brainfreeze

I happened to be taking the bus home today and noticed I was sharing a bus with Dr. Kar, who I had mentioned previously as being the asshole professor making us memorize all the major neurotransmitter receptor profiles. I felt a strange connection to this man as we both jumped off the 6 at Southgate and ran like our lives depended on it for the 17 that was just taking off. He also said thank you to the bus driver when he got off, which shows that you can be smart, human, and still take the bus even if you're a research chair in Psychiatry.

The cold weather today made me think of one of my favorite phrases, "sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia," which is the scientific name for brainfreeze. Brainfreeze is remarkable in that the pain is referred, that is the pain appears elsewhere from the site that should be hurting. Just say it, "sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia." Then say, "phenylethynolamine-N-methyltransferase." Then say:
"methionylglutaminylarginyltyrosylglutamylserylleucyl phenylalanylalanylglutaminylleucyllysylglutamylarginyl lysylglutamylglycylalanylphenylalanylvalylprolylphenyl alanylvalylthreonylleucylglycylaspartylprolylglycylisol eucylglutamylglutaminylserylleucyllysylisoleucylaspartyl threonylleucylisoleucylglutamylalanylglycylalanylaspartyl alanylleucylglutamylleucylglycylisoleucylprolylphenyl alanylserylaspartylprolylleucylalanylaspartylglycylprolyl threonylisoleucylglutaminylasparaginylalanylthreonylleucyl arginylalanylphenylalanylalanylalanylglycylvalylthreonyl prolylalanylglutaminylcysteinylphenylalanylglutamyl methionylleucylalanylleucylisoleucylarginylglutaminyllysyl histidylprolylthreonylisoleucylprolylisoleucylglycylleucyl leucylmethionyltyrosylalanylasparaginylleucylvalylphenyl alanylasparaginyllysylglycylisoleucylaspartylglutamylphenyl alanyltyrosylalanylglutaminylcysteinylglutamyllysylvalyl glycylvalylaspartylserylvalylleucylvalylalanylaspartylvalyl prolylvalylglutaminylglutamylserylalanylprolylphenylalanyl arginylglutaminylalanylalanylleucylarginylhistidylasparaginyl valylalanylprolylisoleucylphenylalanylisoleucylcysteinyl prolylprolylaspartylalanylaspartylaspartylaspartylleucyl leucylarginylglutaminylisoleucylalanylseryltyrosylglycyl arginylglycyltyrosylthreonyltyrosylleucylleucylserylarginyl alanylglycylvalylthreonylglycylalanylglutamylasparaginyl arginylalanylalanylleucylprolylleucylasparaginylhistidyl leucylvalylalanyllysylleucyllysylglutamyltyrosylasparaginyl alanylalanylprolylprolylleucylglutaminylglycylphenylalanyl glycylisoleucylserylalanylprolylaspartylglutaminylvalyllysyl alanylalanylisoleucylaspartylalanylglycylalanylalanylglycyl alanylisoleucylserylglycylserylalanylisoleucylvalyllysylisol eucylisoleucylglutamylglutaminylhistidylasparaginylisoleucyl glutamylprolylglutamyllysylmethionylleucylalanylalanylleucyl lysylvalylphenylalanylvalylglutaminylprolylmethionyllysyl alanylalanylthreonylarginylserine", which actually qualifies as being the longest scientific word, ever.

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I was reading this paper "Intellectual property and chirality of drugs" by Agranat, I. & Caner, H. (you can find it on PubMed, it's an interesting read), and it struck me that above all, creation of drugs is more about being a business than it is about helping people. Eli Lilly, the company that created and marketed the popular antidepressant Fluoxetine (Prozac), had some lawyers that apparently forgot that oops drugs come in enantiomers, and don't necessarily have to be marketed in racemate form, and didn't patent them as a result. Sepracor pounced on the opportunity and ended up obtaining both the (S)-(+)-fluoxetine and (R)-(-)-fluoxetine enantiomers which they could market, and Eli Lilly had to buy them back. I'm assuming some barrister lost his job with a view to that.

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I've updated the linkage. First is a bunch of drunken monkeys from the island of St. Kitts whose environment apparently taught them a preference for alcohol. The second link is from my favourite musical RENT, which was made into a shitty rendition that hit the silver screens. It's my favourite musical overture from it, because it features all the main motives, a musical montage of several separate conversations, and the biggest time change my ears have ever experienced (5:25). The third link is self explanatory.

And the last one is the hottest tattoo I have ever seen in my life. I thought this indolalkylamine was already a pretty sexy chemical structure in itself (dopamine's pretty hot too), but this takes it to an entirely different level. Now I want to get each enantiomer of fluoxetine down my back so they look like wings. Yes?