Tag: diana gabaldon

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FF: Pilus

Anatomy Def: Pilus is the scientific term for a single hair; pili means multiple hairs

Outlander Def: Claire-hair forms a halo of curly pili! (psst… Jamie loves it!)

Learn about hair in great detail in Anatomy Lesson #6, “Claire’s Hair, Jamie’s Mane or Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ!” 

Hey, anatomy students! How about a brief pilus quiz? No grading, I promise.

What type of pili inhabit your head? Turns out, there are different systems of classifications, but the following one is practical and easy. 

Shape of your pili:

    • Straight?
    • Wavy?
    • Curly?
    • Coily?
    • None? 😉

Type of pili strand: 

    • Fine?
    • Medium?
    • Coarse?

Amount of hair? (based on circumference of “full hair ponytail”). If you don’t have a ponytail, then guess.

    • Thin (ponytail is 2” or less)
    • Normal (ponytail is 2”-4”)
    • Thick (polytail is > 4”)

How did you do? Wouldn’t you know it, all such characteristics have been described and worked out. 🤗 There are even subcategories of hair if you want to read more! 

Pili are fascinating for many reason. First and foremost, pili are products of skin, our body’s largest organ! The skin of “average adults” weighs about eight pounds, with a surface area of 22 ft²!  😲 The larger one is, the more weight and more surface area is taken up by skin.

The skin is equipped with various appendages including pili, erector pili muscles , nails, and various glands. 

Turns out, hair is far more complex than one might imagine. Read on for more fascinating deets!

Hair growth differs depending on body region (duh 😉):

    • Glabrous: Regions sans hair – palms, soles, external genitalia, lips, back of ear, and scars.
    • Terminal: Thick, coarse hair – beard, pubic area, eyelashes, brows, scalp.
    • Vellus: Thin, fine, light-colored hair typical of childhood and adult women. In female adults found on eyelids, face, chest, etc.  Vellus hair can convert to terminal hair under the influence of androgens.

Next, anatomy divides the pilus into two parts:

    • Follicle: Part embedded in the dermis – the only living part of a hair.
    • Shaft: Thin filamentous part that extends beyond skin surface – non-living part

Follicle: A follicle is the part of a pilus that lies below the skin surface. Pull out a strand of head hair, and observe a pale enlargement on the end that was embedded in skin – this is the bulb or root of the follicle. The shaft is produced by the root.

Follicles are lined with skin stem cells that can re-grow a hair after it is lost. It may also regrow skin after various wounds, such burns. Here, stem cells produce new skin cells that grow out of the follicle and spread across the damaged surface to help cover the injury.  This is effective if the wound is relatively small; larger wounds may require skin grafts. Lastly, the new skin is a type of scar tissue which does not regrow appendages.

Shaft: The shaft is 2-3 layers of non-living material:

    • Cuticle: consists of thin, flat cells overlapping like shingles of a roof.
    • Cortex: Rod-like bundles of alpha keratin, a protein that strengthens the shaft. This layer also gives hair its color.
    • Medulla: Unstructured area in the center – only present in large pili.

People with straight hair have round shafts. People with wavy, curly or coiled hair have oval or flattened shafts. The follicle itself determines the shaft shape and genetics orchestrates the follicle to do its unique thing🤓!  

Growth: Each human hair follows its own cycle, at its own pace, including periods of growth and times of quiescence. Think about it! If all our pili were on the same cycle, we would molt! 😳

Angle: You should also know that the shaft does not grow upright; it emerges at a slant. 

Try this: Check the angle of growth of your hair: place your forearm on a flat surface with the palm down. Examine your forearm hairs and see that they are angled toward the little finger side of the forearm. That’s the slant!

Arrector Pili Muscle: Microscopic bundles of smooth muscle (meaning these cannot be voluntarily contracted) are attached to the follicle. If these muscles contract, they pull on the follicles causing shafts to stand upright, creating “goose bumps.” Watch this video about the arrector pili muscle for perspective.  Contraction happens when we are cold or creeped out! 🥶😱

Contraction of arrector pili muscles also causes oil glands to release their product (sebum) into their respective follicles following the pilus shaft. 

Pili are highly valued in many societies which explains the vast sums of money spent on hair products each year; almost 80 million dollars in US in 2019 –  down from 90 million spent two years earlier.

Read about Claire’s-Hair in Outlander book. Diana has provided us with ample descriptions of her follicles and shafts.  Here are three iconic descriptions of her amazing pili!!! 😲

The wind was rising and the very air of the bedroom was prickly with electricity. I drew the brush through my hair, making the curls snap with static and spring into knots and furious tangles!

