Scratch Results

Which do you want first, the good news or the bad news? I assume you want the good. The good news, so I'm told, is that itch you have could be caused by a gene. The bad news is that it - the itch not the gene - could be linked with a condition such as diabetes, eczema or liver disease. Truly, I'm not talking about your average scratch, but the one brought on by primary localised cutaneous amyloidosis. You've probably guessed by now that the skin gene which has mutated and caused the defect is called oncostatin M receptor-beta.
I thought I'd share this with you. With this news, I'm afraid, I've semi-given away the secret of how we dwellers on England's frigid East Coast spend our long, dark Winter evenings - ploughing through dusty old medical textbooks rescued last summer from the skip outside the rear doors of North East Driffield Public Library.