tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1560828723125283122024-03-08T01:17:49.293-05:00C6-H12-O6EcoPhysioMichellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08814617477894983790noreply@blogger.comBlogger147125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156082872312528312.post-37717921295676387972011-10-15T23:13:00.003-04:002011-10-17T12:49:49.907-04:00Girlybits 101, now with fewer scary parts!I was deeply considering a blog hiatus, dear readers, but <a href="http://www.xojane.com/healthy/get-it-together-girls-every-goddamn-pharmacy-new-york-out-plan-b-every-one">sometimes you get hit with sledgehammers</a>, and the only thing you can do to make sense of it all is to blog about it.<br />
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To make a long story short, Cat Marnell, the "Health" and Beauty expert at <a href="http://www.xojane.com/">XO Jane</a> (a website created by Jane Pratt, of Jane and Sassy fame), <a href="http://www.xojane.com/healthy/get-it-together-girls-every-goddamn-pharmacy-new-york-out-plan-b-every-one">wrote a blog post or column or whatever about how New York is out of Plan B</a> and this is very distressing to her because she doesn't believe in birth control and condoms or... something<sup>1</sup>. It is full of inaccuracies and misconceptions about hormonal birth control, and I am truly disgusted that a woman claiming to be a HEALTH (and beauty) columnist is spreading such filth without checking any of her facts. But I digress. I'm not here to lay the smack down because that's already been done (and better than I could do) by <a href="http://skepchick.org/2011/10/xojanes-cat-marnell-performance-art-or-gross-idiocy/">Skepchick</a> and <a href="http://scientopia.org/blogs/scicurious/2011/10/15/xo-janes-health-editor-are-you-playing-with-me/">Scicurious</a> (edit: and <a href="http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/context-and-variation/2011/10/17/lbolj-plan-b/">Kate</a>).<br />
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No, what has my feathers ruffled is the part where poor Cat got so flustered by her own cycle that she dissolved into a fit of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_hysteria">capslocked hysteria</a>.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AYZbKbcG5qE/TppMEaN2QgI/AAAAAAAAAM0/D0-oMmeNqEA/s1600/catmarnellshysteria.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AYZbKbcG5qE/TppMEaN2QgI/AAAAAAAAAM0/D0-oMmeNqEA/s1600/catmarnellshysteria.gif" /></a></div><br />
It makes me sad that (1) a HEALTH (and beauty) columnist refuses to discuss the actual health involved in the topic she's writing about and (2) this "OH GOD OUR BODIES ARE WEIRD" attitude isn't at all uncommon among girls of all ages. It sorta makes me wonder how much of her own basic physiology Cat actually understands. I think I can help out with that.<br />
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This post is a quick and simple Girlybits 101, using very small words and no gross or scary diagrams so that the eternally squeamish and uneducated like Cat Marnell can know a little bit more about their bodies without sending themselves into a hormonal frenzy. I know science is hard, dear, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't take the time to learn it, especially if part of your job description is to talk to women about their HEALTH (and beauty). However, I have to add a caveat. It is very likely that what I'm about to describe doesn't exactly fit your experience! The way women experience their cycles is very heavily influenced by their diet, their activity level, their relative amount of stress, their environment, their age, their reproductive status, how much muscle they have, how much fat they have, what types of activities they perform, where they live, etc. etc. etc. In short, a major theme of female reproductive physiology is that nothing is ever the same, not between women and not even within the same woman over time. <a href="http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/context-and-variation/">My blogpal Kate even writes a whole blog on this topic</a>, which I recommend the more intrepid and less-squeamish of you check out immediately for more information. Kate is a much greater expert on all things ladybits than I am, but I know at least enough to give you this quick non-scary overview.<br />
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And now, I present to you this <strong>Totally Easy And Not At All Gross Explanation</strong> of what happens with your girlybits each month, and how birth control and Plan B tie into the equation.<br />
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(1) You have ovaries, which are a bit like testicles but on the inside. You probably know that ovaries make eggs, but they also make and release endocrines (more commonly known as hormones), which you can think of as messengers. Like letters in the mail. Or text messages, or whatever.<br />
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(2) Every month, one of your eggs begins to mature. Your egg has a comfy little home inside the ovary that provides it all the things a growing egg needs. However, the ovary knows that one day the egg will have to leave the ovary and venture out into the fallopian tubes, where it might possibly meet a charming young sperm and settle down. The ovary wants to make sure that life is easy for the egg when it leaves, so the ovary makes estrogen (an endocrine).<br />
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(3) Estrogen travels through the blood and goes all sorts of places doing all sorts of things. One of these jobs is to build a future home for the egg in your uterus.<br />
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(4) After 14 days or so, the ovary has done all it can do to nurture the egg. Now the egg has to leave the nest and strike out solo. However, this story has a twist. If the egg doesn't meet a handsome sperm and fall in love within about three days, it will DIE!!! (No pressure.)<br />
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(5) After the egg has left the ovary to go look for Mr. Right, the ovary continues to make estrogen and also progesterone, which is another endocrine that has a similar job to assist in building the egg's dream home.<br />
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(6) At this point, one of two things can happen. The egg can meet Mr. Dreamy Sperm at the Fallopian Club, fuse with him, and move into her Uterine Dream Home, or she will die forever alone.<br />
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(7) If the egg dies, the ovary eventually stops releasing estrogen and progesterone (it takes a few days because, uhh, the ovary doesn't have e-mail so it has to wait to get the news of the death through the mail), and a wrecking crew comes by and demolishes the dream home. If the egg fused with Mr. Spermy and becomes a zygote, she starts secreting her own endocrines to communicate with the ovary, telling the ovary what a nice sperm she met and that they're very happy in their new home. The ovary continues to release estrogen and progesterone so that they have a pleasant stay for 9 months, after which a baby magically appears.<br />
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Most forms of hormonal birth control interrupt this cycle so that step 4 never happens. The egg never leaves the ovary, so it never has to choose between marriage or death. Plan B can do the same thing if taken before the egg moves out. If the egg has already moved out, Plan B stops the egg and sperm (collectively called a zygote after they fuse) from moving into the dream home. Unfortunately, Plan B can't do anything if the egg and sperm have already moved in.<br />
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There, that wasn't so bad, was it? Hopefully some of you are even feeling brave enough to read the more technical version, which I promise is still very easy to understand (however it may include "scary" words like UTERINE LINING and IMPLANTATION and CORPUS LUTEUM, so, you know, beware or whatever).<br />
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(1) You have ovaries. Ovaries are your gonads, or the sex organs that produce gametes, also known as eggs and sperm. Since you're a girl, you're makin' eggs.<br />
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(2) The start of your menstrual cycle is the first day of your period. During and after your period, one of your eggs begins to mature inside one of your ovaries. (Contrary to what some people think, ovaries are not like testes in that they are constantly making eggs. Your ovaries are more like fancy storage compartments than anything else. You already have all the eggs you will ever have when you are born. The ovaries store these immature eggs until puberty, after which one egg matures and is released each monthly cycle.) The egg itself is inside a sphere of special protective cells called follicular cells, referred to collectively as the follicle.<br />
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(3) While the egg is maturing, the follicular cells release estrogen into the bloodstream, which increases vascularization (i.e., it makes more blood vessels) in the uterine wall. More blood vessels means more nutrients for the uterine lining, which may be needed later if you become pregnant.<br />
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(4) After 14 days or so, the egg is now mature and is released through the wall of the follicle and ovary into the fallopian tubes. This is called ovulation and happens because of a drastic spike in a different endocrine made by the brain called lutenizing hormone. The egg will stay alive for about 3 days, during which time it slowly migrates towards the uterus.<br />
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(5) The follicle from which the egg was released begins to die. It is now called the corpus luteum, and it releases progesterone in addition to estrogen. Progesterone continues to build up the soft tissue of the uterine lining.<br />
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(6) If sperm is present in the reproductive tract and fuses with the egg, it becomes a zygote and implants into the wall of the uterus. If sperm is not present, the egg dies.<br />
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(7) If the zygote implants, it releases another endocrine called human chorionic gonadotropin, which communicates with the corpus luteum back in the ovary and indicates a successful implantation. The corpus luteum stays alive for the duration of the pregnancy and continues to produce helpful endocrines. If the egg dies, the corpus luteum also eventually dies and stops releasing estrogen and progesterone. Eventually, your body realizes that estrogen and progesterone levels have dropped off, and this triggers the start of your period. The uterine lining is shed, and a new egg begins to mature. Go back to step (1) and repeat.<br />