… “Mo duinne?”…“It means ’my brown one.’ ”He raised a lock of hair to his lips and smiled, with a look in his eyes that started all the drops of my own blood chasing each other through my veins. Rather a dull color, brown, I’ve always thought,”….”No, I’d not say that, Sassenach. Not dull at all.”  He lifted the mass of my hair with both hands and fanned it out. “It’s like the water in a bern, where it ruffles over the stones. Dark in the wavy spots, with bits of silver on the surface where the sun catches it.”

…”Fretful porpentine, was it?” he asked. He tilted his head, examining me inquisitively. “Mmm,” he said, running a hand over his head to smooth down his own hair. “Fretful, at least. You’re a fuzzy wee thing when ye wake, to be sure.” He rolled over toward me, reaching out a hand. “Come here, my wee milkweed.”  🥰

See Claire glorious crown of pili in Outlander, episode 109. Both sides Now!

Grateful for each and every one of my pili! How about you?

The deeply grateful,

Outlander Anatomist

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Photo Credits: Sony/Starz; www.vectorstock.com; nanoil.com

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Fun Fact: Necrosis

 

Anatomy Def: Necrosis means tissue death, as caused by disease, injury, or loss of blood supply.

Outlander Def: Jamie’s dreadful, blackening wound courtesy of a fang-bang! 🐍

Doubtless, Jamie’s horrific thigh wound in Outlander, episode 509, Monsters and Heroes, caused each of us to cringe! 😣

Learn about necrosis in Anatomy Lesson #37: Outlander Owies – Mars and Scars!

Depending on the species of snake, venoms cause predictable signs and symptoms. Within minutes to hours after the bite, Jamie exhibits most of the following:

    • Puncture marks at the wound ✔︎
    • Redness, swelling, bruising, bleeding, or blistering around the bite ✔︎
    • Severe pain and tenderness at the site of the bite ✔︎
    • Increased salivation and sweating ✔︎
    • Labored breathing (in extreme cases, breathing may stop altogether) ✔︎
    • Rapid heart rate, weak pulse, low blood pressure ✔︎
    • Numbness or tingling around face and/or limbs ✔︎
    • Disturbed vision (?)
    • Nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea (?)
    • Metallic, mint or rubber taste in mouth (?)
    • Muscle twitches (?)

Back at the surgery, Claire quickly ascertains that Jamie’s wound is infected!

What might be the source(s) of the infection? Here are some ideas:

    • Bacteria from the snake’s fangs and saliva
    • Bacteria from Roger’s knife
    • Bacteria in Roger’s saliva, as he drains Jamie like a vampire (Sorry, Bree)
    • Dirty bandage
    • Forest floor
    • All the above? 😲

As recorded in The Fiery Cross (TFC),  Claire determines that Jamie’s infected wound shows signs of septicemia, broadly known as blood poisoning.

The foot and ankle on the injured side were still warm and pink—or rather, red. That was a good sign, insofar as it meant the deeper circulation was intact. The problem was to improve circulation near the wound, enough to prevent a massive die-off and sloughing of tissue. The red streaks bothered me very much indeed, though; they could be only part of the hemorrhagic process, but it was more likely that they were the early signs of septicemia—blood poisoning.

Claire must halt the infection quickly because sepsis is life-threatening! Using the serpent’s fangs she injects Jamie with home-brewed penicillin to kill the blood-borne organisms.

Add insult to injury: the wound  also exhibits necrosis! Claire evaluates the red-black tissue at the bite-site (see above image) –  this tissue is dead. 

What causes necrosis? Most likely, loss of blood supply. Necrotic tissue must be removed to avoid loss of muscle mass, gangrene, and possible amputation! 🦵Removing  the dead tissue is a process known as debridement.  

Alrightie, then. How might Claire debride the wound to remove dead tissue but spare the living? Surgical removal is always an an option but difficult to perform with the precision required. If she accidentally leaves necrotic tissue, it can still turn gangrenous. If she accidentally removes living tissue along with the dead, it further compromises Jamie’s thigh tissues. Hum…. 🤔

Well, here’s an idea….. 💡 How about someone rustles up some fly maggots, blow-fly maggots to be precise – Bree (in TFC) or Josiah (in ep 510)??? 

So, into the wound go the maggots and its suppertime! 😋 As gross as it seems, not only will maggots clean Jamie’s wound of necrotic tissue while sparing the living,  his wound will heal faster. Truth! 

“Nothing but a mouth and a gut,” declares Claire (TFC)!

So, where did Claire get the idea of using maggots in Jamie’s wound? From her medical training, of course.

