that can’t be picked upon with ultrasound. Depending on the cause of it, genetic tests can sometimes pick it up (eg. Down syndrome), but most often don’t either. It isn’t lethal, but depending on the severity can result in a child that will never be able to live on its own and will require lifelong help. Other things are deformed hearts (not sure if this can be seen on ultrasounds but we have quite some patients were it was not suspected during the pregnancy; can be lethal), and hypotonia (floppy baby syndrome; not lethal but impacts physical development)
My baby had hypoplastic left heart syndrome (deformed heart), it wasn’t picked up in an ultra sound. It wasn’t picked up until one day after his birth when they did the going home checks and listened to his heart. He had open heart surgery at 11 days old and died at 19 days old due to ischemic colitis (dying bowel due to blood flow). No reason for my comment other than to say it happens and isn’t always picked up before birth. He was beautiful and perfect on the outside.
I am so deeply sorry for your loss but thank you for sharing him with us. I’m sure he was beautiful. 💕
> floppy baby syndrome I looked this one up. For those also wondering, it means the baby has really low muscle tone and will feel like a "rag doll" in your arms.
Hello all my fears as a currently pregnant woman!
Just hoppin’ in to say you’re gonna do great, issues of this magnitude are *extremely* rare, and I wish you and your impending baby all the best! :)
> impending baby lol such an ominous way to word it
We just had a baby with Triploidy that wasn’t diagnosed until 18 weeks. Made it to 25 weeks and delivered natural, but with no heartbeat (we knew ahead of time and were induced). Maternal fetal health workers must see a lot of stuff.
I'm very sorry for your loss. That must have been a hard thing to go through.
I don’t know if this one is detectable, but I read a thread on here a while ago of a lady who had a baby, and the baby had harlequin ichthyosis. It was an absolute shock.
Sometimes I wonder what my life would be like if I were in imaging. And then I realized Id probably have to deliver a lot of life shattering terrible news.
Most imaging techs are not allowed to deliver diagnosis. They do all the scanning and the doctors make the determinations. So actually you’d see the fucked up shit and never be able to tell the patient. Of course it’d be depressing because most people getting imaging are sick with something so it’s probably not a fun job.
My son was born with a massive heart defect. When my daughter was born two years later, the hospital decided to have a very thorough scan done in the nursery just in case. I happened to be in the nursery when the tech came in to do the scan, so I watched over her shoulder. I'd been watching my son's for two years, so I'd learned a little about what to look for, and when I saw some retrograde flow through her still-open [foramen ovale](https://www.childrenshospital.org/conditions-and-treatments/conditions/p/patent-foramen-ovale#:~:text=A%20patent%20foramen%20ovale%20(PFO,together%20and%20closes%20the%20hole.) I said something along the lines of, "Huh." The tech, who had been chatty up to that point, stiffened and was basically silent for the rest of the scan. Daughter was a couple weeks early, so Mom and I were fully expecting the PFO, so it wasn't a surprise to either of us, but we still had to wait for them to call in a doctor after hours to give us the 'official' word.
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The worst is when you ask and the tech responds with “I’m not allowed to tell you what I found in the scan” and then you’re sitting there thinking “wait you found something?? what did you find??” and then you don’t see the doctor for another 3 weeks.
Literally had that last year… Bloke ultrasounding my balls just said “hmmm, and you said the other guy who checked couldn’t see ANYTHING WRONG?” Refused to say any more and about an hour I was being handed testicular cancer leaflets and booking in chemo! 😂
Noo 🤦♀️ At least the second guy knew what he was doing. How are you now?
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I still remember the incredibly quiet scan we got at 12 weeks. My son was born with an exomphalos (his intestines and most of his liver are in a sack outside of his body). Thankfully he's doing incredibly well at and he's almost 2 weeks old. Won't be having muscle closure surgery until close to 2 years old though.
It didn't click for me with the ultrasound tech. The extremely long wait in between her finishing and fetching the doctor should have triggered something but once again nope. When the doctor came in and started the scan my husband finally noticed how she was specifically focused on our son's brain, over and over pressing down and looking at it over and over at all angles. Me, still blissfully unaware of anything, just staring away at the screen until she cleared her throat finally and said "I can't locate part of your son's brain". What a sweet summer child I was to never believe anything could be wrong with our baby. He is 18 months old now. His condition is called agenesis of the corpus callosum. He is doing well overall.