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Most forms of birth control contain synthetic estrogen and progesterone or just progesterone. By supplementing your body with these endocrines, you (ideally) stop ovulation from occurring. Plan B has a very very large dose of synthetic progesterone and can do one of several things. It can delay or stop ovulation all together, similar to regular oral birth control, but it can also stop a zygote from implanting by irritating the uterine lining (though this mechanism is under debate; <a href="http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/crude-matter/2011/10/15/girlybits-101-now-with-fewer-scary-parts/#comment-17">see comment #2 over at SciAm</a>). If the zygote has already implanted into the uterine wall, it has no effect.<br />
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I used to teach several hundred college sophomores a slightly more technical version of this every quarter.<sup>2</sup> If they can understand it, by golly, so can YOU, Cat Marnell! If you have any questions after reading all of that, feel free to give me a call. I would never turn down the opportunity to teach someone about their bodies, as long as they're willing to stop holding their hands over their ears and yelling "LALALALALAGIRLYPARTS EWWW GROSSS P.S. SCIENCE IS TOTALLY HARD, YO" long enough to actually learn something.<br />
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<sup>1</sup> I am not judging, by the way. I don't like condoms or hormonal birth control either. However I do feel the need to qualify that I am not on hormonal birth control because I have health problems that preclude me from being able to take it, not because I think they'll make me fat. (<a href="http://scientopia.org/blogs/scicurious/2011/07/06/repost-oral-contraceptives-and-weight-gain-myths-and-truths-and-anecdotes/">They won't.</a>)<br />
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<sup>2</sup> Without fail, every quarter I would have a male student come up to me after a review session or during office hours and tell me in private that he was very glad he took our class because he had so many questions about female cycles that he was just too darn afraid or embarrassed to ask anyone about. It was adorable and definitely made me feel like I had done something good for the world.<br />
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<i>Originally <a href="http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/crude-matter/2011/10/15/girlybits-101-now-with-fewer-scary-parts/">posted at Scientific American</a> on October 15, 2011.</i>EcoPhysioMichellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08814617477894983790noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156082872312528312.post-91557278387605778792011-09-30T18:23:00.005-04:002011-09-30T18:23:00.463-04:00Video: Bees at the Wilds<object height="315" width="560"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/R9I34dmCQ6E?version=3&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/R9I34dmCQ6E?version=3&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="560" height="315" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w35btdKt5Qs/ToTwHfn2bpI/AAAAAAAAAMw/o2ZF4FoUkaI/s1600/bee_field-476x274.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="194" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w35btdKt5Qs/ToTwHfn2bpI/AAAAAAAAAMw/o2ZF4FoUkaI/s200/bee_field-476x274.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Check out this very cool video about Karen Goodell's research on plant/pollinator interactons, specifically the bee population in an Ohio conservation center on reclaimed strip-mine land. Dr. Goodell is a professor at my old graduate school department at OSU. You can <a href="http://oncampus.osu.edu/2011/09/creating-some-buzz/">read more about her research in the campus faculty/staff newspaper</a>.<br />
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From <a href="http://www.osu.edu/features/2011/wilds">the feature on OSU's website</a>:<br />
<blockquote>Karen Goodell has a fact that might surprise you: "About 70 percent of flowering plants, including one in three bites of food we eat, require pollination by a bee."<br />
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Goodell, a professor in the Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology at Ohio State's Newark campus, is interested in bee populations. At the Wilds--a southern Ohio conservation center located on reclaimed strip mine land--she is studying the relationship between bee communities and prairie habitats.<br />
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"Bees are really the organisms that are moving genes around for plants," she says. "Pollinators are absolutely essential for agricultural production. We need to understand what makes their populations thrive."<br />
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Goodell’s two projects use 72 different locations dispersed around the Wilds; Ohio State students help her collect data.<br />
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"Being a freshman and getting an internship is amazing," says Stephany Chicaiza, who spent the summer after her first year at Ohio State working with Goodell. "I think it puts me at a different level."</blockquote><br />
<i>Originally <a href="http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/crude-matter/2011/09/29/video-bees-at-the-wilds/">posted at Scientific American</a> on September 29, 2011.</i>EcoPhysioMichellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08814617477894983790noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156082872312528312.post-11645452171856558852011-09-28T12:52:00.000-04:002011-09-28T12:52:37.189-04:00Better living through pee-sniffing, or What can urine tell us? Volume 2.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XcMIeHsdmXY/ToNQo-UpN6I/AAAAAAAAAMs/g3owrquWf2I/s1600/WPA_Tuberculosis_poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XcMIeHsdmXY/ToNQo-UpN6I/AAAAAAAAAMs/g3owrquWf2I/s320/WPA_Tuberculosis_poster.jpg" width="205" /></a></div>Previously, I told you about how <a href="http://ecophysio.fieldofscience.com/2011/08/what-can-urine-tell-us.html">rodents can avoid predators by detecting specific metabolites in carnivore urine</a>, but today I'd like to tell you about some new research being done on human urine in an effort to diagnose certain diseases.<br />
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Last week I introduced the topic of metabolites, which are the by-products of the breakdown of things your body consumes, like food, drugs, and vitamins. These by-products are waste materials and usually leave the body via the urine or feces. The metabolites that are present in your urine depend on a lot of factors: not just what comes into your body but also what's happening inside your body. If you are currently hosting a pathogen, the metabolites present in your urine will likely change. This can be directly due to the pathogen itself producing the metabolites (hey, a bacterium has to eat and make waste too) or indirectly by the pathogen influencing metabolic activity (i.e., energy production pathways) in the cells of the infected tissues.<br />
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As it turns out, it may be possible to isolate specific urinary metabolite profiles common to people infected with certain pathogens. This could potentially be as simple as scanning the metabolites present in someone's urine and saying, "Okay, you have elevated levels of A and B and lower levels of C and D in your urine, so we have strong evidence that you're hosting pathogen Y." A research group at the International Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology in New Delhi recently approached the question as to whether or not tuberculosis (TB), a disease caused by the bacterium <em>Mycobacterium tuberculosis</em>, can be detected in such a manner by identifying the volatile<sup>1</sup> organic compounds present in the urine of healthy and TB-infected individuals.<br />
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After screening the urine of healthy and infected individuals with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_spectrometry">mass spectrometry</a><sup>2</sup>, the researchers came up with a few compounds that stood out as being different between the two groups. Two compounds (isopropyl acetate and <em>o</em>-xylene) increased at least two-fold in people infected with TB, whereas three other compounds (cymol, 2,6-dimethystyrene, and 3-pentanol) decreased by about half. To determine the predictive power of these results, the researchers generated a new pool of healthy and infected individuals, and they were able to accurately determine which individuals were healthy and which were TB-infected on the basis of these five metabolites.<br />
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It was beyond the scope of this study to determine the physiological origin of these five metabolites, but some of them are related to glycolysis and lipid metabolism, which are two different methods of providing cells with energy via the breakdown of carbohydrates or fat, respectively. It is also unknown if they are originating from the infected body tissues or directly from the tuberculosis bacteria. Clearly more research is needed on the physiology of these metabolites, but for now it seems that they are good potential biomarkers for diagnosing tuberculosis cases through urinary analysis.<br />
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But why bother trying to diagnose with urine at all? Traditional culture tests for TB involve taking a sputum (that's the mucus you cough up) sample and seeing if <em>M. tuberculosis</em> bacteria grow from it, but this procedure can take weeks. There's also the common skin prick test, which involves injecting a small amount of bacterial protein under the skin (there is no risk of infection because the proteins are not the actual bacterium, just something the bacterium produces). If a person has been exposed to TB, their immune system will recognize and attack the TB proteins, resulting in a hard, raised bump on the skin. This procedure is more invasive, subject to complications from existing conditions, and can still take 2-3 days for results. Urine samples have the advantage of being noninvasive (you're going to be peeing every 2-5 hours anyway), and the person doing the testing is never directly exposed to the bacterium, as can be the case with sputum samples.<br />
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While mass spectrometry was used to identify urine metabolites in this study, future point-of-care diagnostics may make use of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_nose">electronic nose systems</a>, which are currently being explored as a method of identifying volatile organic compounds and could potentially be developed as automated sensors for the specific volatile metabolites present in the urine of TB-infected individuals. This would streamline the procedure, make it more cost-effective, and provide a time advantage over other diagnostic methods currently being used. This would make a big difference in developing nations where skilled manpower, money, and resources are scant and where shortening the delay to diagnosis and treatment are key for reducing TB-related deaths.<br />
