Slashdot Mirror
You Have Taste Receptors In Your Lungs
timothy points out news of a study from the University of Maryland's School of Medicine that found bitter taste receptors on the smooth muscle lining airways in the lungs (abstract in Nature). Quoting:
"The taste receptors in the lungs are the same as those on the tongue. The tongue’s receptors are clustered in taste buds, which send signals to the brain. The researchers say that in the lung, the taste receptors are not clustered in buds and do not send signals to the brain, yet they respond to substances that have a bitter taste. ... 'I initially thought the bitter-taste receptors in the lungs would prompt a "fight or flight" response to a noxious inhalant, causing chest tightness and coughing so you would leave the toxic environment, but that’s not what we found,' says Dr. Liggett. ... The researchers tested a few standard bitter substances known to activate these receptors. 'It turns out that the bitter compounds worked the opposite way from what we thought. They all opened the airway more extensively than any known drug that we have for treatment of asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).'"
For Dunhill over Pariament and Davidoff over Benson & Hedges!
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
As if I didn't have enough justification for an aversion to public restrooms. Now I know that when I go into one and it smells like someone slaughtered a cow in there, my lungs will be tasting that. Thanks a lot, University of Maryland!
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Yes, throw away that old inhaler! Just inhale this LEMON or this sour bomb and breathe your worries away!
Moved to http://soylentnews.org/. You are invited to join us too!
"...and all they take in return is paper with patterns painted on it."
And if this little characterization doesn't falls under the "dream abnormalities and hallucinations" heading, then I don't know what would.
Thought thinks itself.
Their doctor/health care professional, however, would be taking so huge a legal risk to recommend or order use of a product as a medication not FDA approved for that usage, they would probably not do that
That's okay, most of middle america can't afford to go to the doctor any more, so that's a non-issue. (The poorest people, of course, receive the standard sub-standard health care...)
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Have you ever seen someone high on pot drive? they are worse than drunks. [...] How do you know someone won't go homicidal while on pot?
OK, OK, we get that you've never smoked.
...I always knew saccharin had a weird after-taste.
That's because you were doing it wrong...you are supposed to put it in your iced tea, not snort it through the straw.