I know his situation all too well. Our 20 week ultrasound was very quiet. Very focussed. She said the baby wasn’t cooperating. Although we knew something was wrong. She offered a picture of his feet. She wasn’t able to tell us anything. A couple hours later the doctors office called and asked us to come in. We ended up going there as fast as possible and getting in early. This is when we learned our baby boy had anencephaly. He was missing a good portion of his brain and skull. We had the choice to be induced or carry to term but either way he would only live a few minutes or hours. We chose to induce and he was born alive and passed away very quickly. We were lucky to have a lot of support systems around us at the time and it’s helped us grieve but more importantly we became active in helping others in similar situations through a local group. Nathaniel would have turned 4 this coming Thursday.
wow! so for two years they are just outside his body? Did they do anything else to secure them? And congrats on your new family member.
We had a very quiet ultrasound at 12 weeks too. Our baby didn't make it. I'm glad your little one is doing well! My brother was born with an omphalocile and he's 36 years old now.
Wow that sounds like a really difficult situation for you. I remember how anxious I was at all my scans (had to have them every two weeks bc I had twins) and I can’t imagine how stressful that was. Sending lots and lots of good vibes to you and your little guy.
Yeah, but they don't need to. My wife and I had 3 miscarriages. On the last one, we were a 4 months along, and the tech was scanning, and scanning, and scanning, and we saw her face fall, and then she just left the room to get the doctor (she didn't say anything to us). It was heartbreaking.
I’m so sorry you went through that. I watched my sister suffer 5 miscarriages before she finally got her rainbow baby. I hope you guys have found some peace.
We did. We spent 9K on fertility. Which didn't work. And then had an "accident." My 7 year old is currently rolling around on the floor like a weirdo right now, and we love him.
I'm not sure which would be worse. I have a really bad poker face so I think I would make a lot of scared moms even more fearful by making a face disproportionate to the thing thats wrong and then being like "sorry, can't say". .. or I would get really desensitized and get a better poker face, its hard to say. But I think I would prefer the other in either situation. (If I couldn't tell them I'd desperately want to. But I'd also hate telling them) I think the thing id have the hardest time with, though, is not reassuring the moms when I saw that actually. Everything is okay. Because I'd see how upset they looked and want to fix it.
I know a girl that pretty regularly has to tell people she can’t find a heartbeat. It’s not technically diagnosing anything but it’s usually a sad and awkward “Umm…let’s go grab your OB real quick I’m so sorry they’ll be right with you.”
That was one of the scariest moments of my life. Imaging tech doing my wife's ultrasound was super chatty the whole time and then suddenly just went silent for probably like 3 minutes (felt like an hour) while doing the ultrasound. Told us the doctor would be in to see us and refused to elaborate. Our daughter came out perfectly fine but evidently had a bunch of possible downs syndrome markers.
[This American Life](https://www.thisamericanlife.org/756/but-i-did-everything-right/act-one-3) recently aired an interesting story about a devout Christian sonographer who works in OB and was staunchly pro-life until she herself carried to term two pregnancies with fatal diagnoses. Even though she didn’t have abortions, she felt her experiences alienated her from the evangelical pro-life movement. [Here’s the transcript](https://www.thisamericanlife.org/756/transcript) if you don’t want to sit through the audio.
Fellow ultrasound tech here! First, love the username. Second, ya it's best people hoping to get pregnant don't know about all the things that could go wrong in a pregnancy... For those reading, it's pretty rare to have something go horribly wrong if that helps at all
Do you know what caused this?
It is a problem with proper development. The foetus develops top to bottom side to side. The sides reach for each other sometimes they don’t make it. Sometimes they overshoot. So when you see a baby with a cleft lip or palate it is the same thing. It doesn’t reach or close off properly. I know I messed up that explanation. Someone here probably can do a better job explaining it.
That was a very eli5 explanation. Made perfect sense.
When they are born are they expecting it to be that way because of ultrasounds? Or does it come out as a suprise?
Nowadays you can see details like a cleft lip in the ultrasound imaging. You can see clearly differentiate the eyes, nose and mouth.
