The wordsCrohn's and Colitis when conjoined in that fashion usually refer to a couple of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) caused by an auto-immune reaction. "Colitis", as so used is actually any of several diseases and there are arguably others which are neither auto-immune nor IBD which I intend to ignore. Caveat: I am not a doctor nor a medical professional and nothing herein is even remotely medical advice. On the other hand, I do suffer from one of those conditions and have for quite some time and have been under treatment for over 2 decades. I also have a close relative who suffers from the other one. For something of an overview, the wikis for the two conditions follow: Crohn's - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crohn%27s_disease Ulcerative Colitis - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulcerative_colitis (but one form of Colitis) Though Crohn's was first described and documented in 1932, and colitis probably earlier, the general rule of thumb statement from the medical profession to sufferers was along the lines of "We don't know how to treat what you have" up until very recently. Though the word "incurable" was seldom used the fact that there was no known cure was definitely part of the package as was "we have no idea what causes this". In response, the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA.org) was founded in 1967 to find a cure for these diseases. ( https://www.crohnscolitisfoundation.org/ )
"Treatment" has previously been primarily aimed at ameliorating and/or controlling symptoms and ranged from an assortment of dietary recommendations to chemical drugs such as aminosalicylates and immunosuppressants . Steroids such as prednisone were also used, though the medical community was reluctant to use them over too extended of a period. Surgery, and often multiple surgeries over a course of years was sometimes necessary. Generally, most treatments were of limited and inconsistent efficacy and flare-ups (flares) were fairly common. Recently, the medical community has learned a lot more about how these diseases work and a lot of "biologics" such as monoclonal antibodies have found use in treating these diseases. Even so, their promise is "remission" and not a "cure". That said, I suspect that long term remission would be more than fine with most who suffer from these diseases.
It is also World Turtle Day. Before you conjure up any images of any unsavory turtles, I will direct your attention to Churchill (Churchy) La Femme, the bard of Walt Kelly's Pogo cartoon strip who had a serious thing about Friday the 13TH. There is also the myth/legend of The Great World Turtle, and the ancillary fables of "Turtles all the Way Down."
Then again, on the somewhat unsavory side, there were these Turtles
Before you mock them, however, please remember that the Mock Turtle is a character in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and is hence elevated above most non-fictional Turtles
On this day in history:
1498 – Girolamo Savonarola, famous for his bonfires of the vanities, was burned at the stake in Florence, Italy. 1618 – The Second Defenestration of Prague precipitated the Thirty Years' War. 1829 – A patent for the accordion was granted to Cyrill Demian in Vienna. 1846 – President Mariano Paredes of Mexico unofficially declared war on the US 1863 – The General German Workers' Association, a precursor of the modern Social Democratic Party of Germany, was founded in Leipzig, Kingdom of Saxony. 1873 – The Canadian Parliament established the North-West Mounted Police 1907 – The unicameral Parliament of Finland gathered for its first plenary session. 1911 – The New York Public Library was dedicated. 1932 – Four students were shot and killed during a demonstration against Brazilian dictator Getúlio Vargas which led to the Constitutionalist Revolution several weeks later. 1934 – The Auto-Lite strike culminated in the "Battle of Toledo", a five-day melée between 1,300 troops of the Ohio National Guard and 6,000 picketers. 1939 – The U.S. Navy submarine USS Squalus sank off the coast of New Hampshire during a test dive 1949 – The Western occupying powers approved the Basic Law and established a new German state, the Federal Republic of Germany. 1951 – Tibetans signed the Seventeen Point Agreement with China. 1960 – A tsunami caused by an earthquake in Chile the previous day killed 61 people in Hilo, Hawaii. 1995 – The first version of the Java programming language was released. 1998 – The Good Friday Agreement was accepted in a referendum in Northern Ireland with roughly 75% voting yes. 2002 – The "55 parties" clause of the Kyoto Protocol was reached after its ratification by Iceland. To no avail, of course. 2008 – The International Court of Justice (ICJ) awarded Middle Rocks to Malaysia and Pedra Branca (Pulau Batu Puteh) to Singapore, 2013 – A freeway bridge carrying Interstate 5 over the Skagit River collapsed in Mount Vernon, Washington. 2017 – Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law in Mindanao
Some people who were born on this day:
“In natural science the principles of truth ought to be confirmed by observation.”
