Novocaine, a new action film with Jack Quaid, introduces a new view of the super hero genre. It contains a hero whose super power actually exists.
Word-based nathan “novocaine” Caine (nate) is catapulted in the criminal underworld when his love interest is abducted by bank robbers. In his search to save her from almost particular danger, he absorbs knives and bullets. He even manages to pick up a gun from a burning, hot deep fryer that he then uses to shoot a baddy.
The slogan of the film is: “Meet Nathan Caine, he can’t feel pain.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pyoiljedqa
Nate’s “super power” is a syndrome called congenital analgesia, or congenital insensitivity to pain (CIP). As the name suggests, it is an inability to feel pain. But those who have it really suffer. Being able to feel pain has many advantages.
Adjustments for pain is something of a wrong name. Technically, you are not sensitive to pain – pain is the feeling that the brain constructs from sensory information obtained from the body.
This sensory information can include mechanical injury, such as a dick from a pen or cut from a knife. Or the extremes of warm and cold temperatures, or irritating chemicals such as acids that come into contact with the skin. We call this kind of stimuli ‘harmful’ – which may mean harmful to the body.
The nerve cells (neurons) that detect these stimuli are therefore called nociceptors. They play an essential role in protecting the body against damage. If you step on something sharp, say, you automatically move your foot away. Or if you spill something corrosive on your hand, hurry to a sink to wash the substance.
If nociceptors were not there or did not function properly, your body could not generate pain and respond accordingly. And your hand, foot or other appendix would be hit, burning or giving away in the fryer, while you continue, not being aware of the evolving damage.
This is the main reason that CIP is so dangerous, although fortunately it is extremely rare. There are different variants of CIP and the prevalence varies per subtype. Conggenital insensitivity to Anhidrosis (CIPA) pain, for example, has an estimated incidence of one in 125 million.
What causes the condition? In some problems, problems arise with the microscopic ion channels in the ends of nociceptors. This allows neurons to be activated by harmful stimulation.
You could consider them on-switches for generating pain. If they do not work properly, pain cannot be observed. In other circumstances, nociceptors cannot develop well or die prematurely.
The problem with CIP is that the body not only becomes insensitive to major injuries, but also smaller ones. For example, if you get pieces of grit in your eyes, the natural reaction to free up tears and rubbing or blinking your eyelids to erase them. If there were no pain or irritation, the debris would build up, so that the sensitive outer areas of the eye are damaged as the cornea, which may cause visible swears to develop.
And our bodies not only detect external dangers – they are also sensitive to what happens in us. If we have an inflamed appendix, a kidney stone or a broken bone, our nervous system lets us know by generating pain.
We feel that something is wrong, seek medical help and are treated with antibiotics, surgery and, of course, pain relief. But the consequences of overseing disease – if you are unable to evoke pain – can be extremely dangerous.
People with CIP have been observed that they ignore a wide range of damage of chomped-off tongues to destructive spinal abscesses and from amputated figures to recurring and out of control infections.
CIP also influences the ability of people to feel temperature, because nociceptia and thermal information reach the brain via the same route: the spinothalamic channel. This influences the body’s ability to detect and therefore respond to temperature changes. This means that patients can overheat, especially because this can influence their ability to lose heat by also sweating. This is the case in patients with CIPA.
There is no cure for the situation, but there are ways in which CIP can be managed. People with the condition must be extremely vigilant for signs of injury, such as injury, and to control their temperature to recognize hidden infections. Regular medical check-ups must also search for unnoticed illness and damage.
The future is uncertain, but given that the condition is genetic, gene and stem cell therapies can also be potential treatments.
So, although Nate can get the most not to feel pain, his power is far from super power. Pain may not feel nice, but it saves lives.
Dan Baumgardt, senior teacher, School of Physiology, Pharmacology and Neuroscience, University of Bristol
This article has been re -published from The conversation Under a Creative Commons license. Read the Original article.
