...this should give you an idea as to the content of a routine medical school lecture:
"Alkaptonuria is a rather benign metabolic defect in tyrosine degradation that causes the patient's urine to progressively darken over time. ...I happen to have a sample of urine from a patient with Alkaptonuria that I've kept from several years back. I'll just let you guys pass this around."
"On the other hand, a much more serious metabolic disorder known as Maple Syrup Urine Disease manifests as a result of an inability to catabolize branch chain amino acids, and results in urine that is not only darkened, but also smells distinctly like maple syrup. ...I also happen to have a sample of urine from a patient with Maple Syrup Urine Disease that I've kept from several years back. I'll just let you guys pass this around. ....Oh, come on, nobody is going to smell it!?"
Medical school: filled with interesting facts and even more interesting smells. Don't forget the pancakes.
did anybody take a whiff? Maybe if he had a little "younger" sample people would be more apt.
ReplyDeleteYeah, people did. I personally didn't want to remove the cap and chance spilling it, so I tested to see if you could smell it through the vial. You could. ...It was potent. And it smelled remarkably like maple syrup.
ReplyDeleteThat is quite possibly the most pleasantly smelling disease-related symptom in existence. And bonus: you could wet the bed and night and your sleeping partner wouldn't even know...they would just wake up and think someone was cooking breakfast.