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

Entry: Liver Disease for the Layperson - A2132317
Author: leo mckern [space for random exotic word juxtaposition generator] - U534308

amended heavily - much more comprehensive now

Hello Leo. Seasons greetings to you.

Just gave this a read through, and it looks good to me. Please note that I am totally unqualified to check for technical accuracy, I'm just your average reader here.

A couple of small points might be improved though.

There is a typo in the very first heading. Is 'or' meant to be 'all' or 'our'? I am unsure, but 'or' looks wrong.

The shape of the liver being the same as the cavity it is in does not tell us much. Is it like a short banana, or a bent broad bean, or something like that. Could we have some approximate dimensions, or are they too variable to be meaningful?

This looks very similar to another entry which you had in peer review recently. Is this a replacemnt entry, or a simpler version. This does not need to be stated in the entry itself, but perhaps needs clarifying for the reviewers.

Hope you had a good christmas

OH.

this is a replacement entry
it is meant to be "or" - an alternative title
the dimensions are very variable - the right lobe hangs down more than the left, but the shape is quite difficult to describe

and, Merry Xmas OH
leo

I'm also non-medical, but it looks good to me.

I thought the skin was the largest organ in the body ?

... of the body, maybe. IN the body, that is debatable, as it is the outer surface - in strictly non-medical language.

OH - happy new year.

skin isn't an organ

umm ... what is an organ? is there a technical definition?

I had thought it was just a body part with a particular function, like the skins function to keep in the me bits, and keep out the rest, especially filth and toxins.

i am pretty sure skin is officially classed as an organ

well since that particular statistic is from Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine i am definete

So its probably back to OH's definition of 'IN'

It was only a thought......

one definition:
a differentiated structure (as a heart or kidney) consisting of cells and tissues and performing some specific function in an organism

Just re-read the entry. Still doubtful about the shape being the same as the cavity it fills. All shapes seem to fit that bill. The intestines are very long, but folded up, so that the resulting shape is the same as the cavity they are in. Would some aprroximate dimensions help? Or perhaps just that the liver is a solid mass, rather than an extreme shape like the intestine, or for that matter the veins.

All else seems OK, but my medical knowledge is limited to that of layperson.

By the way, isn't skin a mass of differentiated cells?

the shape thing isn't true for say the intestines - they have a very specific way they are attached and fold up. the spleen is formed from spenunculi causing the characteristic notched border. the kidneys have a specific architecture of pyramids. the liver is organised on a microscopic scale around the portal triad. the lobes of the liver have significance for surgical resection only but functionally they are all the same. i could go into masses of detail believe me but i'd lose 99.999% of the readers

skin is epithelial cells - not very specialised or differentiated

Are you still working on this, leo?

I'm quite happy with it at the moment - no plans for any changes at the present

Is pugwash another name for leo, and if not, what did the last posting mean?

I'm now pugwash - not sure why but had to re-register - has this happened to anyone else?

A very interesting read. Just a couple of thoughts:

The diseased liver - last sentence sounds a little odd. I would turn it around e.g. The only treatment currently available is......

Diagnosis - Is liver disease not usually first detected from the patient's symptoms (detailed in the preceding paragraph) & then diagnosis established through the tests?