Maggot therapy is the introduction of live maggots into human or animal wounds to remove necrotic tissue but spare the living. (Psst….Just so you know, in today’s medicine, maggots are disinfected before use.) 🤫

Understand, maggot therapy is not new. Aboriginals of Australia and Mayan tribes in Central America frequently used fly larva to clean wounds. Clearly, these folks were observant of the world around them! 👀

When did Western medicine start to employ maggots? In the 1500s, some field surgeons (e.g. Ambroise Paré) observed that wounds infested with maggots healed faster but failed to credit the wee beasties as healers. The first documented therapeutic use of maggots in the US is credited to Confederate medical officer, Dr. J.F. Zacharias, who reported during the American Civil War that:

“Maggots … in a single day would clean a wound much better than any agents we had at our command … I am sure I saved many lives by their use.

Today, some modern hospitals employ medical maggots (Maggots, LLC? 😜) to solve otherwise vexing cases that do not respond to traditional therapies.

One last note – do we believe that a poisonous snake bit Jamie? Nope.

I love Jamie’s (Diana’s) succinct and accurate comparison of venom vs. poison; from Diana’s fourth book, Drums of Autumn:

“Venemous,” Jamie corrected him. “If it bites you and makes ye sick, it’s venomous; if you bite it and it makes ye sick, it’s poisonous.”

Read about Jamie’s horrific snake bite injury and Claire’s therapy in Diana’s fifth book, The Fiery Cross.

“It looks nastier than it is,” I said reassuringly, hearing Marsali’s unguarded gasp at the sight. That was true, but the reality was nasty enough. The slash marks were crusted black at the edges, but still gaped. Instead of the sealing and granulation of normal healing, they were beginning to erode, the exposed tissues oozing pus. The flesh around the wounds was hugely swollen, black and mottled with sinister reddish streaks. I bit my lip, frowning as I considered the situation. I didn’t know what kind of snake had bitten him—not that it made much difference, with no antivenin for treatment—but it had plainly had a powerful hemolytic toxin. Tiny blood vessels had ruptured and bled all over his body—internally, as well as externally—

See Jamie receive maggot therapy for his necrotic wound in Outlander, episode 509, Monsters and Heroes.

Thank you, Claire!

Be well, Jamie! 🙏🏻

The deeply grateful,

Outlander Anatomist

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Photo and Video Credits: Sony/Starz 

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Meet Graham McTavish – OV Party in the Suites

Sunday was a wonderful day for me. I joined Outlandish Vancouver (OV) for a “Party in the Suites” with none other than Dougal-in-Disguise, Graham McTavish!  🤗

What is Outlandish Vancouver? In normal years, OV is an annual event held in Surrey, British Columbia 🇨🇦, independent from but concurrent with Surrey International Writer’s Conference (SiWC). Click the link to find Outlandish Vancouver website or, if you prefer,  the OV Facebook page!

Who is the mastermind behind OV? Well, it is KoKo, a.k.a. Pippi Pipkin (she is a wee lass)!  She came up with this wonderful plan and now enjoys a volunteer staff including Sam and  Karin (see next image).

Fans and OV admin folks gathered on Zoom a few minutes before the start of Graham’s session to share info about appropriate discussion topics, courtesy for virtual events, and filming/audio recording rules.

We were all smiles and delighted to be part of this wonderful event!

Then, Graham appeared exactly on time, looking dashing, as always,  in sweater, beard, smile and mellifluous voice.  We individually introduced ourselves and then we were off on a delightful Q and A trip with Mr. McTavish. Lucky us!

First, Graham was congratulated for Clanlands: Whisky, Warfare, and a Scottish Adventure Like No Other!, the new book authored by Graham and Sam Heughan. Graham is delighted with the book’s reception and its speedy advance to the top of multiple best seller lists! 📚

We learned an interesting fun fact about Graham’s name. One fan had the last name of Thompson. Turns out, Thompson is the anglicized version of McTavish. I didn’t know! 🤔

As a child in the 1960s, Graham lived in Vancouver, B. C. That prompted an invitation to attend the next in-person OV event. He said he would 💓 to come! Fingers crossed that this wish becomes reality once COVID is beaten back. 🤞🏻

One fan had a series of snappy questions for Graham (I think it was Keri). All her questions concerned Sam and Graham on the road for Clanlands book. Here they are:

Q: Who has the messier luggage?

A: Both of us are messy. But, as he thought about it, Sam’s luggage is the messiest!

Q: Who is more of a chatter box?

A: I am! Graham out-chatters Sam!

Q: Who is the more competitive?

A: Sam!!! He is competitive to a ridiculous level –  very, Very VERY competitive! 😆

Q: Who can do the most pushups?

A: Graham couldn’t answer because he doesn’t how many Sam can do. He also did not tell us how many he can do.

Q: Who is the most shy?

A: Both of these fellows are shy, but Sam is more so. Graham pointed out that many actors are shy, by nature. Acting probably gives them license to express themselves while taking on another identity.

