Human nose: Difference between revisions
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In [[New Zealand]], nose pressing ("[[hongi]]") is a traditional [[greeting]] amongst Maori people. However it is now generally confined to certain traditional celebrations. |
In [[New Zealand]], nose pressing ("[[hongi]]") is a traditional [[greeting]] amongst Maori people. However it is now generally confined to certain traditional celebrations. |
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[[Jewish]] people are often portrayed as having big noses in [[Racial antisemitism|antisemitism]] propaganda.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/story3.htm|title=How to Tell a Jew|publisher=www.calvin.edu|accessdate=2009-06-07}}</ref> The term "Jewish nose" is controversial.<ref>[http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/286/17/2161 The "Jewish Nose" and Plastic Surgery: Origins and Implications] Beth Preminger, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, NY, JAMA. 2001;286:2161.</ref> In China and some other locations in East Asia, Westerners (Caucasians) are often designated as having "big" or "high" noses, due to the |
[[Jewish]] people are often portrayed as having big noses in [[Racial antisemitism|antisemitism]] propaganda.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/story3.htm|title=How to Tell a Jew|publisher=www.calvin.edu|accessdate=2009-06-07}}</ref> The term "Jewish nose" is controversial.<ref>[http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/286/17/2161 The "Jewish Nose" and Plastic Surgery: Origins and Implications] Beth Preminger, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, NY, JAMA. 2001;286:2161.</ref> In China and some other locations in East Asia, Westerners (Caucasians) are often designated as having "big" or "high" noses, due to the differences in shape and proportion between noses typical of Caucasians and those typical of Chinese.<ref>http://www.radio86.co.uk/china-insight/china-perspective/making-it-in-china/13138/fat-ladies-and-handsome-men ("To be “big nose” in China is considered something good. Many Chinese have expressed their dissatisfaction regarding their own, sometimes a bit flat, nose."); http://middlekingdomlife.com/guide/understanding-attraction-foreign-men-china.htm ("Finally, and it's a point worth mentioning here . . . given how Western physical characteristics (i.e., 'big eyes,' 'tall nose')"); http://weber.ucsd.edu/~dkjordan/scriptorium/Anti-AmericanVerse.html</ref> |
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==Evolutionary hypotheses== |
==Evolutionary hypotheses== |
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Revision as of 17:43, 30 September 2010
| Human nose | |
|---|---|
 Human nose in profile | |
| Details | |
| Artery | sphenopalatine artery, greater palatine artery |
| Vein | facial vein |
| Nerve | external nasal nerve |
| Identifiers | |
| TA98 | A06.1.01.001 A01.1.00.009 |
| TA2 | 117 |
| FMA | 46472 |
| Anatomical terminology | |
The visible part of the human nose is the protruding part of the face that bears the nostrils. The shape of the nose is determined by the ethmoid bone and the nasal septum, which consists mostly of cartilage and which separates the nostrils. On average the nose of a male is larger than that of a female.
The nose has an area of specialised cells which are responsible for smelling (part of the olfactory system). Another function of the nose is the conditioning of inhaled air, warming it and making it more humid. Hairs inside the nose prevent large particles from entering the lungs. Sneezing is usually caused by foreign particles irritating the nasal mucosa, but can more rarely be caused by sudden exposure to bright light (called the photic sneeze reflex) or touching the external auditory canal. Sneezing is a means of transmitting infections because it creates aerosols in which the droplets can harbour microbes.
Anatomy
The nasal root is the top of the nose, forming an indentation at the suture where the nasal bones meet the frontal bone. The anterior nasal spine is the thin projection of bone at the midline on the lower nasal margin, holding the cartilaginous center of the nose.[1]
Related medical conditions
One of the most common medical conditions involving the nose are nosebleeds (in medicine: epistaxis). Most of them occur in Kiesselbach's area (synonym: Little's area). Nasal congestion is a common symptom of infections or other inflammations of the nasal lining (rhinitis), such as in allergic rhinitis or vasomotor rhinitis (resulting from nasal spray abuse). Most of these conditions also cause anosmia, which is the medical term for a loss of smell. This may also occur in other conditions, for example following trauma, in Kallmann syndrome or Parkinson's disease.
Nose-picking is a common, mildly taboo habit. Medical risks include the spread of infections, nosebleeds and, rarely, self-induced perforation of the nasal septum. Nose fetishism (or nasophilia) is the sexual fetish (or paraphilia) for the nose. The psychiatric condition of extreme nose picking is termed rhinotillexomania.
Trauma of the nose (for example, during vaginal delivery) can result in a nasal fracture or nasal septum deviation.[citation needed] The nose is a common site of foreign bodies. The nose is susceptible to frostbite. Nasal flaring is a sign of respiratory distress that involves widening of the nostrils on inspiration.
