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+--- Thread: Article Woman barely feels pain & heals rapidly. Scientists are unraveling her weird gene. (/thread-14158.html)
Woman barely feels pain & heals rapidly. Scientists are unraveling her weird gene. - C C - May 26, 2023
https://gizmodo.com/scottish-woman-doesnt-feel-pain-genetic-mutations-1850467489
EXCERPTS: Scientists are starting to crack the mystery behind one woman’s pain-free life. In new research, a team in the UK dove deep into the genetic make-up of Jo Cameron, a woman in Scotland with a rare mutation that leaves her practically incapable of experiencing physical and emotional pain. Among other things, the team found that her mutation seems to turn on and off a variety of other genes, including those linked to wound healing and mood.
[...] in a study published Tuesday in the journal Brain, the same UCL team is closer to understanding the underlying mechanisms behind the woman’s mutant powers.
[...] Like any novel discovery, these findings will have to be validated by others. And even a pain-free life doesn’t come without struggles. People with these conditions have to be especially careful to avoid ignoring or missing serious injuries, for example. But the lessons learned from Cameron’s genetics could very well pay off in the future. Despite some early promise, pain treatments based on affecting FAAH directly haven’t panned out. But this research suggests that there are other avenues to try, and the UCL team is already planning to do so... (MORE - missing details)