What is the connection between malignant neoplasms and crabs?

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The more common term for malignant neoplasms, cancer, is Latin for crab, and the word "carcinogen," meaning a cancer-causing agent, comes from the Greek word for crab, "karkinos." What is the connection between these two seemingly unrelated things?
Cancer, both the disease and the astronomical constellation, derive from the Latin cancer or cancrum, meaning crab. The astrological sign, of course, is said to resemble a crab and the disease was so named by the ancient Greek physician Galen (129-200 A.D.) who noted the similarity between a certain type of tumor with a crab as well—the swollen veins around the tumor resembling the legs of a crab.

Old English adopted cancer directly from Latin and used it for a variety of spreading sores and ulcers. This early sense survives in the modern word canker. From c.1000 in a manuscript called Læce Boc (Leech Book), collected in Oswald Cockayne’s Leechdoms, Wortcunning, and Starcraft of Early England, Vol. II, 1865:

Gemeng wið þam dustum, clæm on ðone cancer.
(Mix with the dust, smear on the cancer.)

And from Wyclif’s 2 Timothy, 1382:

The word of hem crepith as a kankir

The word was being applied specifically to the disease we today call cancer by the beginning of the 17th century. From Philemon Holland’s translation of Pliny’s Historie of the World:

Cancer is a swelling or sore comming of melancholy bloud, about which the veins appeare of a blacke or swert colour, spread in manner of a Creifish clees.

The astronomical sense of cancer is from the Latin name for the constellation of the crab. The name was known to the Anglo-Saxons, but only as a Latin name and was not assimilated into English until the Middle English period. It appears in Ælfric’s De Temporibus Anni, written c.993, in a list of the constellations of the Zodiac:

Feorða • Cancer • þæt is Crabba
(Fourth, Cancer, that is the crab.)

The Anglicized name appears c.1391 in Chaucer’s Treatise on the Astrolabe:

In this heved of cancer is the grettist declinacioun northward of the sonne...this signe of cancre is clepid the tropik of Somer.
(At this first point (head) of cancer is the greatest declination northward of the sun…this sign of cancer is named the tropic of summer.)

(Source: Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd Edition)  (+ info)

What is your initial reaction to the meaning of a skull tattoo?

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Do they represent death or have some other meanings? What would it mean to get a skull tattoo along with a mystical image or an old school such as a swallow and skull? I asked a similar question and got great feedback, so I am just wondering what the meaning would be behind a swallow and skull tattoo? Any impressions? Thanks!
I would think that the Swallow and Skull would represent life and death.
This for me would mean friends and family of the past compared to the future.
I am not a judgmental person, but would see the person as a "tough" person who had this tattoo.

Good luck with your tattoo.  (+ info)

Skull shape change at age 30. I wear headphones at work as i am on technical support,head shape is changing?

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From the middle part of the skull ican see that there is a bump raised high,its been few months i have noticed this change, can anyone help me,with my query?
Your reply will be appreciated.
Head phones will not cause your head shape to change, they don't have that much pressure per unit mass to cause such a drastic change within your skull. It could be bump on the skin, could be a tumor, benign most cases. Sometimes it could be Ganglion Cyst, which is also treatable. This bump could also have been a result of hard surface contact( you hit your head and do not remember). All of which I am saying is a hypothetical guess, I have no medical history to refer to so I cannot give you exact diagnosis.

Suggestion: See a general doctor at a walk in clinic or your family doctor.

good luck =]  (+ info)

Can an ear infection eat a hole through your skull and expose your brain?

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I have an acquaintance who is telling her elderly mother that her ear infection has created a hole in her skull exposing her brain. The mother is scared her daughter might die.

I don't believe this is possible. Nor do I believe that if it were possible that an ER doctor would just send her home with antibiotics.
It's not true and it's not funny for her to say this to the elderly mother. That's cruel.  (+ info)

What are the symptoms and healing procedures for a cracked skull?

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I need this information for a paper I am writing, and none of the internet sites I've been checking out are helping. I just need to know how a person can tell if some one has a cracked skull and the healing methods to repair it.
It depends on how bad the "cracked Skull" is. A fractured skull can be very simple or it can be very complicated. A simple fracture from a fall, there is no visible way of telling if the skull is cracked or not. An x-ray of the skull is done to check for a fracture. A open fracture of the skull is complicated and is easy to see that the skull is fractured, usually lots of blood and sorry to sound gross, but brain tissue hanging out.
Symptoms would be heacache, nausea, vomiting, may have a brief loss of consciousness, or in a serious fracture the person may have seizures.
If it is an open fracture then surgery is the only way to fix the injury, a simple fracture usually heals on its own, but person is cautioned to avoid any activity that may cause any head trauma, injury so that the fracture can heal and not get worse.  (+ info)

What are those things they drill into your skull during brain surgery? Well the little brace thing?

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What are those things they drill into your skull during brain surgery? Well the little brace thing? And why do they put it on there and drill it into your skull?
i think you are asking about a "halo brace" for people with neck fractures?Yes,it is fastened to the skull.
do a search on:halo brace
or also:halo thoracic brace
i hope this helped.  (+ info)

How much would it cost to get a tattoo of the grim reaper holding his own skull?

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He is standing with his scythe over his right shoulder and you cannot see inside his hood. He is holding what appears to be a skull out to you in his left hand and the skull has hair blowing in the wind. I want to know how much this would cost for there is more shading than there is details.
$10.00  (+ info)

What do the results of my sons skull xray mean?

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My son is 17months old, a doctor thought the sutures in his skull fused prematurely so he had an xray taken. the results say his coronal and sagittal sutures are patent. Any idea what this means in medical terms?
i know his soft spot is already closed, so with the results of this x ray will something need to be done? surgery?
  (+ info)

How long could headaches persist after fracturing my skull?

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I fell from a moving car a week ago and have just been released from the hospital. I suffered a fracture to my temporal bone, one to the back of my skull and one to the back of my jaw. I know people who have had bad concussions (which I did) and say they lived with headaches for several years. Anyone with personal or occupational experience that could tell me what I may have to deal with in the future?
It's possible it could be for the rest of your life, considering the nature and extent of the injury. I strongly suggest you see an neurologist speicalist for your symptoms. They can perform diagnostic testing and then properly diagnosis your current condition. At that point, an appropriate treatment plan can be determined and aid in your recovery.

Good luck.  (+ info)

Can a baseball cap reshape or damage your skull in adult hood?

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I wear a hat for work 5 to 6 days a week for at least 7 hours each day. I was just curious with all the hat shifting and pulling and taking off. Is it possible that I could be doing any damage on my skull?
No, your head finished growing and calcified many years ago. You shouldn't be worried at all. It's all hard bone now, so it doesn't change shape.  (+ info)

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