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<DIV>Thank you for your response, but from the nature of your response I gather
that this was quite a stretch and that you were grasping at straws in order to
interpret divrei chazal. I say this because instead of simply quoting any
standard medical text on diseases and their description, you chose to search out
some far flung research journals (i.e., not things that are well known to every
medical practitioner for the last 2000 years, things not well proven and
accepted as fact but still experimental and being researched and based on the
research you cite some of which is not accepted by all and in dispute). You
cite a study on rabbits and another on mother's diet and neonates and the effect
on their sense of smell, but we are discussing humans in utero. Furthermore, the
research you cite (based on their titles, I have not read them, please correct
me if I am wrong in this assumption from the titles) does not refer to any
danger to life, immediate or otherwise, based on disregarding the desire brought
on by the smell. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Also, Bulimia Nervosa is a condition where at best, the time for risk to
life is measured in years or decades, not the same day.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>If I am wrong in any of my above assertions, I will gladly defer to you as
I am only a lay person in these matters.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Kol Tuv</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Chaim Manaster</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>> R. Chaim Manaster asked:<BR>> >Any medical types on the list? Is
there any syndrome known to modern<BR>> <BR>.... <BR>Dr.
JB responded: <BR>> There may be enhanced olfactory sensitivity in
bulimia [what may be what<BR>> the gemara <BR>> calls "bulmus"]. There is
olfactory dysfunction in neuropsychiatric<BR>> disorder (Martzke JS,<BR>>
Kopala LC, Good KP. Olfactory dysfunction in neuropsychiatric disorders:<BR>>
review<BR>> and methodological considerations. Biol Psychiatry. 1997
Oct<BR>> 15;42(8):721-32).<BR>> <BR>CM wrote: <BR>> >The
closest I can come up with (but no cigar) is the strange eating desires<BR>>
>of women when pregnant, I guess brought on by all the hormonal
changes<BR>> brought<BR>> >on by pregnancy, (I assume this is true and
not fiction), as well as morning<BR>> >sickness. But I doubt these
conditions can put the mother in significant<BR>> danger?<BR>>
<BR>> <BR>Dr. JB responded: <BR>> The hypothesis that there is
enhanced olfactory sensitivity in pregnant<BR>> women has<BR>> been
recently debunked (Swallow BL, Lindow SW, Aye M, Masson EA, Alasalvar C,<BR>>
Quantick P, Hanna J. Smell perception during early pregnancy: no
evidence<BR>> of an<BR>> adaptive mechanism. BJOG. 2005 Jan;112(1):57-62).
<BR>> </DIV>
<DIV>CM wrote:<BR>> >Rashi seems to learn that the fetus smells the odor.
Does a fetus in<BR>> utero have<BR>> >a sense of smell? Can the
odor wafting about in the atmosphere get through<BR>> all the<BR>>
>layers to reach the fetus even if it has a developed sense of smell?
I<BR>> imagine,<BR>> >it would not? Anyone who knows? I think some are
maghia rashi so that it<BR>> is the mother<BR>> >who smells the odor,
not the fetus?<BR>> <BR>Dr. JB responded:<BR>> The fetus may be sensitive
to certain odors. RASHI was 100% correct.<BR>....</DIV>
<DIV>> Semke E, Distel H, Hudson R. Specific enhancement of olfactory
receptor<BR>> sensitivity associated with foetal learning of food odors in
the rabbit. <BR>> Naturwissenschaften. 1995 Mar;82(3):148-9. <BR>>
<BR>> Schaal B, Marlier L, Soussignan R. Human foetuses learn odours
from their<BR>> pregnant<BR>> mother's diet. Chem Senses. 2000
Dec;25(6):729-37.<BR>> <BR>> Olfactory responsiveness was assessed in 24
neonates born to mothers who<BR>> had or had<BR>> not consumed anise
flavour during pregnancy. Both groups of infants were<BR>>
followed-up<BR>> for behavioural markers of attraction and aversion when
exposed to anise<BR>> odour and a<BR>> control odour immediately after
birth and on day 4. Infants born to<BR>> anise-consuming<BR>> mothers
evinced a stable preference for anise odour over this period,<BR>> whereas
those<BR>> born to anise non-consuming mothers displayed aversion or
neutral<BR>> responses. This<BR>> study provides the first clear evidence
that through their diet human mothers<BR>> influence the hedonic polarity of
their neonates' initial olfactory responses.<BR>> The findings have potential
implications for the early mother-to-infant<BR>> transmission of chemosensory
information relative to food and addictive<BR>> products.<BR>> <BR>>
<BR>> Schaal B, Marlier L, Soussignan R. Olfactory function in the
human fetus:<BR>> evidence<BR>> from selective neonatal responsiveness to
the odor of amniotic fluid. Behav<BR>> Neurosci.<BR>> 1998
Dec;112(6):1438-49.<BR>>
===================================================<BR>> <BR>> KT<BR>>
<BR>> Josh</DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>