Earlobe

We just learned about the Tragus.

On the outer ear we know about:
- The auricle or pinna, which is the main outside part of the ear
- The helix, which is the folded over part around the outside
- The antihelix, which is the Y shaped bump that sticks out
- The antitragus, which is the bump pointing up that is connected to the earlobe
- The tragus, which is the part closest to the cheek that sticks out

Another part of the ear is the Earlobe, also called the lobulus auriculae.

This is the soft part of the ear that hangs down at the bottom.
Some people have earlobes that are loose, and other people have earlobes that are touching the side of their face and aren't loose.



(from: wikipedia - earlobe)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Lymphatic System

Tragus

We just learned about the Antitragus.

On the outer ear we know about:
- The auricle or pinna, which is the main outside part of the ear
- The helix, which is the folded over part around the outside
- The antihelix, which is the Y shaped bump that sticks out
- The antitragus, which is the bump pointing up that is connected to the earlobe

Another part of the ear is the Tragus.

This is the part of the ear that is closest to the cheek.
It sticks out and can be pushed down to close the ear so you can't hear.

Tragus is also the name for the hair that grows around the entrance of the ear.
The name comes from the Greek word τράγος (tragos) meaning goat.


(from: wikipedia - tragus (ear))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Presbyopia

Antitragus

We just learned about the Antihelix.

On the outer ear we know about:
- The auricle or pinna, which is the main outside part of the ear
- The helix, which is the folded over part around the outside
- The antihelix, which is the Y shaped bump that sticks out

Another part of the ear is the Antitragus.

Going up from the bottom of the ear and just connected to the earlobe is the antitragus.
It is a bump that is pointing up.
The shape of this part of the ear helps bring in sounds the way your body wants to hear them.


(from: wikipedia - antitragus)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Astigmatism

Antihelix

We just learned about the Helix.

So we now about the outer ear, which has a part called the auricle or pinna, which has a part called the helix.

Another part of the auricle is the Antihelix.

The antihelix is the bump that sticks out on your ear that is sort of "Y" shaped.


(from: wikipedia - antihelix)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Far Sightedness

Helix

We just learned about the Auricle.

Another part of the ear is the Helix.

This is the curved part at the top of the ear on the outside.


(from: wikipedia - helix (ear))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Near Sightedness

Auricle

We just learned about the Outer Ear.

Part of the outer ear is called the Auricle or pinna.

This is the part of the ear that you can see outside of your head.

The shape of the ear helps bring sounds in and make them louder, and it can also help filter out sounds that are too high or too low for the human ear to hear.


(from: wikipedia - auricle (anatomy))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Refractive Error

Outer Ear

We just learned a little about the Human Ear.

One part of the ear is the Outer Ear.

Just like the name sounds, this is the part of the ear that is outside of the head that you can see.

The outside ear is made from some cartilage and skin, that helps bring sounds into the inner ear.
There are 9 different muscles part of the outer ear, that help the ear work.


(from: wikipedia - outer ear)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Myokymia

Human Ear

We just learned about Metastasis and a whole bunch of other things about Cancer.

Let's move on to learn about the Human Ear!

The ear is the part of the human body that takes in sound waves from the air and turns them into messages that our brain can understand.

It also helps balance, telling us when our head is straight up, or tipped over.

Ears are also one place on the body that people have worn jewelry and piercings for thousands of years.

Some people have big ears, some have little ears, and some have ears like an elf but they all help give one of the important 5 senses of the body.


(from: wikipedia - ear)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Rheum

Metastasis

We've now learned about five of the six common signs of cancer.:
- Cell Growth where the cells grow too big too fast.
- Anti-Growth Signals where the cells don't listen to the body telling them to stop growing.
- Avoiding Apoptosis where the cells don't listen to the body telling them it's time to go away.
- Limitless Replication where the cells keep dividing forever.

- Sustained Angiogenesis where the body keeps making new fresh blood vessels for the cancer to use.

The sixth of the signs of cancer is Metastasis.

This is when cancer spreads to other parts of the body.
(from: wikipedia - metastasis)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Eyelash

Sustained Angiogenesis

We've now learned about four of the six common signs of cancer.:
- Cell Growth where the cells grow too big too fast.
- Anti-Growth Signals where the cells don't listen to the body telling them to stop growing.
- Avoiding Apoptosis where the cells don't listen to the body telling them it's time to go away.
- Limitless Replication where the cells keep dividing forever.

Another of the signs of cancer is Sustained Angiogenesis.

Angiogenesis is how the body makes new blood vessels that carry blood through the body.
Sustained means it keeps happening over and over.

When the body gets hurt and starts to heal up, it makes new blood vessels to help bring more blood to heal.
Usually this is only something that happens when the body is hurt or when the body is growing as a young baby.


(from: wikipedia - angiogenesis)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Bulbar Conjunctiva

Limitless Replication

We've now learned about six of the common signs of cancer.:
- Cell Growth where the cells grow too big too fast.
- Anti-Growth Signals where the cells don't listen to the body telling them to stop growing.
- Avoiding Apoptosis where the cells don't listen to the body telling them it's time to go away.

Another of the six signs of cancer is Limitless Replication.

This means cells can keep dividing forever.

Normally in the human body our cells will divide a few times, and then eventually they will get to a point where they've divided too many times and they will die off and go away.

Cancer cells don't do that, so they can just keep dividing over and over forever.


(from: wikipedia - hayflick limit)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Lacrimal Lake

Avoiding Apoptosis

We just learned about the Anti-Growth Signals of cancer, where the cells won't listen to the body telling them to stop.

