"When many cures are offered for a disease, it means the disease is not curable" -Anton Chekhov
''Once you tell people there's a cure for something, the more likely they are to pressure doctors to prescribe it.'' -Robert Ehrlich, drug advertising executive.
"Opinions are like sphincters, everyone has one." - Chris Rangel
The Suck-It-Up Gene: There might be a genetic explanation for different levels of pain tolerance:
The gene makes catechol-O-methyl transferase (COMT), an enzyme vital for mopping up the dopamine brain chemical linked with sensing pain.
Tough guys and wimps carry different forms of the gene, showed Jon-Kar Zubieta and his team at the University of Michigan and The National Institute of Alcohol and Alcoholism, Rocksville, Maryland.
People with a particularly active form of COMT were hardier, whereas people with a lazier form felt pain more acutely. Those with both forms of the gene, one from each parent, experienced intermediate pain, the researchers found.
