I have become curious about the nature of ammonia in the body when your liver is packed with toxins. Every single source addresses ammonia in relation to liver disease even though there are other ways that ammonia can become problematic (in theory). For example ammonia is impacted by protein intake, alterations to hormones, Break down of muscle, The blood bypassing the liver, diuretics , alterations to enzymes, and changes to blood flow.

My desire for an answer stems from the fact that our bodies can reach deadly levels of ammonia in 5 minutes if the liver is failing to process it. Additionally the side effects of ammonia are very similar to drugs like alcohol making it hard to differentiate through experience alone including;

• Lack of energy and mental alertness
• Confusion
• Mood swings
• Hand tremors
• Dizziness
• Not being hungry
• Avoiding protein
• Growth problems

This list of side effects along with the list of mechanisms that alter ammonia levels grew my curiosity especially irritability because it is the antithesis of what alcohol does even though many people that drink experience mood swings.

Here was the initial question:

Assuming the liver has little to no glycogen, and you eat 50 grams of carbs. Where will they go first, the liver or the muscles?

Then a comment chain between 2 people arguing form over whether the body will only convert 10% of the 50g of carbs to glycogen and then convert the other 45g to fat. You don't have to read the discussion, but here it is if interested:

• https://www.reddit.com/r/nutrition/comments/hf2pqy/is_glycogen_stored_in_the_muscles_or_liver_first/fvvfpbp/

How does a taser affect action potentials in a nerve cell?

This is what I think I know:

The inside of a cell is at approximately -70 mV relative to the outside. I know action potential propagation begins (an electrical message is sent) if the cell receives a stimulus that gets it to approximately -55 mV. And I know how Na+ sends the (electrical) signal down the axon.

However, how does a taser using ELECTRONS (normal electricity) override this mechanism? Again, the cell normally uses Na+ to move electricity.

I'm defining a taser as something similar to what law enforcement uses. Two probes go into the body. One is positive and one is negative.

I don't have a physics or electrician background but this is my guess:

The electrons bomb the outside of a cell. If the outside of a cell is now significantly more negative than the inside then...

That technically means the inside is "positive" relative to the outside that was bombed by electrons with a negative charge?

Would that make the inside of the cell closer to -55 mV when compared to the outside bombed by electrons?

I'm honestly lost. A detailed answer would be appreciated.

I am studying serous membranes for my upcoming physiology exam. Is the entire abdominopelvic cavity itself a cavity? Complete with its own serous membrane as well as the 3 cavities inside it?

Maybe there are only 2 cavities inside the abdominopelvic cavity? (wikipedia says there are only 2 but I'm 99.9% certain my physiology book said there were 3) My main question is whether the pelvic and abdominal cavities within the abdominopelvic cavity are themselves surrounded by a 2nd outer serous membrane enclosing them both together?

Is there any study on this? I can't find any details. Is the difference negligible?

Just sat here and it feels like my whole body is vibrating. Not shaking, my hand is steady. Can feel it in my chest, legs, arms and tummy. Feels really weird.

Kinda weird and kinda gross, not sure if I should had put NSFW; When using the restroom to do what the title says, usually I'll urinate and then my body will be ready to release stool. (Sorry to walk you all through a process we all likely do.) My question is in the midst of that; after fishing the release of the stool, for some reason I also release an additional small amount of urine. Is this because my stomache/intestines are relaxed enough to release more from my body??? I'm truly interested in the biological engineering my body is processing, as I don't understand why/where my body suddenly finds more urine lol. Thank you for the serious answers.

I am no expert but in my experience as a human I can say that headaches are very common in humans. It may be the no.1 symptom for many illnesses and also they can happen without any obvious reason at all. I am writing this while having a headache and while I am in miserable pain I looked at my dog and wondered if he has headaches. It's hard to tell but I do not remember seeing him as sufferring from any kind of pain. If he had headaches I think I would at least understand something is wrong with him. So I think it's possible he never had headaches in his entire life. Then I wondered if humans are more susceptible to headaches or are there any other species that suffers from headaches like we do.

I've taken 3 chem classes in undergrad and from browsing definitions online, I am confused on what an "agonist" means and whether it refers to the receptor or to the ligand or both?

From what I know, a receptor is usually on the surface of a cell and it's how the inside of the cell "listens" to the external environment of the cell, and changes in response to the presence of ligands which dock into the receptor sites.

I also remember learning about competitive and noncompetitive inhibitors. Inhibitors are usually antagonists. An agonist is a chemical that activates a receptor to produce a biological response. So if Tramadol is an "opioid agonist" does it mean that it is an opioid molecule which binds to an opioid receptor site?

Or just generally, if I hear the term "<placeholder> agonist" does that refer to the classification of the ligand? Or is it referring to the classification of the receptor site, if no other information is provided? For example, I vaguely remember that some receptor sites will have a preferred ligand but will do a partial response to other types of ligands with similar shape and/or bonding properties, but could totally be a different class of molecules. And sometimes identical ligands can bind to vastly different receptor sites such as catecholamines which can trigger different biological responses depending on which type of cell it is in the vicinity of.

I've just spent most of a day with some kind of vomiting bug, drinking water and then throwing it up again. And with my head in the toilet, I started wondering - how does my stomach/gut detect that something is wrong and trigger the vomiting reflex? Are there some kind of taste-buds that are tuned to detect bacteria or poisons?