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<sup>1</sup> In chemistry, a volatile compound is one that readily evaporates into the air. I was being facetious when I mentioned pee-sniffing in the title, but volatile compounds <em>do</em> make it to the nose more quickly... I'm just saying...<br />
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<sup>2</sup> Would anyone be interested in a primer on how mass spectrometry works? It gets thrown around on TV procedurals a lot (CSI, Bones, etc.) and is depicted as a machine where you pump in a substance and it spits out all the molecules present in the sample. It ain't nearly that easy by a long shot.<br />
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<i>Originally <a href="http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/crude-matter/2011/08/08/better-living-through-pee-sniffing-or-what-can-urine-tell-us-volume-2/">posted at Scientific American</a> on August 8, 2011, where it was a <a href="http://researchblogging.org/news/?p=2866">Research Blogging Editor's Selection</a>.</i><br />
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<hr />Banday, K., Pasikanti, K., Chan, E., Singla, R., Rao, K., Chauhan, V., & Nanda, R. (2011). Use of Urine Volatile Organic Compounds To Discriminate Tuberculosis Patients from Healthy Subjects Analytical Chemistry, 83 (14), 5526-5534 DOI: 10.1021/ac200265gEcoPhysioMichellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08814617477894983790noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156082872312528312.post-38241221366447398952011-08-29T20:30:00.000-04:002011-08-29T20:30:52.817-04:00What can urine tell us?<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XKdQeS_BdIA/TlwtohVy59I/AAAAAAAAAMY/8UU1UZtnQ70/s1600/5487940565_f909c22657-200x300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XKdQeS_BdIA/TlwtohVy59I/AAAAAAAAAMY/8UU1UZtnQ70/s320/5487940565_f909c22657-200x300.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image credit: Flickr user Knowtex.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>My urine has been tested for many things. For example, when I was offered my current job, my urine was tested for the presence of metabolites of illegal drugs. Drug metabolites are the breakdown products of various drugs, which remain in your blood until they are cleared by your liver or kidney and excreted in the urine. Because they stay in the body longer than the active drug, the window of detection is longer.<br />
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Last summer I had some liver problems, and my urine was detected for the presence of a whole host of different things that could give my doctors insight into my condition. It was tested for white blood cells, which are part of the immune system, and bilirubin, which is a by-product of the breakdown of red blood cells in the liver. An abnormally high concentration of either of these in my urine could indicate an infection or a hyperactive liver.<br />
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I’ve taken pregnancy tests that test my urine for the presence of an endocrine called human chorionic gonadotropin, or hCG. This endocrine is produced by the developing placenta of an embryo that has recently implanted in the uterine wall. This endocrine communicates with the corpus luteum, which is the now-empty follicle in the ovary from which the egg was released, telling it to continue to release another endocrine called progesterone. Progesterone is needed for the maintenance of the uterine wall during the pregnancy. Without the influence of hCG, the corpus luteum would die, eventually causing the woman to have her period. In my case, fortunately, my urine has always come back negative for levels of hCG that would indicate an implanted embryo. (I say fortunately because, trust me, I ain’t ready.)<br />
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My urine has been tested for the presence of a number of things throughout my life, all in the interest of medical, personal, or professional discourse. But humans are not alone in the venture of inspecting urine to learn more about themselves or others. Most people are familiar with the concept of pheromones, which are chemicals released as intraspecies messengers to elicit a social response. For example, the stinky urine that tomcats spray around their territory carries volatile compounds that send a clear message to other cats: This is mine. Stay away. The release of pheromones is to provide a benefit to the releaser and usually the receiver as well. When the tomcat sprays pheromone-laden urine, he benefits because it keeps away interlopers, and the potential interlopers benefit because they get to avoid a fight.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-H5GtkaCaDSo/TlwuCaN-OXI/AAAAAAAAAMg/HCqAQEdxA4k/s1600/Image2.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="222" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-H5GtkaCaDSo/TlwuCaN-OXI/AAAAAAAAAMg/HCqAQEdxA4k/s320/Image2.gif" width="320" /></a></div>Tomcats use pheromones their urine to send messages intentionally, but sometimes the compounds in an animal’s urine can send unintentional messages. A<a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/108/27/11235.full">recent study in PNAS</a> describes a compound in carnivore urine that helps prey species like mice and rats avoid predators. This compound, called 2-phenylethylamine (PEA), is something called a kairomone. Unlike pheromones, kairomones are interspecies messengers, allowing the receiver to ‘eavesdrop’ on the individual that left them behind. In the case of PEA, when rodents detect this kairomone, they know that a predator is in the area.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WCTRg3cjAVk/Tlwt3ZMIbWI/AAAAAAAAAMc/cYQH_EbrI6o/s1600/Image1.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WCTRg3cjAVk/Tlwt3ZMIbWI/AAAAAAAAAMc/cYQH_EbrI6o/s640/Image1.gif" width="228" /></a>PEA triggers a rodent’s stress response and elicits avoidance behaviors that help the rodent escape predation by avoiding areas where there’s a lot of carnivore pee. Liberles and colleagues exposed rats to the urine of two different carnivores, isolated PEA, benzylamine (a chemical strongly related to PEA), and water. They found that the rats avoided the pure PEA and urine, but spent similar amounts of time around the water and benzylamine (see figure, adapted from the data in Liberles et al., 2011; click to enlarge), which suggests that rats show avoidance of PEA and can distinguish PEA from very similarly-related compounds. When PEA was enzymatically removed from lion urine, the rats no longer avoided it, spending similar amounts of time near the PEA-depleted urine as they spent near water. Similar experiments in mice show that the avoidance of PEA is dose-dependent, meaning that rodents will exhibit stronger avoidance behavior when the concentration of PEA is increased. Additionally, exposure to PEA provoked an increase in the circulating level of the rodent stress hormone corticosterone.<br />
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This is actually really cool because PEA is fairly ubiquitously present in the urine of carnivores and also relatively specific to carnivores as opposed to other mammalian species. As you can see in the chart (adapted from the data in Liberles et al., 2011; click to enlarge), many carnivore species have PEA concentrations in their urine that are an order of magnitude greater than those of rodents and other non-carnivore mammals. While rodents can also detect chemicals that are specific to the predator species that they encounter the most, their sensitivity to PEA allows them to recognize and avoid predator species that they have never even encountered before.<br />
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You might ask why carnivores have more PEA in their urine than other mammals do, but the answer isn’t clear at this time. There are a couple of possibilities, and the answer is likely a combination of the two. PEA is a metabolite of one essential amino acid found in dietary protein, so it may be that the sheer volume of protein in the diet is a contributing factor. It is also likely that carnivores have shared metabolic pathways that specifically produce PEA over other possible metabolites. Another possibility is that PEA might be produced in high concentrations to act as a pheromone in some carnivore species, and rodents adapted the ability to listen in on this pheromone as a kairomone.<br />
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<i>Originally <a href="http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/crude-matter/2011/07/25/what-can-urine-tell-us/">posted at Scientific American</a> on July 25, 2011.</i><br />
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Ferrero, D., Lemon, J., Fluegge, D., Pashkovski, S., Korzan, W., Datta, S., Spehr, M., Fendt, M., & Liberles, S. (2011). Detection and avoidance of a carnivore odor by prey. <i>Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</i>, 108 (27), 11235-11240 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1103317108EcoPhysioMichellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08814617477894983790noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156082872312528312.post-38529298592126668532011-08-29T19:49:00.001-04:002011-08-29T20:15:00.360-04:00Growing pains! (or, Welcome Back!)Being as how it is a brand new network, #SciAmBlogs is still figuring out its identity and its place in the science blogging community. As such, my blog <a href="http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/crude-matter">Crude Matter</a> is also developing, and I am currently trying to figure out what I want from it and what its role is supposed to be. <br />
<br />
I dearly appreciate the increased readership and the massive amounts of support from Scientific American, but I also appreciate the concerns that my few regular readers have about the commenting situation over there. I also have to think about my own blogging desires. I like making personal, stupid, or frivolous posts from time to time, and I'm not comfortable doing that at Sci Am, seeing as how it gets indexed by Google News. :)<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JgK4Z8_GgSw/TlwrMNWLTcI/AAAAAAAAAMU/tZIda06lypo/s1600/3397265857_b3f0134aa0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JgK4Z8_GgSw/TlwrMNWLTcI/AAAAAAAAAMU/tZIda06lypo/s320/3397265857_b3f0134aa0.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Have it AND eat it! Image credit: Flickr user Kimberly Vardeman.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>As such, I've decided that I will continue blogging here at <a href="http://ecophysio.fieldofscience.com/">C6-H12-O6</a>. I will cross-link the weekly(ish) meaty <a href="http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/crude-matter">Crude Matter</a> posts on the day they are posted and will re-post them here in their entirety after 24 hours. I realize I'm trying to have my cake and eat it too, but hopefully this situation will work out best for everyone. This way I can still have the personal blog while using Scientific American for outreach to a broader audience, and possibly funnel new readers to this blog.<br />