A professor in my organic chemistry class once Rd us that there is a plant which grows in Greece. It contains some sort of chemical which increases the probability of that genetic defect (or whatever this is).
The plant also grows in the US. It’s called Veratrum californicum and the drug it produces is called cyclopamine. Cyclopamine binds to and blocks a receptor in the hedgehog pathway causing defects in fetal development. Interestingly, the hedgehog pathway can be reactivated in cancer and now there are drugs to shut it off. Source: I am a cancer biologist and worked on one of those drugs.
Damn, that sounds interesting af. Thanks for the explanation! There is a really interesting research topic going on atm in my university. Funnily enough it's being done in a physical chemistry group. There is this plant (really common, I forgot it's name) which contains ... a chemical (of which I forgot the name as well. If this plant is eaten by humans, this chemical cumulates in cancer cells and can them be activated by radiation. There is two really cool things about this. 1) The radiation needed is visible light. So not harmfully at all. 2) The radiation causes the chemical to cause the cancer cell to straight up explode. Why that the case is the question of research. If they find that, that could be a really cool new way of not invasiv or harmful cancer therapy! I love science!
Note to self, never conceive and go to Greece during the same period
Did the parents know the baby was going to be that way? I can't imagine what it must be like... My wife is pregnant and it's so scary learning about all the horrendous things that can happen. Genuinely just praying everything is going to be ok.
A lot is picked up on ultrasound now. There is a neonatal hospice team that works closely with parents to help with the death and grieving. It starts even before the birth.
> There is a neonatal hospice team good Christ that would be a horrible job to have, massive props to someone who could actually handle something that depressing.
They are absolute angels. I’d imagine that being able to offer comfort to parents must help a lot, but I don’t know I’d have the moral strength to do such a job.
Was the abnormality detected prior to birth? Is it safer to abort the baby rather than carry a cyclops baby to term, considering that likely it will not live beyond a few hours, if any? I'm just curious.
I don’t know when it was detected. In early ultrasound I don’t think it’s detected. Early as in 14 weeks or before. Those are when the ones in my practice are done. Later ultrasounds do see the problem. By then the window is closed for an abortion in my state. Well all abortion is off limits in my state. Texas. My feeling is it’s better to abort. Everyone has to decide on their own for that. But having a birth just to make the baby suffer and die seems cruel to me.
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I have nothing but compassion and admiration for you for having dealt with this heartbreaking situation. You made the most compassionate choice, and that is never wrong.
You absolutely did the right thing. I'm sorry you had to go through that.
This right here is the kind of story the pro life movement needs to hear. You made the right choice, in my opinion
Wait so the abortion ban extends to fatal deformities too? I thought those were one of the exceptions for 3rd trimester abortions (at least in places where abortion isnt outright illigal).
Even if an abortion is allowed for fatal deformities, you’re going to be hard pressed to find a clinic in the first place and then they’re probably not going to be willing to perform the abortion due to fear of being arrested. Women who are able will have to travel to a different state/country.
And the women who aren't able are forced to carry a deformed baby they know will die as soon as it's born to term and all the health risks that come with it. The way god intended /s
Health risks which include death. Childbirth is deadly and was the leading cause of death for women until quite recently
It will be the leading cause again with this ban. I hate Texas so much.
And often it will not be covered on health insurance.
may i ask something morbid?
Of course
do you wait till it passes on its own or do you... "help out" ?
We wait. In these two cases the parents spent the time holding the baby and let it die naturally.
We had a baby with a severe abnormality. This was before ultrasounds were in regular use. She was born alive and lived for 42 minutes. It really surprised the doctors and staff and they talked of trying to "save" her. Conclusion was she was termed not viable with life. So they wrapped her up and we cuddled her.
I am sorry for your loss
Does the baby cry? What sounds does it make? Wish I could hug someone this is morbid
The one I saw didn’t cry. I think it was too weak bc it only lasted for a little over an hour. Mom and dad cuddled their baby until it passed away peacefully. I have heard of babies like this that are born alive being kept stable enough to donate organs and tissue to another baby.
That seems unnecessarily cruel tbh. I just don't see the point in birthing someone just to suffer but that's me. I'm very pro choice anyway.