Because of the special nature of the blood supply to the human nose and surrounding area, it is possible for retrograde infections from the nasal area to spread to the brain. For this reason, the area from the corners of the mouth to the bridge of the nose, including the nose and maxilla, is known to doctors as the danger triangle of the face.
A rhinoplasty plastic surgery for aesthetic surgery Specific systemic diseases, infections or other conditions that may result in destruction of part of the nose (for example, the nasal bridge, or nasal septal perforation) are rhinophyma, skin cancer (for example, basal cell carcinoma), Wegener's granulomatosis, systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, tuberculosis, syphilis, leprosy and exposure to cocaine, chromium or toxins. The nose may be stimulated to grow in acromegaly.
Samter's triad is the simultaneous occurrence in a patient of asthma, nasal polyps and aspirin sensitivity.
Culture
Some people choose to get rhinoplasty to change the aesthetic appearance of their nose. Nose piercings are also common, such as nostril, septum or bridge.
In New Zealand, nose pressing ("hongi") is a traditional greeting amongst Maori people. However it is now generally confined to certain traditional celebrations.
Jewish people are often portrayed as having big noses in antisemitism propaganda.[2] The term "Jewish nose" is controversial.[3] In China and some other locations in East Asia, Westerners (Caucasians) are often designated as having "big" or "high" noses, due to the differences in shape and proportion between noses typical of Caucasians and those typical of Chinese.[4]
Evolutionary hypotheses
The human nose protrudes much more than those of the great apes. Despite its size the human nose is less sensitive than an ape's, and due to human bipedalism is less able to detect ground olfaction. The time of the appearance of the nose in human evolution is not known. The nasal spine bone is a late adaptation and may have reinforced pre-existing cartilage which does not fossilize. The nose is thought to warm the air before it enters the sinuses, and lungs, a helpful adaptation in cold environments. The large noses of Neanderthals have been theorized as an adaptation to cold, dry areas, or possibly as a means of shedding heat within hot and humid regions.[5]
An article published in the speculative journal Medical Hypotheses suggested that the nose is an alteration of the angle of skull following human skeletal changes due to bipedalism. This changed the shape of the skull base causing, together with change in diet, a knock-on morphological reduction in the relative size of the maxillary and mandible and through this a "squeezing" of the protrusion of the most anterior parts of the face more forward and so increasing nose prominence and modifying its shape.[6]
The aquatic ape hypothesis relates the nose to a hypothesized period of aquatic adaptation in which the downward-facing nostrils and flexible philtrum prevented water from entering the nasal cavities.[7] The theory is not generally accepted by mainstream scholars of human evolution.[8]
See also
- Empty nose syndrome, a nose crippled by excessive resection of the inferior and/or middle turbinates of the nose
- Jala neti, an Ayurvedic technique of nasal cleansing
- Nasal sebum, the greasy substance on the outer part of the nose
- Sròn, the Scottish Gaelic word for nose and the name of some hills in the Scottish Highlands.
References
- ^ archaeologyinfo.com > glossary Retrieved on August 2010
- ^ "How to Tell a Jew". www.calvin.edu. Retrieved 2009-06-07.
- ^ The "Jewish Nose" and Plastic Surgery: Origins and Implications Beth Preminger, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, NY, JAMA. 2001;286:2161.
- ^ http://www.radio86.co.uk/china-insight/china-perspective/making-it-in-china/13138/fat-ladies-and-handsome-men ("To be “big nose” in China is considered something good. Many Chinese have expressed their dissatisfaction regarding their own, sometimes a bit flat, nose."); http://middlekingdomlife.com/guide/understanding-attraction-foreign-men-china.htm ("Finally, and it's a point worth mentioning here . . . given how Western physical characteristics (i.e., 'big eyes,' 'tall nose')"); http://weber.ucsd.edu/~dkjordan/scriptorium/Anti-AmericanVerse.html
- ^ Finlayson, C (2004). Neanderthals and modern humans: an ecological and evolutionary perspective. Cambridge University Press. pp. 84. ISBN 0521820871.
- ^ Mladina, R (2009). "Why do humans have such a prominent nose? The final result of phylogenesis: a significant reduction of the splanchocranium on account of the neurocranium". Med Hypotheses. 73 (3): 280–3. doi:10.1016/j.mehy.2009.03.045. PMID 19442453.
{{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ Morgan, Elaine (1997). The Aquatic Ape Hypothesis. Souvenir Press. ISBN 0-285-63518-2.
- ^ Meier, R (2003). The complete idiot's guide to human prehistory. Alpha Books. pp. 57–59. ISBN 0028644212.
Further reading
- Eden Warwick (pseudonym of George Jabet), Nasology, or hints towards a classification of Noses, London, Richard Bentley, 1848
- Encyclopedia Britannica Micropedia, 1982
External links