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If you don't give a rat's hiney about the other stuff and just want to read the straight up science, you should follow only the RSS feed for Crude Matter, which is here: <a href="http://rss.sciam.com/crude-matter/feed">http://rss.sciam.com/crude-matter/feed</a><br />
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If you want to follow my personal blog and leap over to <a href="http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/crude-matter">Crude Matter</a> occasionally through the cross-link posts, you should follow the RSS feed for this blog, which is here: <a href="http://ecophysio.fieldofscience.com/feeds/posts/default">http://ecophysio.fieldofscience.com/feeds/posts/default</a><br />
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If you want everything and the kitchen sink (recommended), follow both! If you follow me through Facebook/G+/Twitter, you don't have to do anything; this is only for people who follow me through bookmarks or feed readers.<br />
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And I do apologize for all the RSS hopping; although, I assume that if most of my readers are like me, they never deleted the old RSS from their feed reader anyway because they are incredibly lazy.<br />
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PS: I know things are a little dusty over here. Namely, all of my old images appear to be broken. This was due to a very unfortunate G+ mishap. (Protip: Don't delete the "blog photos" folder in G+ if you use it with the same gmail account that your blogger blog is associated with...) I'm going to try to fix this, but it may be unfixable.EcoPhysioMichellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08814617477894983790noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156082872312528312.post-53535661609936657932011-07-05T08:23:00.000-04:002011-07-05T08:23:46.278-04:00Changes.<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-I38Frwkawzg/ThJpoLo4C4I/AAAAAAAAALA/popf8kjILDE/s1600/405395160_7fd37663e4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-I38Frwkawzg/ThJpoLo4C4I/AAAAAAAAALA/popf8kjILDE/s320/405395160_7fd37663e4.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On the internet, you're always just a click away.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>I have not been posting much lately, mainly because I've been going through a lot of life changes and major events in a very short span of time. I defended my thesis, started a new job, and I'm in the process of moving into a new home with the person I love. This is a lot of stuff to process in a short time, and all of it has been amazingly stressful and wonderful. It seems like every corner of my life is rebooting and starting anew, which is terrible and exciting, and suddenly I feel very adult, which is foreign to me. I don't know. I'm dealing with a lot right now.<br />
<br />
I'm both sad and relieved to no longer be a graduate student. Sad because I'm going to miss academia, and I'm going to miss belonging to the tribe of graduate students. Relieved because, let's be honest, it feels so good not to be tethered to my thesis.<br />
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I started my job with nervous trepidation. I had no idea what to expect, because I've had lots of jobs but this is the first time I've had a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">career</i>. It is amazing. I love my job deeply, and I am so lucky to have found a job that suits my needs and uses my exact skill set so perfectly. Suddenly a lot of things make sense to me now, like the reasons why people spend so much time and money going to college. It is so rewarding to have a job that you actually like doing!<br />
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As for the moving, well, let's just say I'll be going from a one bedroom apartment to a lovely condo with two floors and a backyard with ivy and apple trees. I get claustrophobic easily, so this is good news. :)<br />
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It only seems fitting, what with the scenery changing in the rest of my life, that I turn over a new leaf in blogging as well. As of this post, the blog C6-H12-O6 will be no more. I have enjoyed my time here at Field of Science and would recommend it to any new science blogger looking for a bit of community and exposure, but it is time for me to move on.<br />
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I've been invited to blog for the new Scientific American blog network, and I accepted their offer. I'm starting a new blog called <a href="http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/crude-matter/">Crude Matter</a> as of today, so please come join me at my new digs, read my first post, and have a look around the other blogs on the new network!<br />
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If you <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/C6-H12-O6/225967834095426?ref=hnav">follow my blog on Facebook</a>, you won't need to change anything. I will update that page with the new blog information very soon. If you follow me via RSS feed, please switch to the new feed (<a href="http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/crude-matter/feed/">http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/crude-matter/feed/</a>). If you have this blog bookmarked in your blogroll or internet favorites, please update to the new URL (<a href="http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/crude-matter/">http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/crude-matter/</a>). I look forward to seeing you there!<br />
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<i>Image by Flickr user <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/deadhorse/405395160/in/photostream/">Andrew Huff</a>.</i>EcoPhysioMichellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08814617477894983790noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156082872312528312.post-29695576809956253252011-07-02T10:57:00.000-04:002011-07-02T10:57:08.758-04:007000 FPS video of water bubbles and droplets.<div style="text-align: center;"><iframe frameborder="0" height="225" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/23438996?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" width="400"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://vimeo.com/23438996">Team Ghost - High Hopes</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/hey16ar">16ar</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.</div><br />
This is one of the craziest, most beautiful things I've ever seen. And I say that having just watched Black Swan for the first time last night, so, yeah.<br />
<br />
I've been neglectful of this blog because of my new job, but I would be remiss if I didn't point out that <a href="http://www.denimandtweed.com/2011/06/diversity-in-science-carnival-pride.html">the Pride edition of the Diversity in Science Blog Carnival was posted a few days ago at Denim and Tweed</a>. I know June is over, but go check it out.EcoPhysioMichellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08814617477894983790noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156082872312528312.post-89410033611185696242011-06-09T14:43:00.000-04:002011-06-09T14:43:00.104-04:00Making my own history.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WGeiTVH7fTA/TfETvw6RPLI/AAAAAAAAAJU/48iSe-kWZ_8/s1600/DiSBadge_150.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WGeiTVH7fTA/TfETvw6RPLI/AAAAAAAAAJU/48iSe-kWZ_8/s1600/DiSBadge_150.png" /></a></div>When Alberto at <a href="http://www.minoritypostdoc.org/">Minority Postdoc</a> emailed me to ask if I'd be interested in writing for the Pride edition of the <a href="http://www.minoritypostdoc.org/view/bloggers.html">Diversity in Science blog carnival</a>, I initially said yes, that I'd be delighted to write a post. But then I had a great struggle finding topics to write about. Not because I don't have plenty of experience being a member under the LGBT umbrella, but rather because I can't think of ways that my bisexuality and my science have intersected or influenced the other. I have known that I wanted to be a scientist since middle school. I have also known (in some way, though maybe not always explicitly) that I was attracted to both of the normative genders* since middle school. Since then, however, it is hard for me to come up with examples where the two paths have crossed in any significant way. <br />
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On Twitter, <a href="http://twitter.com/">Kevin Bonham posited</a> that this may be a testament to the liberal nature of academia. I'm not entirely sure that that's true, although I don't deny that academia is one of the most accepting environments that I've ever been fortunate enough to belong to. I have always been "out", but often people will subconsciously normalize me as being "straight like them" because the subject of my sexuality never has the chance or reason to come up. The people in science that I have had the opportunity to come out to have been overwhelmingly accepting, though.<br />
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One of the suggestions for the carnival mentioned talking about mentors. When I was in high school, I knew a woman who was a wonderful mentor to me. Her profession was in the life sciences, and through my interactions with her I fostered my love for zoology. I had always been a science nerd as a kid, but it was the work that I did with her that really solidified my desire to be an animal biologist, even if I didn't realize it until halfway through college. This woman was absolutely stunning, smart, confident, liberal-minded, and a tad bit geeky. In short, she was everything I wanted to be at 17. I modeled myself after her in certain subconscious ways (I even picked up some of her vices in college), and there was a wonderful familiarity about her that I couldn't shake. I admit it; I probably had an enormous crush on her. She was married, but she really struck me as the kind of woman who couldn't have escaped college without having at least one lesbian fling. I think we tend to know our own kind, but she never came out and told me one way or another. My mind may be playing tricks on my memories, who knows, but I consider her my first and only queer science mentor. It almost doesn't even matter whether she was actually queer or not. Like it says at the end of the movie <a href="http://www.afterellen.com/archive/ellen/Movies/2006/3/watermelon.html"><em>The Watermelon Woman</em></a>, sometimes you have to create your own history.<br />
