#aorta

I had a CT of my chest on April 3rd. The focus was on my aorta. I have a family history of aortic dissection and aneurysm. My dad’s aorta dissected when he was 58 years old. He survived that replacement and then a few years later had an aneurysm which was caught early and he had the rest of his aorta replaced.

I started worrying that I would kick the bucket at 58 because of his aorta problems. I think this worrying started when I almost dropped dead at the age of 32 from massive blood clots in my lungs. This concern I had wasn’t at the forefront every day but it would pop up during times of bad depression and anxiety.

I had an echocardiogram ultrasound thing two and half years ago and there was the minimal of enlargement of my aorta. Doctors said nothing to worry about but monitoring it every so often would be a good idea.

The results of this CT showed no change from the previous tests. It’s still slightly enlarged and another test in a few years would be a good idea.

I was so stressed, depressed, and angry about life with my sister, that while waiting for the results of the CT I was thinking a Do Not Resuscitate order would be something I wanted. I didn’t go past the depression induced fantasizing stage.

So, that’s one less thing to worry about. For now-my brain hates me.

I’ve started Zepbound (weight loss drug) again and no diarrhea side effects this time which is good.

Carrd Link

So Alice is multiple? Maybe that explains why they’re so chaotic! They probably can’t think for themselves and have so many bad thoughts in their dumb fucking head.

🫀

(ill be having a talk with it.)

oh god I didn't know you could curse Jesus

More or Less

After a heart attack, growing new blood vessels (angiogenesis) is essential to repair the damage. In cancer patients, preventing blood vessel growth can starve a tumour and prevent expansion. To investigate the effectiveness of potential new treatments to boost or block angiogenesis, researchers have developed a platform for testing the impact of various interventions on sprouting – the formation of new vessels from existing ones. They confirmed that cells lining the aorta – the body’s largest artery – sprout more in low oxygen conditions (pictured, right) than normal (left), showing the platform can support normal blood vessel growth patterns. They then screened 105 molecules and identified two enzymes that alter gene expression to regulate this vessel sprouting – one promoting growth and the other restricting it. This both provides promising information about these potential stop and go interventions, and provides a green light to screen future drugs.

Written by Anthony Lewis

Image from work by M. Beter and colleagues

A.I. Virtanen Institute for Molecular Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland

Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution – NonCommercial – NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Published in Scientific Reports, January 2025