I agree somewhat with PZ on last night’s House, M.D. As soon as they discovered that the kid had cells with different type of DNA, the obvious answer was chimerism. I suspect that any decent (pre) medical student would have known it right away. Chimerism is something that is included in introductory genetics classes. Of course the viewing public may not be aware of it, which is why TV writers decided that chimerism was the mystery answer.
Another thing missing from the show was the realization that when they ran the DNA, the “mutated” cells had a genotype consistent with that of a sibling.
Speaking of chimeras, I recently ran across this report of a child who was discovered to have one testicle and one ovary.
Strain et al. (1998) A True Hermaphrodite Chimera Resulting from Embryo Amalgamation after in Vitro Fertilization. New England Journal of Medicine 338:166-169. (link)
High rates of successful pregnancy after in vitro fertilization depend on placing more than one embryo into the mother, a practice resulting in a 30-to-35-fold increase in dizygotic-twin deliveries. Increased frequencies of twin-associated anomalies might also therefore be expected. Chimerism, the presence in a single person of cells derived from two or more zygotes, is one such rare anomaly. It is usually ascertained through anomalous blood-grouping results or (for XX/XY chimeras) sex reversal or intersex.
We used DNA polymorphisms to investigate a 46,XX/46,XY hermaphrodite conceived by in vitro fertilization. We found not only that the child is a chimera, but also that he must have resulted from amalgamation of two embryos, each derived from an independent, separately fertilized ovum.
If you are interested in the accuracy of House MD, “The Medical Science of House, M.D.” by Andrew Holtz is NOW available.
http://astore.amazon.com/holtzrepor[…]6485-5696031 or http://doiop.com/HouseBook
Hello:
A while I tried to contact the producers of House M.D to tell them they have the perfect vehicle to educate or expose the general public to the efficacy of Orthomolecular medicine. For those of you who do not know what Orthomolecular medicine is, Linus Pauling (2 time Nobel Laurete) defined Orthomolecular medicine as “the treatment of disease by the provision of the optimum molecular environment, especially the optimum concentrations of substances normally present in the human body.” www.orthomolecular.org I suggested that the character of Dr.House being a maverick M.D could explore the possibility of using Orthomolecular medicine to cure his addiction to pain killers. Dr. House’s counterpart in Orthomolecular medicine would gradually convince House on the efficacy of Orthomolecular medicine. From time to time Dr. House would call his orthomolecular counterpart to help treat his patients.Perhaps over time as Dr.House is convinced of the efficacy of Orthomolecular medicine he begins to incorporate it into his arsenal in treating patients.When I pitched this idea to the Fox executives they said they could not accept suggestions from the general public. The public is very anxious to know about natural substances that can prevent them from getting ill. People are tired of the pharmacuetical companies distributing there toxic pills. I feel a couple of very well written episodes about the efficacy of Orthomolecular medicine would be ground breaking television.
Thank You,
Update