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Actually this brings me to a good point, though, because women like me are sometimes hard to pinpoint. They say that gay people are an invisible minority, and I think that as a bisexual woman in a committed relationship with a dude, I might be the invisible-est. Like I said above, we tend to be able to recognize our own kind, but sexuality is such a private matter that it very rarely comes up in conversations with the people we do science with. My graduate school buddies all know I'm bisexual, but none of the faculty do, nor do my students. I can't help wondering if maybe I was the unwitting queer science mentor to some other bisexual girl that I had in one of my classes. I'd like to think so. I certainly have gotten my share of strangely personal anonymous student evaluations. Who is to say that they were all from dudes?<br />
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The only place where I really feel like I have queer science peers is on the internet. A significant portion of the friends I've made through science blogging have come out to me as bisexual in private conversations, even ones I would never have guessed (married, babies, etc.). Part of me really wants to ask whether there's something inherent about science blogging that attracts the queer girl demographic, or if we are just representative of a large silent minority of queer lady scientists that nobody knows about because we keep our shit to ourselves.<br />
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* A note on labels: Some people dislike the term "bisexual" because it imposes a false binary on gender, and prefer the term "pansexual" instead as a term that encompasses all gender permutations. I think this is a valid argument, but I still choose to use the term bisexual because my sexuality does fall fairly hard along the normative gender binary. I like feminine girls and masculine dudes, so classic gender roles are what I seek in my relationships. I do not deny the existence or validity of other gender permutations; they just don't get my rocks off.EcoPhysioMichellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08814617477894983790noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156082872312528312.post-78162854392363529952011-06-08T13:23:00.001-04:002011-06-08T13:41:39.527-04:00Circumcision and HIV: why I'm not convinced.<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sk8v2PWg0W4/Te-vbumhsII/AAAAAAAAAJQ/bq1liftfjl8/s1600/CondomsPaulLowry.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sk8v2PWg0W4/Te-vbumhsII/AAAAAAAAAJQ/bq1liftfjl8/s400/CondomsPaulLowry.jpg" width="192" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image credit: Flickr user <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/paul_lowry/2320072412/in/photostream/">Paul Lowry</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Cassandra Willyard has a blog post up at The Last Word On Nothing: <a href="http://www.lastwordonnothing.com/2011/06/07/why-circumcision-protects-against-hiv/">Why Circumcision Protects Against HIV</a>. Frankly, I am not convinced. Cassandra cites three studies in three different African countries that test the HIV infection rates of circumcised and uncircumcised men. She writes: "In each study, they enrolled between 2,000 and 5,000 HIV-negative men and circumcised half. Taken together, the studies found that circumcision reduced a man's risk of contracting HIV by about 60%." The results are undeniable, but in the comments I cautioned her to avoid extrapolating these results to the relationship between circumcision and HIV in other parts of the world. She responded with "A penis is a penis, no?"<br />
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Well, yes. And no. The reason why circumcision is a popular public health initiative to prevent the spread of STDs in African nations is because there are barriers to the use of other, more efficient prophylactics. Condoms are often cited as being from 60-96% effective against the spread of HIV, but condoms are not as easy to obtain in Africa as they are in the USA, for example. In that context, circumcision is an effective way to slow the spread of HIV in African populations. It's certainly better than nothing, but the important thing to remember here is that <strong>public health initiatives are highly context-dependent</strong>. Should circumcision be promoted as a way of stopping the spread of HIV in the USA? I don't think so, because we have easy access to condoms and sexual education services, which are more efficient at reducing the risk of HIV infection than circumcision. After taking condom use into account, there are very diminishing returns on the benefits of being circumcised.<br />
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Additionally, there currently isn't an agreed upon mechanism by which circumcision would provide a physiological barrier to infection with HIV or other STDs. Cassandra does a good job of citing the possible mechanisms, but she also mentions that all of these mechanisms have had mixed results in the literature. I honestly think that there's a very large behavioral component to the risk reduction seen in these African studies. The men in these studies were all circumcised in adulthood, not as infants, and as I said in the comments at Cassandra's post: "The act of having the surgery might influence the sexual practices and behaviors of the men in the study. I imagine that if you have surgery done on your penis, it isn't a stretch to imagine that you'll start using it differently." I would really like to see a study that addresses the effects of the frequency of sex, duration of sex, number of partners, types of sex acts, etc. after having the surgery. I'd also like to see a study that compares HIV infection rates in men circumcised in adulthood with those circumcised in infancy.<br />
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In the interest of full disclosure, I need to state that I am morally opposed to circumcision. However, I think the question of morality is irrelevant to this conversation, since policy shouldn't really have anything to do with my morals. My morality isn't the same as your morality, and that's fine. I'm also morally opposed to abortions, but anyone who knows me knows I'm very pro-choice. I am pro-choice when it comes to circumcision too, but I am against it being promoted as a prophylactic in places where there are simply much better options. I think in the USA we have this strange aversion to foreskins as "yucky", which also comes across a little bit in the language Cassandra uses in her post (she refers to foreskins as "weird"). <strong>As a society, we engage in normative behavior where circumcised penises are the default and uncircumcised penises are somehow dirtier, "weird", or unpleasant.</strong> I find this very problematic.<br />
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As an aside, I should really know better than to engage the circumcision crazies on the internet. One day I will learn. I'm not referring to Cassandra here, but rather the type of people who seek out and comment on blog posts about circumcision. They tend to have a special kind of crazy. Perhaps I <i>am</i> one of those people..?EcoPhysioMichellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08814617477894983790noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156082872312528312.post-4879127482975802582011-06-02T21:35:00.000-04:002011-06-02T21:35:57.518-04:00Links - June 2, 2011A few orders of business:<br />
<ol><li>My <a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/68100696/cell-division-red-2-original-watercolor">mitosis painting</a> from <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/artologica">artologica</a> arrived this week! It is gorgeous and I can't wait to frame it and hang it in my new condo.</li>
<li>Add this blog on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/C6-H12-O6/225967834095426">Facebook</a> if you wanna.</li>
<li>I PASSED MY THESIS DEFENSE!!</li>
</ol><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8-DpJoUvydo/Teg6MbtTchI/AAAAAAAAAJM/ut9W7_hF1Fo/s1600/dumbledore_party_hard_by_wernette-d34t6kq.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8-DpJoUvydo/Teg6MbtTchI/AAAAAAAAAJM/ut9W7_hF1Fo/s1600/dumbledore_party_hard_by_wernette-d34t6kq.gif" /></a></div><br />
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I'll get back to posting soon. Now some links. Some of these are kind of old since I've been in the thesis defense cave. Sorry.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TkExTndJAoc/TbiftjBrvaI/AAAAAAAAAIQ/AuM-pNhEL7w/s1600/links1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TkExTndJAoc/TbiftjBrvaI/AAAAAAAAAIQ/AuM-pNhEL7w/s1600/links1.png" /></a></div><strong>Physiology</strong><br />
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<a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/01/17/us-semen-allergy-idUSTRE70G00D20110117?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews&WT.tsrc=Social+Media&WT.z_smid=twtr-reuters_health&WT.z_smid_dest=Twitter">Semen allergy suspected in rare post-orgasm illness</a>. Some dudes are allergic to their own semen and become ill for weeks after ejaculating. On the plus side, hyposensitization therapy seems to work for some of these dudes.<br />
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<a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=human-skin-cells-turned-into-nerve-cells">Human skin cells turned into nerve cells</a>. Epidermal cells from circumcised foreskin are being turned into nerve cells via a reprogramming called transdifferentiation, which is faster than converting adult cells into stem cells and then back into some other type of cell. Unfortunately the success rate is very low.<br />
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<a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=anorectic-brain-responds-to-food-an-11-06-01">Anorexic brain responds to food anxiously</a>. Instead of releasing dopamine in pleasure centers like most people, food causes anorexics to activate areas of their brain associated with anxiety. <a href="http://ecophysio.fieldofscience.com/2011/04/question-for-psychneurogastro-friends.html">Considering my phobia</a> and my own battle with my relationship with food, I can relate to that.<br />
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<a href="http://realdoctorstu.com/2011/05/23/blue-lights-shown-to-give-a-brain-boost-but-is-a-better-than-coffee/">Blue lights show to give brain a boost! But is it better than coffee</a>? Photoreceptors in the eye that detect blue wavelengths of light boost alertness and concentration. Blue wavelengths are specifically associated with reduced levels of melatonin (which makes you sleepy) in the brain. That's why I have <a href="http://stereopsis.com/flux/">f.lux</a> installed on all my computers. It automatically turns up the 'warmth' of your computer screen after sunset. This way you minimize your exposure to blue light in the evening, causing less inhibition of melatonin release so you can fall asleep easier.<br />
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<strong>Other Science</strong><br />
