the real chimera...sooo much goodness

[Shemeska]

I have a streak of white hair on one side of my head that really stands out. It has either been their since birth, or is due to something that happened when I was really young, because as far I can remember I've always had it.

Portions of white hair like that can also be side effects of a few neural crest cell developmental disorders, with Waardenburg syndrome popping into my mind most notably. Its characterised by a white forlock of hair.

Another rather less severe cause is human piebaldism, which IIRC is another neural crest cell developmental disorder, just piebaldism doesn't come coupled with the whole host of problems that Waardenburgs does.

 

[Dirigible]

Ahh, the wonderful and amazing things that can go wrong with the human body.

 

[hong]

I have a streak of white hair on one side of my head that really stands out. It has either been their since birth, or is due to something that happened when I was really young, because as far I can remember I've always had it.

See, that's because when you were a kid, you touched someone by accident and absorbed all their memories and maybe even their super powers (if they had any super powers), and this was such a huge shock that it turned some of your hair white. So STOP TOUCHING PEOPLE! Or wear gloves.

Speaking of which, R U A CHYX??/? I M ISNTNAT MESNEGERING U RITE NOW BAY-BEE!!!1!

 

[Dirigible]

Or wear gloves.

And green and yellow spandex.

On the other hand, it may be his Sorcerous Birthmark. You can test that by seeing if dye sticks to it.

Raesene Andu; anyone who names themselves after the Black Prince gets maximum respekt from me.

 

[Vaxalon]

Human chimerism is a funny thing. Sometimes, the absorbed twin is confined to a creche or cyst somewhere in the body, still living cells suspended in an embyronic form. They are usually found in the abdomen, and are almost always benign.

In a very, very small number of cases (on the order of once every five or six generations of the entire human race) it's theorized a woman's uterus will absorb the embryonic cells, and they resume growing. This is a theory to explain some of the virgin births that occasionally happen. Scientists are waiting for another one to be identified so that they can gene-type mother and child. If they come out as having a level of similarity that corresponds to siblings rather than mother-child (or clone of mother, for that matter) this will be considered strong evidence for the validity of the theory.

 

[alsih2o]

great things about enworld:

number 762- no matter what you are posting about or asking about, someone ehre knows. and can add an interesting tidbit.

762a- if noone knows, someone usually researches it.

 

[Agback]

That's probably mosaicism - it's similar, but much more common.

Okay. What's the difference? I thought mosaicism was a form a chimeraism.

[edit] Never mind, I found the answer at http://arbl.cvmbs.colostate.edu/hbooks/genetics/medgen/chromo/mosaics.html and http://www.nature.com/nsu/020429/020429-13.html.

In brief, chimeras are individuals that contain populations is of cells that are genetically distinct because they derive from different zygotes: fused twins and so forth. Mosaics are individuals that contain populations of cells that are genetically distinct despite the fact that they arise from the same zygote, eg. because of somatic mutation or different patterns of X-chromosome inactivation.

Regards,


Agback

 

[Ashrem Bayle]

Ahh, the wonderful and amazing things that can go wrong with the human body.

, he said looking into the mirror.

 

[Tarrasque Wrangler]

Does this mean that this woman gave birth to her own nephews?

- TW, who's his own grandpa!

 

[ThirdWizard]

Mosaicism... that might explain why my facial hair is read and the hair on my head is dirty blonde.