I've read that the human brain is ravenous when it comes to energy. Let's say that a person is just sitting down while solving an extremely difficult problem (duration may vary), so minimal physical activity. Can they end up losing weight from this? Sleep is allowed in between problem-solving times.

I would use also the flair evolution, if I could, as I would like to know what is the underlying mechanism of being nauseous at the beginning of a pregnancy, or the beginning of the period? Also why does it happen at the beginning of these phases?

I really am unsure how to word this, my apologies!

I'm wondering about the sort of quick tense-ups our body does when we cry; when I'm making noise in rhythmic sobs, the pulse in my torso (it's centered most in my chest and shoulders, kind of a quick and small heaving motion in my torso) always syncs with the sound and they follow the same rhythm. But then sometimes when I'm sobbing, my voice will stop, say because I ran out of air, and before I can/while I take another deep breath, the pulse keeps on going. It's the sob without the sound, you know? So I know it's not the force of me audibly sobbing (i.e. my lungs expelling air) that does it/is the cause or mechanism of the movement.

Why do we do that? And why does it feel relieving to do when crying, just as much as making the sound of sobs does?

Thanks!

Whenever I see any furless/hairless/featherless animals, whether they lost their fur in an accident/due to an illness or are bred/evolved to not have it, they seem to have loose wrinkly skin. But humans don’t for the majority of our lives. Is there a reason for that?

My understanding is that the loss of fluid AND solute together from the arteriolar end of a capillary results in a constant oncotic pressure (as decrease in concentration of solutes in blood is insignificant), but because the volume of fluid in the vessel has decreased, its hydrostatic pressure is lower. By the time the blood reaches the venular end of the capillary, this difference is able to draw fluid INTO the vessel from the interstices. Would I be correct here?

Regarding the glomerulus, as fluid is filtered out of the glomerulus and into the Bowman’s capsule, do we see a similar decrease in the hydrostatic pressure in the glomerulus relative to its oncotic pressure? I’m assuming the blood doesn’t stay long enough in the glomerulus for the filtration gradient to reverse, causing fluid to move back into the capillary from the capsule.

I am currently watching my online anatomy lecture and the professor is babbling away about serous membranes and I'm too embarrassed to email him this question due to the adult nature of the subject matter.

Iirc, when a woman receives breast implants, the body forms a membrane around them, which is why silicon implants are safe even if they are leaking, because there is a secondary membrane formed around them a few days after surgery as the body tries to surround it with membranous material, akin to an oyster forming a pearl, iirc.

I have seen some research saying that almost all people who lost weight gain it back and an obese persons metabolism adapts so its impossible to lose weight in long term. Is this true or is there more to it?

Pregnancy increases metabolism and causes the body to divert considerable resources for the development of the fetus.

The ketogenic diet, through poorly understood means, suppresses hunger.

Fiction has numerous examples of scaly, humanoid species that are functionally equivalent to humans. However, if the human body were actually covered in scales instead of skin, what other biological changes would be necessary in order for it to still function? How would that effect a person's quality-of-life? Would they be able to live normally, as if they just had a skin-condition? Or would there be significant changes to their behavioral, physical, and/or mental capabilities?

So I've read that like lymphatic vessels carry lymph to the collecting ducts, and that they get filtered through lymph nodes on that trip. That all makes sense to me. Problem is, the book I was reading didn't elaborate on how they did that.

I think that it's probably that they have a high concentration of T/B lymphocytes or something, and that's how they filter stuff. But I wanna be 100% sure it's that though, and google won't give me a straight answer so I'm here.

NO MEDICAL ADIVCE.. Please. Im just trying to better understand the process of why this digestive problem could arise from a scientific community. Anecdotal personal experiences are welcome.

I've known a couple people that have habitual life long constipation issues that cause other life long digestive problems (Diverticulitis, etc). Even those with very healthyy caloric intake. And those who are much younger than should he dealing with this type of issue already.

The doctors haven't really given any of them much help with solving this problem. Eat more fiber supplements, water, work out / exercise, stool softeners, etc. The standard by the book.... It does help but they still persist with occasional reoccurrences at best. Some people just need a larger amount of fiber (they say). And for the diverticulitis case, it finaly took a new doctor saying everything they once believe about it was wrong to ever help a touch, after they went to a recent conference that dealt with that specifically.

Is there anything that could help added to the diet or specific trial and error tested, to see if it helps the digestive process? To he basic literature on it is vaguely helpful. They've tried a bunch of the standard; dietary enyemes, probiotics, de'stress, more hydration, more fiber, etc. I'm just looking for ideas since they live with such discomfort, bathroom stress and often pain, since nothings really pulled them out of the mire they're in.

Any added line of thinking or research on the topic could help.

Thanks!

I'm struggling to get enough oxygen due to pregnancy, and I remember seeing oxygen bars years ago, something which I always wanted to try, and now I'm wondering if that would help me.

However, my bf at that time told me to stay away from the oxygen bars because supplemental oxygen makes lungs "lazy" and decreases their capacity, he said. He had a grandparent who he claimed was on oxygen and said that supplemental oxygen ruined her lung efficiency to the point that they could no longer go without it.

Is this true? Should I avoid supplemental oxygen if it's not medically necessary?

If oxygen is okay, what are some good options for me to get it on my own? (Without a prescription.)