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<a href="http://www.livescience.com/11640-bats-carnivorous-pitcher-plant-living-toilet.html">Bats use carnivorous pitcher plant as living toilet</a>. It seems that a certain species of bat and pitcher plant have evolved a nice symbiotic relationship. The bat gets a place to roost, and the plant gets fertilizer. Also I just love anything to do with poop, so this was right up my alley. Bats aren't alone; it seems that some shrews have a similar relationship with another species of pitcher plant.<br />
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<a href="http://singularityblog.singularitysymposium.com/23andme-dna-test-review-its-right-for-me-but-is-it-right-for-you/">23andMe DNA Test Review: It's right for me but is it right for you</a>? This is a good read for anyone considering getting genotyped through 23andMe. It does a bit of explaining about the process and product, and what questions you should think about before deciding to buy. I'm happy with it, personally, but you need to consider what you want to get out of the product.<br />
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<a href="http://skullsinthestars.com/2011/05/31/mpembas-baffling-discovery-can-hot-water-freeze-before-cold-1969/">Mpemba's baffling discovery: can hot water freeze before cold</a>? A great story about scientific inquiry and battling dogma.<br />
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<strong>Other Stuff</strong><br />
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<a href="http://nerdbastards.com/2011/01/13/calvin-and-hobbes-fight-club/">Calvin and Hobbes Fight Club</a>. Someone did a mash-up of the Fight Club trailer with scenes from the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip. Watch the video!<br />
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<a href="http://nadiaelawady.wordpress.com/2011/05/30/ive-gone-and-done-it-now-what-its-like-without-the-muslim-headscarf/">I've gone and done it now: What it's like without the Muslim headscarf</a>. Interesting read from a woman reconsidering her stance on the hijab.<br />
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<a href="http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=06022011">The National Academies Press makes all PDF books free to download</a>. The title says it all.<br />
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<a href="http://www.elevenwarriors.com/2011/05/the-man-who-wasnt-there">The man who wasn't there</a>. There's been a lot of buzz lately in my meatspace life about the circumstances surrounding Jim Tressel's resignation as the Ohio State University football team's head coach. I've been finding it hard to care very much because football isn't as important or interesting to me as it was once upon a time. However I did like reading this post, which has an interesting take on his legacy.EcoPhysioMichellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08814617477894983790noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156082872312528312.post-45379667483995343812011-05-24T19:50:00.002-04:002011-05-24T19:50:40.450-04:00Links - May 24, 2011<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TkExTndJAoc/TbiftjBrvaI/AAAAAAAAAIQ/AuM-pNhEL7w/s1600/links1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TkExTndJAoc/TbiftjBrvaI/AAAAAAAAAIQ/AuM-pNhEL7w/s1600/links1.png" /></a></div>My thesis defense is in one week (whoa!), so I'm taking a break from blogging to go into hardcore study and preparation mode. I'll see you back here after June 1<sup>st</sup>, hopefully with good news!<br />
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In the meantime, here are some links to hold you over. Also, I made a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/C6-H12-O6/225967834095426">Facebook page for my blog</a> the other day on a whim. It occurred to me that there are some blogs I follow through Facebook that aren't in my RSS reader, so I'd like to have that option available for people who maybe do the same. You can 'like' it if you like this blog and like 'liking' the things you like.<br />
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<strong>Physiology</strong><br />
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<a href="http://blogs.plos.org/obesitypanacea/2011/05/24/does-sexual-intercourse-affect-athletic-performance/">Does sexual intercourse hinder subsequent athletic performance</a>? Many athletes superstitiously abstain from sex the night before a big game, meet, or performance, but is there actual evidence to support this belief? Some say it reduces testosterone and energy the following day, but it seems that there aren't any studies that confirm this suggestion.<br />
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<a href="http://sevendeadlysynapses.com/2011/05/seven-deadly-sins-sunday-gluttony-part-5/">Seven Deadly Sins Sunday: Gluttony</a>. The link is to part 5 of 5, use the links at the top of the post to read the earlier posts. A great discussion of the physiology of gluttony. This is becoming one of my new favorite blogs.<br />
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<a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110517110315.htm">Gut bacteria linked to behavior: That anxiety may be in your gut, not in your head</a>. The gut flora may be influencing brain chemistry and behavior.<br />
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<strong>Other Biology</strong><br />
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<a href="http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp/2011/05/a-map-of-charismatic-canid-genomic-variation/">A map of charismatic canid genomic variation</a>. All that genetics PCA and <em>structure</em> (a program similar to ADMIXTURE) crap, but applied to dogs!<br />
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<a href="http://www.thefix.com/content/worlds-most-dangerous-drug">America's most poisonous pill</a>. It's not what you think (although the title is more than a bit misleading). Klonopin, a benzodiazepine, is apparently the second most abused drug in America behind opioids like Oxycontin.<br />
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<a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=sex-sleep-and-the-law-when-nocturna-2011-05-20">Sex, sleep, and the law: When nocturnal genitals pose a moral problem</a>. If someone forcibly tries to have sex with you while they're sleepwalking, can they be prosecuted?<br />
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<strong>Other Stuff</strong><br />
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<a href="http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2011/05/23/marketing-food-to-kids-with-cartoon-characters/">Marketing food to kids with cartoon characters</a>. Kids think that food tastes better when there are cartoon characters on the box, and this is true for foods from cereal to carrot sticks. This can be a good way to get kids to make healthier food choices, but chances are that for every healthy food option endorsed by Shrek or Nemo there are a handful of unhealthy ones endorsed by that lemur from Madagascar.<br />
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<a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v473/n7347/full/nj7347-409a.html">Forensics: The call of the crime lab</a>. A good report on the state of the occupation. I wanted to be a forensic scientist for a long time, but I don't like chemistry enough to be very good at it.<br />
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<a href="http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-05/uobc-hgf052011.php">Happy guys finish last, says new study on sexual attractiveness</a>. "Women find happy guys significantly less sexually attractive than swaggering or brooding men." Guilty.<br />
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<a href="http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/05/18/professors_spy_on_students_to_see_how_they_are_using_laptops_in_class">What they are really typing</a>. A few studies attempt to quantify what students are really doing on their laptops during class.EcoPhysioMichellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08814617477894983790noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156082872312528312.post-81163711544988169842011-05-22T14:01:00.001-04:002011-05-23T08:21:01.393-04:00Doug McDonald's BioGeographical Ancestry TestIn my quest to explore various aftermarket sources of information on my 23andMe raw data, I emailed my data to Doug McDonald for his BGA testing service. I first found out about his service on the <a href="http://23pp.david-web.co.uk/getting-more-from-your-data/">23++ Chrome extension website</a>, although the email they have listed for McDonald is wrong. I finally got the correct email (<i>mcdonald at scs dot uiuc dot edu</i>) through the 23andMe community forums.<br />
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Here's what he sent back:<br />
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<blockquote>Michelle: The program says you are English, 100%. However, on the chromosomes one sees a small <.5% American block that is fairly strong and likely real, but not 100% sure. The other blocks on the chromosomes are likely noise.</blockquote><br />
Here's a look at the chromosome painting you get from McDonald (similar to 23andMe's "ancestry painting"):<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EzfdCR_s4eo/TdlLAm-H4_I/AAAAAAAAAI8/0WuFFXS4j1c/s1600/genome_Michelle_BGA_1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EzfdCR_s4eo/TdlLAm-H4_I/AAAAAAAAAI8/0WuFFXS4j1c/s400/genome_Michelle_BGA_1.png" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Click to enlarge.</div><br />
The red sections are European, the brown sections are no data/not enough data, the two small blue sections are African, the small grey section is <s>Mideastern</s> South Asian, and the green section is Amerindian. I would like to know which side the Amerindian segment is on so I can explore this further. My mother's 23andMe results are due any week now, so I will likely email her data to him as soon as I get my hands on it.<br />
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You also get a number of what I think are PCA plots, showing where you map out with respect to his reference groups. He only sent one for me, but he sent multiple for my boyfriend. Here's mine:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5cybwGfEp_U/TdlMbqxCR3I/AAAAAAAAAJA/uj2JaN_Tlsc/s1600/genome_Michelle_BGA_2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5cybwGfEp_U/TdlMbqxCR3I/AAAAAAAAAJA/uj2JaN_Tlsc/s400/genome_Michelle_BGA_2.png" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Click to enlarge.</div><br />
The crosshairs show where I fall, in the middle of the English cluster, close to the French side. I thought I had more of an Irish minority than a French minority, but hey, whatever. I notice he doesn't have a sample German population, either.<br />
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Most of this is not new information to me, but does provide corroborating evidence for <a href="http://ecophysio.fieldofscience.com/2011/03/yet-another-admixture-post.html">the ~1% Amerindian that shows up for me in Razib's admixture analysis</a>. The results for my boyfriend go along more or less with what came up for him at the <a href="http://www.harappadna.org/">Harappa Ancestry Project</a>.EcoPhysioMichellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08814617477894983790noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156082872312528312.post-54374139283109761812011-05-19T08:00:00.008-04:002011-05-19T10:23:20.199-04:00Anti-clotting factors in vampire bat saliva may save your life.While I'm on the subject of <a href="http://ecophysio.fieldofscience.com/2011/05/heat-shock-proteins-keep-mosquitoes.html">things that suck blood</a>, I'd like to take a moment to tell you how vampire bat saliva may save your life one day.<br />
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Yesterday I happened to see a <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/OSUMC/status/70880796315090944">tweet from the Ohio State University Medical Center's twitter account</a> that linked to <a href="http://medicalcenter.osu.edu/mediaroom/Pages/release.aspx?newsID=6547">a press release discussing a new plasminogen activator</a> that is currently undergoing clinical trials. The drug, desmoteplase, is modeled after a protein found in vampire bat saliva that prevents clots and platelet aggregation, which keeps the blood flowing while the bat is feeding. Plasminogen activators like desmoteplase are used to break down blood clots that are blocking blood flow to vital organs such as the heart, lungs, or brain.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><object height="390" width="640"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/gO29knhmjGA?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/gO29knhmjGA?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="640" height="390" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bYnsp7TlHzw/TdRocV-FGsI/AAAAAAAAAI0/PNteNYQLt-s/s1600/heartattack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bYnsp7TlHzw/TdRocV-FGsI/AAAAAAAAAI0/PNteNYQLt-s/s320/heartattack.jpg" width="309" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Anatomy of a heart attack.<br />
Image credit: Flickr user <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gandhiji40/395241000/">gandhiji40</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>To understand why bats have this protein in their saliva and why it may be medically useful, we first need to understand how clots form. Whenever a blood vessel is damaged, collagen fibers are exposed under the severed lining of the vessel. Platelets, one of the several blood cell types, will begin to stick to the collagen fibers and to one another until the damaged area is covered. This creates a platelet "plug" that stops immediate blood loss. Once the platelet plug is in place, a cascade of clotting factors (a vital one being a chemical called fibrin) will build a clot "seal" over the platelet plug that forms a more permanent barrier to blood loss while the vessel heals.<br />
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After the vessel heals and the clot is no longer needed, a chemical called plasminogen is activated and becomes plasmin. Plasmin then breaks down the clot by solubilizing fibrin. This is a safe way to get rid of the clot so that it doesn't come off in one piece and then lodge itself into a small vessel where it can cut off circulation to parts of the body. However, sometimes clots are not broken down properly and can cut off blood flow to the brain (stroke) or heart (heart attack). When this happens, we need to manually turn plasminogen into plasmin using plasminogen activators, so that plasmin can break down the clot and restore blood flow.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-c4WY5ENkwTc/TdRoxw9_1yI/AAAAAAAAAI4/t3xWHER-GM4/s1600/vampbats.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="203" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-c4WY5ENkwTc/TdRoxw9_1yI/AAAAAAAAAI4/t3xWHER-GM4/s320/vampbats.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Vampire bat,<i> Desmodus rotundus</i>.<br />
Image credit: Flickr user <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/32357208@N08/3019325175/">Robertsphotos1</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>The plasminogen activators in vampire bat saliva were first described by Dr. Christine Hawkey in a letter to Nature in the 1960s. In addition to plasminogen activators, Hawkey later went on to describe platelet aggregation inhibitors in vampire bat saliva as well. Vampire bats do not suck blood directly as mosquitoes do; instead they puncture the skin with their teeth and lap the blood with their tongues as it seeps through the wound. This strategy requires the inhibition of platelet plugs and clots which would stop the blood from continuing to flow during the bat's meal.<br />
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Desmoteplase, which is derived from the plasminogen activators in vampire bat saliva originally described by Hawkey, seems to have some advantages over currently used plasminogen activators (which are often based on chemicals in humans). Current drugs are only approved for use up to 3 hours after symptom onset, and Dr. Michel Torbey at OSU MC is hopeful that desmoteplase will demonstrate efficacy up to 9 hours after symptom onset, which could drastically reduce the number of deaths. From the press release:<br />
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<em>"Prompt medical care within three hours is very important for recovery from a stroke, but attempts to find drugs that extend the treatment window have not been successful," added Torbey. "If the study findings back up our hopes and expectations, desmoteplase could be a real game changer in our ability to help patients."</em><br />
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In addition to expanding the treatment window, desmoteplase is more potent and specific than current drugs. One current plasminogen activator is even linked to neurotoxicity in some patients, so there is high demand for newer and better drugs to treat problematic clots. If approved, this drug could reduce the risk of death in stroke patients who live in remote areas and may not be able to make it to the emergency room within the three hour window.<br />
<br />
<hr><span style="float: left; padding: 5px;"><a href="http://www.researchblogging.org"><img alt="ResearchBlogging.org" src="http://www.researchblogging.org/public/citation_icons/rb2_large_gray.png" style="border:0;"/></a></span><span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Nature&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1038%2F211434c0&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Plasminogen+Activator+in+Saliva+of+the+Vampire+Bat+Desmodus+rotundus&rft.issn=0028-0836&rft.date=1966&rft.volume=211&rft.issue=5047&rft.spage=434&rft.epage=435&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nature.com%2Fdoifinder%2F10.1038%2F211434c0&rft.au=HAWKEY%2C+C.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Biology%2CMedicine%2CHealth%2CMolecular+Biology%2C+Zoology%2C+Cardiovascular%2C+Clinical+Research%2C+Hematology%2C+Physiology">HAWKEY, C. (1966). Plasminogen Activator in Saliva of the Vampire Bat Desmodus rotundus <span style="font-style: italic;">Nature, 211</span> (5047), 434-435 DOI: <a rev="review" href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/211434c0">10.1038/211434c0</a></span><br />
<br />
<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=British+Journal+of+Haematology&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1111%2Fj.1365-2141.1967.tb08870.x&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Inhibitor+of+Platelet+Aggregation+Present+in+Saliva+of+the+Vampire+Bat+Desmodus+rotundus&rft.issn=0007-1048&rft.date=1967&rft.volume=13&rft.issue=6&rft.spage=1014&rft.epage=1020&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Fdoi.wiley.com%2F10.1111%2Fj.1365-2141.1967.tb08870.x&rft.au=Hawkey%2C+C.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Biology">Hawkey, C. (1967). Inhibitor of Platelet Aggregation Present in Saliva of the Vampire Bat Desmodus rotundus <span style="font-style: italic;">British Journal of Haematology, 13</span> (6), 1014-1020 DOI: <a rev="review" href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2141.1967.tb08870.x">10.1111/j.1365-2141.1967.tb08870.x</a></span><br />
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<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Pathophysiology+of+Haemostasis+and+Thrombosis&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1159%2F000048054&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Vampire+Bat+Plasminogen+Activator+DSPA-Alpha-1+%28Desmoteplase%29%3A+A+Thrombolytic+Drug+Optimized+by+Natural+Selection&rft.issn=1424-8840&rft.date=2001&rft.volume=31&rft.issue=3-6&rft.spage=118&rft.epage=122&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.karger.com%2Fdoi%2F10.1159%2F000048054&rft.au=Schleuning%2C+W.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Biology">Schleuning, W. (2001). Vampire Bat Plasminogen Activator DSPA-Alpha-1 (Desmoteplase): A Thrombolytic Drug Optimized by Natural Selection <span style="font-style: italic;">Pathophysiology of Haemostasis and Thrombosis, 31</span> (3-6), 118-122 DOI: <a rev="review" href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000048054">10.1159/000048054</a></span>EcoPhysioMichellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08814617477894983790noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156082872312528312.post-89440614642887045892011-05-15T15:54:00.000-04:002011-05-15T15:54:17.411-04:00Blue JayI got way too excited about seeing this little guy through my window today. I've lived in Columbus for 8 years, and somehow this is <s>the first</s> only the second time I've ever seen a Blue Jay here (I forgot about one time that I saw one 4 years ago). I wish the photos were better quality, but I had to use what I had on hand before he hopped away!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--uEmKHQL2L8/TdAu9US7S5I/AAAAAAAAAIs/_KiwZpWNmIw/s1600/bluejay1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--uEmKHQL2L8/TdAu9US7S5I/AAAAAAAAAIs/_KiwZpWNmIw/s400/bluejay1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NLJ9_fBsr8A/TdAvCyPpCzI/AAAAAAAAAIw/6BPOYRm9GBg/s1600/bluejay2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NLJ9_fBsr8A/TdAvCyPpCzI/AAAAAAAAAIw/6BPOYRm9GBg/s400/bluejay2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>EcoPhysioMichellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08814617477894983790noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156082872312528312.post-77465902368963876782011-05-14T12:41:00.001-04:002011-05-14T22:00:30.772-04:00Heat shock proteins keep mosquitoes fertile after they feed on you.One of my committee members is an insect physiologist. I picked him for my committee because he's an excellent physiologist who has experience with lipid chemistry. (He's also an all around nice guy and a very successful scientist.) I took a photoperiodism seminar that he taught, and it was my favorite seminar class in graduate school. Despite all of this, my understanding of insect physiology is... almost nonexistent. I know a little bit about diapause from his seminar and a writing class that I took with one of his advisees, but that's about it. I'd like to learn, and if I had another year or two of grad school ahead of me I'd probably take an insect physiology class. As a wise man once said, "If 'if's and 'but's were candies and nuts then we'd all have a Merry Christmas," am I right?<br />