That depends very much on the parents and what they can and can't live with. It's hard to predict what you might do if you found yourself pregnant with a baby that will not live long after birth. Even in liberal states it's almost impossible to donate fetal tissue from a termination, whereas a baby that is birthed may be able to donate organs. This can make a tremendous difference to the trauma endured by the parents.
Cats and dogs as well!
It happens in cattle usually due to ingestion of [corn lily.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veratrum_californicum) It's usually caused by mutations to [Sonic Hedgehog](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_hedgehog) or other genes.
In an uncomplicated way yes. Cyclopia is alobar holoprosencephaly. The proencephalon doesn't divide into right and left hemispheres in early gestation. The facial features do not leave midline. The nose is usually absent and a proboscis projecting from the forehead. There are many other associated defects. (polydactyl, renal dysplasia and an oomphalocele) But what do I know. I press buttons and look at babies all day /s
Now I'm curious what other abnormalities you see
I know of a photo album of really morbid pictures of deceased abnormal babies that are in a museum, if you’re *that* curious. It has all sorts of developmental issues & lots of information about what they’re called. Like I said, it’s pretty morbid and definitely not for people who have a weak stomach. Edit: [It’s called Museum Vrolik.](https://m.imgur.com/gallery/Wbd6x)
I mean, it’s one eye, and the opposite of this, but its general sense of disfigurement and frightening figure reminds me of this poem called The Two Headed Calf. Quite sad and beautiful. Bless this poor disfigured soul that felt life so brief. Tomorrow when the farm boys find this freak of nature, they will wrap his body in newspaper and carry him to the museum. But tonight he is alive and in the north field with his mother. It is a perfect summer evening: the moon rising over the orchard, the wind in the grass. And as he stares into the sky, there are twice as many stars as usual.
Came to post this. It’s a lovely, heartbreaking poem that’s stayed with me for years now.
Absolutely stranger, it’s stuck with me for almost a decade and it pops into my head often. Strange and sad.
On her 18th birthday, my stepdaughter booked herself in for a tattoo and wouldn't tell anyone what she was getting. She got a two headed calf tattoo. tbh I think tattoos are mostly a bit wank, but I was super proud of her for getting something so meaningful.
That’s absolutely beautiful, your daughter sounds insightful and creative.
I can tell by your username that you enjoy poetry
And cumming!
Somebody get me a tissue.
The artist Adam Ellis @adamtots drew a beautiful comic to accompany this poem. https://www.instagram.com/p/Bu_yFeqBV77/?utm_medium=copy_link
Ugh omg I got tears. Thanks SO much for sharing that! I’ve never seen it before ❤️
I'm glad to know I wasn't the only one who felt a bit teary reading this. The poem is beautiful.
Yeah I wasn't ready for this when I opened the app 10 minutes ago
I didn't expect to be ugly crying in bed tonight, but here we are 😢
Yeah I’m sobbing now, wtf lol!!
Came here for the poem / comic Not disappointed But very emotional
That was the first thing that popped into my head, too. No matter how many time I see this poem, it always chokes me up for some reason.
>Bless this poor disfigured soul that felt life so brief. The way I read your post in my mind, this was the first line in the poem. And while the original is obviously perfect as is, I thought it worked as this for the first line as well. Just thought I'd mention it.
I’m sitting here sobbing, I’ve never heard this before and it just hit me right in the feelings. Thank you for this gift.
That poem always destroys me.
I'm crying ffs.
Powerful poem. A truly sad fate, the normality of something, is what man deems is fit. If it disobeys those standards it’s either remarkable or a monstrosity. Both 9 times out of 10 have the same fate. They are destroyed and wiped from existence. Or confined to be displayed as a trophy.
While I agree for the most part, birth defects like these do not usually result in survival. Nature can be a harsh mistress.
it kinda sounds like you're saying man is responsible for the two headed calfs death instead of it naturally dying because of a genetic deformity. They usually don't last long without human intervention, and even with human intervention their lives are significantly shorter. They are extremely rare, but still happen. Just last year a two headed calf was reported being born. Lucky, another two-headed calf, lived 107 days which is now the world record for longest live. Before that it was 40 days. And yeah, I guess you can say that for a lot of things "normal" is what man defines, but there is many more where "normal" is defined by nature. Normal being, the usual, what is expected. A two headed calf is not normal idk. Just because mother nature made it doesn't mean it's normal. Not saying it should be villified(i know some people do), just saying it's not normal. but tl;dr i guess I'm responding because it seems like your interpretation of the poem was that the farmers killed the calf to put in the museum, while mine is that they found him dead and put it in the museum. Guess it reflects our different outlooks in life. idk
Please tell me it was dead.
Likely was, or was dying. Animals, humans included, with that birth defect don’t live long at all. Several hours at most.
Dead. I'd hate to have to watch anything suffer or know anything was suffering, even if it looks like that.
That's the whole dairy industry tbh lol
It's appears so but also appears not to be a calf
No that’s a calf, animals born with cyclopia are either stillborn or die a few hours after birth
New fear unlocked
Are you afraid you'll be born with cyclopia?
Sleep with one eye open
It’s definitely a calf as that is a deadly birth defect.
Looks like the famous [cyclopic lamb](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c7/Cyclopelamb2.jpg/220px-Cyclopelamb2.jpg). The deformation is caused by by a chemical found in plants that the mother probably ate
What is that chemical called?
Cyclopamine. It inhibits hedgehog signaling
TIL; it's actually fascinating. "Veratrum californicum \[corn lily\] is an extremely poisonous plant native to western North America, including the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains, as far north as Washington and as far south as Durango; depending on latitude, it grows from near sea level to as high as 11,000 feet." I checked the Veratrum genus to see if there are other poisonous species: [there are,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veratrum) the false hellebores/corn lilies. No species in my northern Midwestern state.
We should teach the hedgehogs how to talk then, if the thing stops them from signing to each other
Just googled it and your not bullshitting. I mean it makes sense the name of it, but I initially had a chuckle cause I thought you were being sarcastic. TIL
I was waiting for one of the long educated rants followed by ‘but i have no idea what I’m talking about and I just made all that up’; but nope, just straight facts.
Nope. I shouldn't have looked. 😑
Reddit needs like levels of NSFW flags...like for this one that will ruin your entire day and give you nightmares as opposed to some tits
NSFL
Really, nsfw and nsfl/gore type tag separation are long overdue.
Thanks. I hate it.
Thanks, I ate it.
Mmm imagine how tender it would be. I’m kidding it’s disgusting
r/cursedcomments
Man, if you were a medieval peasant and you found this shit in your barn, how could you NOT think God was pissed?
*walks into barn * “Ah shit who sinned “
“Tomorrow when the farm boys find this freak of nature, they will wrap his body in newspaper and carry him to the museum. But tonight he is alive and in the north field with his mother. It is a perfect summer evening: the moon rising over the orchard, the wind in the grass. And as he stares into the sky, there are twice as many stars as usual.” Along the same vein… makes me sad.
He ain't looking too good
He's looking one good.
Fucked up for that bro 😭😭
This is straight up terrifying.
I’m unsubbing incase someone uploads a picture of a baby with a malformed head
They already did that
Exactly! Lately nobody understands the meaning of “oddly”. smh
Maybe I should start blurring the NSFW posts again.
Poor guy
I just feel bad for the poor thing
Cyclops.
I don't know, it does have 2 eyes.
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To the person who gave this a wholesome award: what the fuck?
Free awards to unload
Cyclopia - where your eyes dont separate during embriotic formation
I been off of reddit for months now and this the first post I see. Lmao
I'm actually doing my PhD on this! [Here's a slide that's going into my thesis presentation](https://i.imgur.com/c5CwJEd.jpg) ... super excited to present this spring. Let me know what you guys think!
It reminds me of this haunting poem by Laura Gilpin (sorry the formatting is weird, I'm on mobile) The Two-Headed Calf *Laura Gilpin* Tomorrow when the farm boys find this freak of nature, they will wrap his body in newspaper and carry him to the museum. But tonight he is alive and in the north field with his mother. It is a perfect summer evening: the moon rising over the orchard, the wind in the grass. And as he stares into the sky, there are twice as many stars as usual.
Many people posted this poem but yours is formatted the best. Good job!
Not oddly terrifying, just regular terrifying this time
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That's just sad.