Q: Who is more of a diva?

A: Ha, ha. It’s Graham! He qualified that response, pointing out neither of these lads are divas and Sam puts up with more discomforts than he should. Graham perfers his creature comforts! 😃

Q: Who forgets their lines more?

A. Sam. 😲

Q: Who was the most demanding of the Clanland crew?

A: Graham! 😇

Q: Who best wears the kilt?

A. Graham, of course!!! 😜

How many Clanlands book plates have he and Sam signed? Graham thought for a moment and then replied – he thinks it is 8,000 – 9,000! 😳

In answer to the question, did you read Outlander book before accepting the role of clan war chief, Dougal MacKenzie? Graham replied, “No.” However, he noted, almost none of the cast had read the books before filming but did so in very quick order. Furthermore, Graham was offered the part and felt Dougal was a perfect fit for him.

Have roles been easier to snag since Outlander? Graham answered, yes, it is easier now.  He likes to work and keep busy. He prefers roles which involve horseback, swords, guns, cloaks, and candles. He has never played a lawyer.

Now, wait just a minute! 🖐🏻 As I recall, William Buccleigh (Buck) MacKenzie is a lawyer!!! 😉

What did you think of your wig as Buck? His daughter prefers him in the wig (she is young). I, for one, like his full beard and bald pate! 😄

What is your favorite form of exercise? Long distance cycling, says Graham…as in many miles. He has cycled all over Scotland, Ireland, and England. Since it is an outdoors activity, he has been able to continue unabated during COVID. Although he didn’t mention it, I wager he has also cycled all over New Zealand! 🇳🇿

What role would you like to play but haven’t as yet?  Graham said he is not interested in rolls in procedural dramas such as a lawyer (too late – see above!) or a doctor. Most of all, he would love to play a cowboy in a bona fide, hay-burner western! 🤠

In  Preacher, he did play a sort-of cowboy, starring as The Saint of Killers –  complete with guns, horse, saber, and Stetson hat! He was thrilled that the saber he carried was of Civil War vintage and even bore the marks of battle!

Graham pointed out that a Scotsman playing a cowboy isn’t farfetched.  At least two Native American tribes were lead by Highlanders: Alexander McGillivray led the Creeks, and Duncan McDonald’s family were leaders of the Nez Perce tribe.

Q: Are audible and printed versions of Clandlands identical?

A: No, indeed, they are not!  The audio version was created over a three day span in a London studio, where as the written version was a collaboration that lasted a number of weeks. Ergo, they are very similar but not identical.

After visiting various Scottish museums with Sam, Graham became enchanted with the weaponry. He was able to handle them and assured us that Highlander weapons were perfectly balanced, well-designed killing machines! The dirk could pierce a Kevlar vest! And, the basket hilt of the broadsword not only protected the dominant hand, it was used like a metal fist to smash bones. (Pssst….. maybe it’s a guy thing) 😉

Graham was so impressed with the weapons, he commissioned a New Zealand swordsmith to make him a Scottish broadsword. He thinks it might come in handy when suitors of his eldest daughter come around – she just attended her first ball. 😆

BTW: The below image (Outlander, episode 209, Je Suis Prest) was written by Matt B. Roberts. The script called for Dougal, Angus, and Rupert to run butt naked in a Highland charge! This is based in history, as fighting naked has been attributed to Celtic warriors as early as 225 B. C. E. And, Highlanders carried on the tradition, dropping the kilt and fighting in sark or birthday suits. In the end (haha), Outlander opted for kilts, only! 😅

I  can personally vouch for Highlander weapons. Yours truly posing with spiked targe, broadsword, and dirk in 2016, Scotland! Targe and dirk were held in the non-dominant hand and broadsword in the dominant. Note the steel spike extending from the targe? That thing was almost a foot long. As the warrior struck with the broadsword, he also stabbed with dirk and slashed with targe spike!  Are you scared? 😜

Are you and Sam really friends? Yes! They enjoy a terrific friendship. Age difference is not a factor. 🤗

And, the last question was excellent: When you think of Outlander, what is the first thing you think of? Without hesitation, Graham answered, “laughter!” Especially with season one combo of characters!

Thus ended our happy hour with Graham McTavish. Thank you, Graham,  for providing us with the splendid characters of Dougal and Buck! Until next time. 🤞🏻

PS: Remember, if you wish to find out more about OV, you can find them on FB or their website.

PSS: Some OV images were taken by my iPhone from my iPad . Thus, they are a wee bit blurry. 🙄

The deeply grateful,

Outlander Anatomist

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Photo and Video Credits: Sony/Starz, Outlandish Vancouver, KoKo Pipkin, Outlander Anatomy