Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

The Appendix: Useful and in Fact Promising
news.yahoo.com ^ | August 24, 2009 | Charles Q. Choi

Posted on 08/25/2009 4:04:39 AM PDT by raybbr

The body's appendix has long been thought of as nothing more than a worthless evolutionary artifact, good for nothing save a potentially lethal case of inflammation.

Now researchers suggest the appendix is a lot more than a useless remnant. Not only was it recently proposed to actually possess a critical function, but scientists now find it appears in nature a lot more often than before thought. And it's possible some of this organ's ancient uses could be recruited by physicians to help the human body fight disease more effectively.

In a way, the idea that the appendix is an organ whose time has passed has itself become a concept whose time is over.

"Maybe it's time to correct the textbooks," said researcher William Parker, an immunologist at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C. "Many biology texts today still refer to the appendix as a 'vestigial organ.'"

Slimy sac

The vermiform appendix is a slimy dead-end sac that hangs between the small and large intestines. No less than Charles Darwin first suggested that the appendix was a vestigial organ from an ancestor that ate leaves, theorizing that it was the evolutionary remains of a larger structure, called a cecum, which once was used by now-extinct predecessors for digesting food.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Health/Medicine; Science
KEYWORDS: appendix; godsgravesglyphs; health; medicine
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-33 last
To: Moonman62

Same reason that he doesn’t remove the BRAINS of people that have problems w/ it.


21 posted on 08/25/2009 5:42:44 AM PDT by US Navy Vet
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: tacticalogic

Toche’ :)


22 posted on 08/25/2009 5:49:42 AM PDT by Americanwolf ("How could they not tell they had a friggin 70 foot whale hanging off their bow?" ---Tijeras_slim)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: raybbr
MY English Teacher, shown below, taught me that the appendix contained important stuff!

Note how she's making the point! You check the appendix and then look up!

23 posted on 08/25/2009 6:08:30 AM PDT by Young Werther ("Quae Cum Ita Sunt - Julius Caesar "Since these things are so!">)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jemian
I had my gall bladder taken out two years ago. What timing, the night before our school gave its state test.

I knew I had gall stones but I had restricted my diet and felt that it was under control. That night I felt like I was having a heart attack and knew right away what was going on.

My sister works in the ER and told me that 1/3 of those who come in thinking they have heart attacks are actually having a gall bladder attack.

If I was you I would explain that you do lots of traveling to remote regions of the world and do not want to risk that kind of medical emergency.

24 posted on 08/25/2009 10:47:42 AM PDT by mware (F-R-E-E, that spells free. Free Republic.com baby.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: mware

I did that. I think they don’t really believe me that I live in a remote area. Or, perhaps they didn’t understand that I live here and not just am merely visiting.


25 posted on 08/25/2009 1:13:45 PM PDT by Jemian (PAM of JT ~~ It is Tuesday and JT is at Fort Collins.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: chrisser

It’s astounding to know the many diseases that are auto-immune. Allergies, arthritis, lupus, psoriasis, Type 1 diabetes, even hiatal hernia, gastritis, Graves disease.....just about anything involving inflammation.


26 posted on 08/25/2009 1:23:32 PM PDT by EnquiringMind
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: raybbr; StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; 1ofmanyfree; 21twelve; 24Karet; 2ndDivisionVet; ...

· join list or digest · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post a topic ·

 
Gods
Graves
Glyphs
To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.
GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach
 

·Dogpile · Archaeologica · ArchaeoBlog · Archaeology · Biblical Archaeology Society ·
· Discover · Nat Geographic · Texas AM Anthro News · Yahoo Anthro & Archaeo · Google ·
· The Archaeology Channel · Excerpt, or Link only? · cgk's list of ping lists ·


27 posted on 08/25/2009 2:06:12 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/__Since Jan 3, 2004__Profile updated Monday, January 12, 2009)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jemian
Here, maybe this'll cheer you up.


28 posted on 08/25/2009 2:14:16 PM PDT by BJClinton (One Big Ass Mistake America)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: raybbr

thanks, bfl


29 posted on 08/25/2009 2:26:04 PM PDT by neverdem (Xin loi minh oi)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

Man collapses with ruptured appendix... three weeks after NHS doctors ‘took it out’
dailymail.co.uk | August 25, 2009 | Daniel Bates
Posted on 08/25/2009 11:12:11 AM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2324204/posts


30 posted on 08/25/2009 2:32:12 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/__Since Jan 3, 2004__Profile updated Monday, January 12, 2009)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]

To: BJClinton

ROTFLOL! I love it.

Thank you. We carnivores party at Outback.


31 posted on 08/25/2009 2:33:43 PM PDT by Jemian (PAM of JT ~~ It is Tuesday and JT is at Fort Collins.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: EnquiringMind

There is quite a fine line between staving off infection and killing cells in the effected area. The immune system is fighting a war (in the case of allergies, a war against a harmless foe) and those “bombs” sometimes rack up some ‘collateral damage’.

A scientists I know coined the phrase “immuno-toxicity” to describe the harmful effects of the immune system.


32 posted on 08/25/2009 2:43:28 PM PDT by allmendream (Income is EARNED not distributed, so how could it be redistributed?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: raybbr
He suggests it might be possible to devise ways to incite our immune systems today in much the same manner that they were challenged back in the Stone Age.

Should be easy.

Abolish the FDA, close down water treatment and sewerage treatment plants; outlaw refrigerators....

33 posted on 08/25/2009 3:29:25 PM PDT by ApplegateRanch (The mob got President Barabbas; America got shafted)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-33 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson