Posted on 02/20/2003 5:52:00 PM PST by MadIvan
Only a tiny genetic difference can separate a macho man from a wimp, says a study published today.
A variation in a single gene may explain why some people can withstand pain - or other physical or emotional stress - better than others, a team from the University of Michigan and the National Institutes of Health reports.
In the journal Science, the team describes how a small variation in the gene encoding an enzyme - catechol-O-methyl transferase, or COMT - made a significant difference in the pain tolerance, and pain-related emotions and feelings, of volunteers.
Genetics may not make all the difference between wimps and Marines, but the finding adds to evidence of variations in individuals' response to pain being mainly due to biological factors affecting the brain.
In the study the pain came from a carefully controlled salt-water injection into the jaw muscles of the volunteers.
By combining genetic testing with molecular brain imaging techniques the researchers could see how well participants' brains controlled pain, and how they felt as a result, depending on their COMT.
The research could help explain how perceptions of pain affect chronic conditions and depressive illness. "Examining and detailing the biochemistry of these processes can then lead to more effective treatments," said Dr Zubieta.
Regards, Ivan
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True enough, darling. We don't do anything equivalent to childbirth, but then again, no man has ever tried to swallow a watermelon whole and digest it. ;)
Love, Ivan
Love, Ivan
Well, my dad has an insane tolerance for pain.(He hammered his thumb with a carpenter hammer and didn't even swear). Mine's not as high as his, but I kept weighlifting right after I first subluxed my shoulder and finished my workout.
I think pain tolerance is mostly in the mind. Guys never want to look weak in front of their dads, sons or other guys. It becomes so habitforming, that the mentality is there at all times. I like the old saying "Walk it off".
Well, there's your problem - that's not how you make babies, HG ;)
Of course, the boys don't complain! *LOL*
Women have labor and give childbirth and the pain subsides. Kidney stones can last for days and painkillers don't help.
I lament that now they have sonic wave machines to dissolve the stones and make the experience shorter.
I have always fantasized that if you could induce the pain of kidney stones on a subject for interrogation he would tell you anything you wanted. It's a wonder that with all of ouir technology we haven't figured out how to do that.
I bet a lot of those Al Q'aida guys would love to willing experimental subjects. Call me a sadist, but I think that would be fun to watch.
I don't care what genes you have, if I were able to induce that kind of pain you'd tell all I wanted to know.
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