h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: The Liver and its Diseases - A6390984
Author: leo mckern [space for random exotic word juxtaposition generator] - U534308

Any comments?

Hi Leo,

I'll have a closer look at this this week. My initial thought is that you got rather abruptly into 'liver disease' in the first para. I thought that there should be a bit of a lead up explaining that the nature of the liver's functions [predisposing] (I know that's not quite the word I'm after) it to disease.

I see you've had this in Flea Market for a while. Couldn't see why it had gone there.

Reminds me of an amusing story tolds by a singer at the Folk Club once.

Said he'd been performing at various pubs and, one evening, had performed at a canal-side pub. As he left, a few of the folksters left at the same time, including several who were making their way very drunkenly to their narrow boat. The singer was amused to see that the name of their boat was........


... Cirrhosis of the River.

The first time you mention 'liver function tests', put 'LFT's in brackets immediately afterwards.

N-Acetylcysteine > N-acetylcysteine

There is an Edited Guide Entry to which (normally) you should link. It's at A134920. Howevr, it's extremely trite and (IMO) should be re-written. Fancy it?

Therefore there are a few points whih you could make either in your Entry or a re-write of the 'Liver' Entry, eg

Contains 13% of our body's total blood supply at any time.

Divided into 2 main lobes, which are sub-divided into 50000-100000 smaller segments known as lobules.

Has > 500 functions.

There are 100's of liver disorders, some caused by parasites in tropical countries. Most common is hepatitis - inflammation of the liver - main cause being excess alcohol consumption; though can be caused by infectious agents passed through blood, contam. food or water.

Heatitis and cirrhosis together outnumber the incidence of all liver diseases added together.

Liver is remarkably resilient. As you say, it has the capacity to regenerate itself if damaged. Itr can keep your body going even if it loses 90% of its cells. If it loses more than this than, obviously, a transplant is required.

PS Its worth saying in your opening sentence that (at 1-1.5kg) its the largest AND HEAVIEST organ in the body.

'Chelating agents' (in the final para) requires defining in a footnote.

Afterthought: As your Entry is called 'The Liver and its Diseases', why don't you offer it up as a re-write of A134920? So you would just need to put in a bit more detail of its structure and normal function before going into 'diseases'

I am well aware of all these facts about the liver and more - however I am not writing a textbook!

You are slightly mistaken about the regeneration part also for the reasons mentioned in my article - and cirrhosis is the endpoint not a disease per se.

You are also mistaken about the anatomy of the liver. Two lobes(plus the caudate), 8 segments.

I am amazed at how that entry was accepted into the Guide as IMO its rubbish. Can't see why I'd want to link to it, and certainly not revise it.

You're the expert. But I think that other Entry on the liver badly needs to be re-written. Yours is potentially the one to replace it.

The reason this would update the existing entry is *because* the original is pretty poor. Yours would become the definitive h2g2 entry on the liver in that case.

I can't believe you're still not responding to suggestions, however reasonable. Please read and digest my posting here - F48874?thread=1258449&latest=1#p14887558 - upsetting every Scout in Peer Review is not the way to get your entries recommended...

"Its worth saying in your opening sentence that (at 1-1.5kg) its the largest AND HEAVIEST organ in the body."

I thought the skin was the body's largest organ? Not that I know much about the human body, but it often comes up as a trivia question during games.

Yes, you're right Mina. Strictly, Leo should have said that the liver is the largest, heaviest and most complex INTERNAL organ.

The skin is the largest organ altogether. It comprises 16% of the body weight, sojust over 11kg for the 'standard man'.