~~ Carl Linnaeus
1586 – Paul Siefert, composer and organist 1614 – Bertholet Flemalle, Baroque painter 1617 – Elias Ashmole, astrologer and politician 1707 – Carl Linnaeus, botanist, physician, and zoologist 1718 – William Hunter, anatomist and physician 1734 – Franz Mesmer, physician and astrologer 1741 – Andrea Luchesi, organist and composer 1790 – Jules Dumont d'Urville, admiral and explorer 1790 – James Pradier, neoclassical sculptor ( 1794 – Ignaz Moscheles, pianist and composer 1795 – Charles Barry, architect 1810 – Margaret Fuller, journalist and critic 1820 – James Buchanan Eads, engineer, designed the Eads Bridge 1834 – Carl Bloch, painter and academic 1837 – Anatole Mallet, mechanical engineer and inventor 1837 – Józef Wieniawski, pianist and composer 1838 – Amaldus Nielsen, painter 1848 – Otto Lilienthal, pilot, aircraft designer, and engineer, father of flight 1855 – Isabella Ford, author and activist 1861 – József Rippl-Rónai, painter 1863 – Wladyslaw Horodecki, architect 1887 – Thoralf Skolem, mathematician and theorist 1887 – C. R. M. F. Cruttwell, historian 1888 – Adriaan Roland Holst, writer 1890 – Herbert Marshall, actor and singer 1891 – Pär Lagerkvist, novelist, playwright, and poet 1908 – John Bardeen, physicist and engineer 1908 – Hélène Boucher, pilot 1910 – Margaret Wise Brown, author and educator 1910 – Hugh Casson, architect and academic 1910 – Scatman Crothers, actor and comedian 1910 – Franz Kline, painter and academic 1910 – Artie Shaw, clarinet player, composer, and bandleader 1912 – Jean Françaix, pianist and composer 1914 – Harold Hitchcock, visionary landscape artist 1914 – Celestine Sibley, journalist and author 1915 – S. Donald Stookey, physicist and chemist, invented CorningWare 1917 – Edward Norton Lorenz, mathematician and meteorologist 1920 – Helen O'Connell, singer 1921 – Humphrey Lyttelton, jazz musician and broadcaster 1923 – Alicia de Larrocha, pianist 1923 – Irving Millman, virologist and microbiologist 1924 – Karlheinz Deschner, author and activist 1925 – Joshua Lederberg, biologist and geneticist, 1926 – Joe Slovo, activist and politician 1928 – Rosemary Clooney, singer and actress 1934 – Robert Moog, electronic engineer and inventor of the Moog synthesizer 1940 – Bjorn Johansen, saxophonist 1940 – Cora Sadosky, mathematician and academic 1947 – Jane Kenyon, poet and translator 1955 – Luka Bloom, singer, songwriter, and guitarist 1956 – Andrea Pazienza, illustrator and painter 1963 – Viviane Baladi, mathematician 1973 – Maxwell, singer, songwriter, and producer 1974 – Jewel, singer, songwriter, guitarist, actress, and poet 1978 – Scott Raynor, drummer 1991 – Lena Meyer-Landrut, singer and songwriter 1999 – Trinidad Cardona, singer and songwriter
Some people who died on this day:
The most un-American thing you can do is to stifle dissent
~~ Utah Phillips
1752 – William Bradford, printer 1857 – Augustin-Louis Cauchy, mathematician and academic 1868 – Kit Carson, Conquistadore 1906 – Henrik Ibsen, director, playwright, and poet 1949 – Jan Frans De Boever, painter and illustrator 1960 – Georges Claude, engineer and inventor, created Neon lighting 1962 – Louis Coatalen, engineer 1965 – David Smith, sculptor 1981 – George Jessel, actor, singer, and producer 1989 – Karl Koch, computer hacker 2002 – Big Bill Neidjie, activist and last speaker of the Gaagudju language 2008 – Utah Phillips, singer, songwriter, activist, and poet 2013 – Georges Moustaki, singer, songwriter, and guitarist 2015 – Alicia Nash, physicist and engineer 2015 – John Forbes Nash, Jr., mathematician and academic, 2021 – Eric Carle, children's book designer, illustrator, and writer
Ok, it's an open thread, so it's up to you folks now. So what's on your mind?
Cross posted from http://caucus99percent.com