Another part of cancer is Avoiding Apoptosis.

All of the cells in our body are created, live for a while and then go away.
Apoptosis is the part at the end of a cell's life where it would die and go away.

In a cancer cell, it doesn't listen to the body telling it that it's time to go away, and so they avoid apoptosis.
These cells that are not working right do not go away, and then the body can be flooded with the wrong types of cells.


(from: wikipedia - apoptosis)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Canthus

Anti-Growth Signals

We just learned about the Cell Growth and Division where cells get bigger, multiply and don't go away.

Another one of the six signs of cancer is called Anti-Growth Signals.

When the cells in the body grow or multiply, and don't die off or go away, the body uses things called "tumor supressor genes" to send messages to the cells saying that it is time to stop growing and dividing, and to go away.

It's kind of like being in a car, going too fast, and you hit the brakes to slow down or stop.

Cells that have been mutated into cancer don't listen to those messages and they keep growing.
This would be like the brakes in the car not working, so it keeps going too fast.

If the cancer cells in the body do not listen, the cells can grow and divide and spread over the body.


(from: wikipedia - tumor suppressor gene)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Meibomian Gland

Cell Growth

We just learned a little about Malignant Tumor.

One of the six signs of Cancer is Cell Growth.

Usually in the human body, cells are created, they grow a little, and then they either split up into more cells, or they go away.
Sometimes cells don't do what they are supposed to, and they don't go away.
They just keep getting bigger and bigger, or keep dividing but not going away.
That can be a sign that makes some of the tumors we've learned about.


(from: wikipedia - cell growth)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Epicanthic Fold

Malignant Tumor

We just learned about the Benign Tumor.

Another part of a disease is a Malignant Tumor.

Remember that a tumor or neoplasm is really just a bunch of extra cells that the body made that aren't supposed to be there.

Malignant means bad, so it is a bad tumor that is causing problems in the body.

A malignant tumor is also called cancer.
The human body makes new cells all the time, but the cells are supposed to live for a while, do their job and then go away.

Malignant tumors have many new cells that are not made right, and they also don't go away and continue to grow.
They can get in the way of other parts of the body like blood vessels, and they can spread to other parts of the body.

The name Cancer actually comes from the Greek word for crab "καρκίνος" (karkinos), because early Greek doctors thought a swollen tumor looked almost like the color of a crab.


(from: wikipedia - cancer)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Eyelids

Benign Tumor

We just learned about the Neoplasm.

Another thing that happens to the human body is a Benign tumor.

Remember that a neoplasm is really just a bunch of extra cells that the body made that aren't supposed to be there.
Sometimes they are a lump you can see on the outside of someone's body, and sometimes they are inside the body on the organs.

If a tumor is staying where it is at, and is not spreading through the body then it is called benign.
That usually means it is not very bad and is not hurting a person.


(from: wikipedia - benign tumor)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Nasolacrimal Duct

Neoplasm

We just learned about Lymphoma.

Another part of the cancer disease is a Neoplasm, also sometimes called a tumor.

Sometimes on a person's skin they get a lump that grows bigger than the skin around it.
Other times a lump grows inside a person's body on one of their organs like their intestines or lungs.

These growing lumps are not a part of the way the body normally grows, so doctors will take a look at them and see if they could turn into something like cancer.
If the lump is bad, a lot of times they will do surgery to remove them.

The word neoplasm comes from the word "neo" which means new, and "plasm" which means the liquid or gooey fat in the body.
So it basically means a new growth of something.


(from: wikipedia - neoplasm)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Lacrimal Sac

Lymphoma

We just learned about the Chronic Myeloid Leukemia.

Another type of cancer that happens in blood cells is called Lymphoma.

This type of cancer usually is when there is a problem with the lymph nodes that are all over the body.
Lymph nodes are normally small, but with this type of cancer they will swell up and don't work right anymore.

The two most common types of lymphoma are called Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Sometimes to get better a person will have to go through chemotherapy, which is a type of treatment where they use radiation to try and help.

(from: wikipedia - lymphoma)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Lacrimal Ducts

Chronic Myeloid Leukemia

We just learned about the Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia.

Another type of leukemia is Chronic Myeloid Leukemia.

We've learned about ALL, AML, and CLL.

The fourth type of leukemia is CML, meaning it is chronic and myelogenous.

Remember that the chronic means that it is slow moving, and the myelogenous means that the kind of white blood calls that are having problems are neutrophils, monocytes, eosinophils, and basophils.

When the body makes these myeloid cells, they don't go through the normal life cycle and go away, and the body ends up having too many of those cells.


(from: wikipedia - chronic myelogenous leukemia)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Lacrimal Punctum

Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

We just learned about the type of leukemia called Acute Myeloid Leukemia.

Another type of leukemia is Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia.

Remember we learned that Chronic means the leukemia spreads slower, and the problem is with the lymphocytes.

We know lymphocyte white blood cells are made in the bone marrow.

They start as stem cells, then turn into something called lymphoblasts, then later turn into lymphocytes, and then later turn into B-Cells, T-Cells or NK Cells.

The human body is only supposed to have so many B, T or NK cells, and only so many lymphoblasts.

With CLL, the problem is with the body making too many B cells that are not healthy.

This can cause people to have large lymph nodes, or lower amounts of red blood cells, neutrophils, or platelets.
A person will sometimes get fevers, night sweats, lose weight or feel tired all the time.


(from: wikipedia - chronic lymphocytic leukemia)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Lacrimal Gland