No pain.

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smoking revolver
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4195437.stm
As seen in this article, then a child is diagnosed with a rare condition. He feels no pain at all, or might feel it differently. Broke his leg and still was running around, an adult or any other human would have been in agony.

Of course that is an interesting condition and as I got from the article the doctors know very little of it and have no cure for it.
What occured in my little wicked mind was that if this condition could be copyed on soldiers, then we would have some very special forces indeed.
Of course there are drugs, etc, but this appears to be a constant state and very, very effective at its' job.

So, how do you diagnose what is the source of this no-pain in biology?
Take two individuals and compare anything you can compare?
 
It's strange indeed. From my somewhat limited and rather general understanding of the nervous system, it would appear that there is something blocking the the signal of the sensory cells from reaching the Central Nervous System (CNS). It could be any number of things, really, but since he doesn't lack any motor function, it could only really be the sensory receptor part of the nervous system, or any of the intermediate neurons that carry signals to the CNS. If his condition effected any neurons after the CNS, he wouldn't have motor function, and would have died.

I don't know enough about development to know for sure, but while an embryo, the cell line that becomes the sensory cells could have been damaged, or a gene not expressed. He could have faulty potassium or sodium channels, or he may have blocked or malformed neurotransmitter receptors. Any of these defects could cause the lack of a signal, but I have no idea how it could have formed in only a part of the nervous system.

Lacking the ability to feel pain is very, very bad. As described in the article, he simply cannot tell when there is stress on his body, and actually held a french fry in his hand until the skin blistered from the heat. Pain tells the body when it's being damaged, and if he can't feel that, he won't be able to respond to potentially vital signals.

*edit*
It seems that the specialists that looked at the child think it may be the lack of a chemical called beta-endorphin, which is released from the anterior pituitary gland in response to pain and other traumas. If his brain isn't releasing this chemical, then it potentially won't recognize the pain as a stimulus.
 
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Avatar said:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4195437.stm
As seen in this article, then a child is diagnosed with a rare condition. He feels no pain at all, or might feel it differently. Broke his leg and still was running around, an adult or any other human would have been in agony.

Of course that is an interesting condition and as I got from the article the doctors know very little of it and have no cure for it.
Click to expand...

The BBC article doesn’t mention it, but what this toddler has is a rare genetic disorder called “<B>C</B>ongenital <B>I</B>nsensitivity to <B>P</B>ain with <B>A</B>nhidrosis” (CIPA).

CIPA is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by anhidrosis (ie. the inability to sweat) and absence of reaction to noxious (or painful) stimuli. This inability to feel any pain or temperature sensations is due to the absence of a specific subset of PNS sensory neurons that normally detect these tissue-damaging stimuli. More specifically, it is due to mutations in the TRKA gene. This gene codes for a neuronal cell-surface receptor for Nerve Growth Factor (NGF). NGF is a survival factor, so without the ability to detect NGF signaling through the TRKA receptor the neurons in question die off during development.

It all goes to show that although no one likes acute pain, it does serve a very important purpose in letting us know when our immediate environment or activity is damaging our body. These poor CIPA children have no idea when they’ve broken bones, gashed themselves open, burnt themselves etc. and will often continue the activity and cause even more damage. They require constant supervision and daily medical inspection to ensure they’re not hurt in some way. :(

As for nearly all genetic diseases, there is no cure. Support embryonic stem cell research! :D

Avatar said:
What occured in my little wicked mind was that if this condition could be copyed on soldiers, then we would have some very special forces indeed.
Click to expand...

This is a condition that occurs during embryonic development. I very much doubt that it could be replicated in an adult.

Avatar said:
So, how do you diagnose what is the source of this no-pain in biology? Take two individuals and compare anything you can compare?
Click to expand...

The same way that most genetic disorders are characterized – gene mapping by pedigree analysis. You try to find as many families (lineages) as you can that contain the disorder in each of its generations and examine the genotypes of the members of successive generations. From this you try to calculate recombination frequencies and link the mutation to a genetic marker (SSLP, RFLP, microsatellite etc etc). In other words, by examining the pattern in which the disease and other genetic markers are passed down through generations, you can narrow down the genomic location of the mutation to about a megabase of DNA which might contain 3 or 4 genes. Then it’s a matter of testing the candidate genes for mutations. :) <P>
 
Thanks for the info Hercules, we can always count on you. I suppose I should have done some research, but my guesses weren't too far off in the general sense.
 
Avatar said:
What occured in my little wicked mind was that if this condition could be copyed on soldiers, then we would have some very special forces indeed.
Click to expand...
There's a difference between 'not feeling' pain, and 'ignoring' pain. People in stressful situations often ignore pain to help themselves or others.
 
Pain alarms us not only of the fact that we may be injured but also of the fact that there is something against which our tissues are injured. If a soldier was shot, didn't see it happening, and, consequently, didn't see his enemy coming, there's a problem.
 
They used to think that leprosy caused people's toes to fall off. It turned out that it merely rendered them unable to receive sensory input from their feet (and other body parts), so that they were always banging their toes into things. This broke the bones and weakened them. Eventually the tissue became necrotic and did indeed fall off.
 
I wonder, if he feels no pain then IF he got appendicitis he will eventually die from complication of appendicits because he feels no pain right?

Pain is very important symptoms and for some disease the pain is first clinical presentation. How we going to monitor this group of 'no pain' people so that they are healthy all the time? :cool:
 
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