Scoliosis Medical Association" (2003) asserted the lifelong physical health, including cardiopulmonary and neurological functions, and mental health of idiopathic scoliosis patients are comparable to those of the general population. Scoliosis that interferes with normal systemic functions is "exceptional" and "rare", and "untreated [scoliosis] patients had similar death rates and were just as functional and likely to lead productive lives 50 years after diagnosis as people with normal spines". In an earlier University of Iowa follow-up study, 91 percent of idiopathic scoliosis patients displayed normal pulmonary function, and their life expectancy was 2% longer than that of the general population. Generally, the
Supernumerary body part two or more different populations of genetically distinct cells that originated in different zygotes that have merged; anatomical structures are typically mixed depending on which cells are prevalent in different body parts, for example plants can have two different types of flowers. A mosaic is a genetic anomaly similar in nature and effects to a chimera: genetically different populations of cells within one organism, originated from some propagated mutation of a single cell rather than from outside sources. In Hindu mythology, additional limbs and heads are considered a sign of power. In Greek mythology, Artemis, the goddess of fertility, was