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Anyway, my point is that he has <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/108/19/8026.abstract">a paper in PNAS</a> this week that I found really interesting, but you'll have to forgive me if there are any physiological inaccuracies in this post. I claim responsibility for anything that's wrong.<br />
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<hr /><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-F9XTRAESueA/Tc6vmilppzI/AAAAAAAAAIg/aPcAeurLs3g/s1600/aedes-sanofi-pasteur.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="215" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-F9XTRAESueA/Tc6vmilppzI/AAAAAAAAAIg/aPcAeurLs3g/s320/aedes-sanofi-pasteur.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Aedes aegypti</i>. Credit: Flickr user <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sanofi-pasteur/5284040324/">Sanofi Pasteur</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>It may not seem like it during this part of the year (in the northern hemisphere anyway), but most of the time, mosquitoes don't drink blood. Males and females both drink nectar for their own survival; it is the propagation of the species that requires your blood. Female mosquitoes sometimes need to take a hot blood meal to get the required proteins and iron for making eggs. While necessary for reproduction, drinking mammalian blood has a lot of unique physiological challenges, not the least of which is the temperature difference.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zCe2FxHMcwg/Tc6vrqSYtqI/AAAAAAAAAIk/U_7lA7_MvcU/s1600/mosquitoF1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="144" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zCe2FxHMcwg/Tc6vrqSYtqI/AAAAAAAAAIk/U_7lA7_MvcU/s200/mosquitoF1.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>At room temperature, the average human's body temperature is about 15°C (almost 30°F) warmer than that of the average mosquito, and when a female takes a blood meal, her body temperature spikes 10°C in one minute! While ectotherms like mosquitoes are used to fluctuating body temperatures based on environmental conditions (such as the day/night cycle), these changes are usually gradual, allowing the mosquito ample time to alter their physiology. Hot blood meals impose the unique physiological problem of rapidly increasing body temperature without much time to adjust, which can cause enzymatic dysfunction and disrupt physiological pathways such as digestion, reproduction, and metabolism.<br />
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Obviously mosquitoes are not dying out because they are heat stressed and can't reproduce (wouldn't that be great?), so how are they getting around this problem? Heat shock proteins! Heat shock proteins can aid as enzymatic "chaperones", making sure that the enzyme proteins stay folded in the proper conformation during times of physiological stress (not just heat but also extreme cold, lack of oxygen, infection, or exposure to toxins, among other things). Enzymes are a key player in digestion; they aid in the breakdown of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates, and the absorption of certain nutrients, so the mosquitoes definitely want to conserve their function right after taking a meal.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TepyLNsSemo/Tc6vysIte_I/AAAAAAAAAIo/Rr4msu2u04I/s1600/mosquitoF5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TepyLNsSemo/Tc6vysIte_I/AAAAAAAAAIo/Rr4msu2u04I/s200/mosquitoF5.jpg" width="148" /></a></div>It turns out that female mosquitoes experience an 8-fold spike in heat shock protein expression in the midgut following a hot blood meal. When the mosquitoes were prevented from being able to express HSP70 (the heat shock protein active in these mosquitoes), the blood proteins from their meal stayed in the midgut longer, suggesting that digestion of blood proteins is somehow impaired. It is unclear whether this is due to a deficiency in breaking down the proteins or slower uptake of proteins and nutrients from the midgut, but the result is the same: the proteins are staying in the midgut longer instead of going into the body and aiding egg formation.<br />
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While heat shock proteins are not preferentially expressed in the ovaries after a hot blood meal, the mosquitoes prevented from expressing HSP70 also made fewer eggs than control mosquitoes, which provides further evidence that the delay of protein digestion and nutrient absorption is interfering with egg production. Since <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/list_mosquitoborne.htm">mosquitoes are vectors for many human diseases</a>, research like this can be used towards initiatives to potentially limit the fecundity of mosquitoes (i.e. how rapidly they reproduce) and reduce human infection with diseases like yellow fever, malaria, and dengue fever.<br />
<br />
<hr /><span style="float: left; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 5px;"><a href="http://www.researchblogging.org/"><img alt="ResearchBlogging.org" src="http://www.researchblogging.org/public/citation_icons/rb2_large_gray.png" style="border: 0;" /></a></span><span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Proceedings+of+the+National+Academy+of+Sciences&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1073%2Fpnas.1105195108&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Drinking+a+hot+blood+meal+elicits+a+protective+heat+shock+response+in+mosquitoes&rft.issn=0027-8424&rft.date=2011&rft.volume=&rft.issue=&rft.spage=&rft.epage=&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pnas.org%2Fcgi%2Fdoi%2F10.1073%2Fpnas.1105195108&rft.au=Benoit%2C+J.&rft.au=Lopez-Martinez%2C+G.&rft.au=Patrick%2C+K.&rft.au=Phillips%2C+Z.&rft.au=Krause%2C+T.&rft.au=Denlinger%2C+D.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Biology%2CHealth%2CEpidemiology%2C+Public+Health%2C+Biochemistry%2C+Reproduction">Benoit, J., Lopez-Martinez, G., Patrick, K., Phillips, Z., Krause, T., & Denlinger, D. (2011). Drinking a hot blood meal elicits a protective heat shock response in mosquitoes <span style="font-style: italic;">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</span> DOI: <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1105195108" rev="review">10.1073/pnas.1105195108</a></span>EcoPhysioMichellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08814617477894983790noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156082872312528312.post-18842393173431936392011-05-13T17:31:00.002-04:002011-05-13T20:59:25.946-04:00Links - May 13, 2011<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TkExTndJAoc/TbiftjBrvaI/AAAAAAAAAIQ/AuM-pNhEL7w/s1600/links1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TkExTndJAoc/TbiftjBrvaI/AAAAAAAAAIQ/AuM-pNhEL7w/s1600/links1.png" /></a></div>I'm sorry for not posting much lately. I have, <a href="http://twitter.com/">as Gerty-Z joked on Twitter</a>, reached the 'herding cats' portion of my graduate education. I'm busy wrapping up loose ends and trying to schedule and prepare for my thesis defense. Also most of my blogging energy is <a href="http://invertedtrope.wordpress.com/">going to other things</a>. I've been flexing my sociology muscles since I'm a little burnt out on science at the moment, <em>mi dispiace</em>. I'm sure you understand. But, hey, here's some stuff you can read! My commentary is a bit cursory today because, again, feeling a little burnt out. It's all good though, I promise.<br />
<br />
<strong>Physiology</strong><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21028124.600-sex-on-the-brain-orgasms-unlock-altered-consciousness.html">Sex on the brain: Orgasms unlock altered consciousness</a>. I was mostly just amused by the woman's description of being instructed to masturbate while in an fMRI machine.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://mashable.com/2011/05/09/sitting-down-infographic/">Just how dangerous is sitting all day</a>? Spending long periods sitting down can be very harmful for you, even if you exercise regularly. See also: <a href="http://blogs.plos.org/obesitypanacea/2011/05/09/7-myths-about-physical-activity/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+plos%2Fblogs%2Fmain+%28Blogs+-+Main%29">7 Myths about Physical Activity</a>.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://scienceblogs.com/lifelines/2011/05/burning_proteins_to_save_water.php">Burning proteins to save water</a>. Breaking down muscle for energy releases water, and certain long-distance migratory birds are taking advantage of this. I have the paper for this in my reading queue.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://jezebel.com/5800067/is-semen-really-an-antidepressant">Is semen really an antidepressant</a>? Wow, this topic seems to get people blogging like no other! Check out this one in Jezebel which includes a quote by our pal Kate Clancy.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.wholeliving.com/article/how-kissing-can-boost-your-mood-instantly">How kissing can boost your mood instantly</a>. Props to Sheryl for not naming this article "<a href="http://twitter.com/#!/physilology/status/65213638847381504">The neuroscience of</a> kissing"!<br />
<br />
<b>Biology</b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://planetfuraha.blogspot.com/2011/05/wildlife-in-star-wars-universe.html">Wildlife in the Star Wars Universe</a>. Gorgeous photos of alien wildlife compared to earthly beings.<br />
<br />
<strong>Other stuff</strong><br />
<br />
<a href="http://goodmenproject.com/ethics-values/mythbusting-bisexual-men/">Mythbusting Bisexual Men</a>. Apparently people believe that bisexual men are rarer than unicorns.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.brownpundits.com/2011/05/11/brown-man-white-woman/">Brown man + white woman</a> and <a href="http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2011/05/12/marriage-and-the-intersection-of-gender-and-race/">Marriage and the intersection of gender and race</a>. Razib and Sociological Images tackle the numbers behind actual rates of marriage outside of one's own race.<br />
<br />
In other news, apparently Kedar is upset that I didn't remind the world that today is his birthday. So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY KEDAR! I got him a tie, a Wii Fit Plus, and a really skimpy dress for me.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bUz1im3pfgw/Tc3TuAuju5I/AAAAAAAAAIc/9ymE010W22A/s1600/babykedar.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bUz1im3pfgw/Tc3TuAuju5I/AAAAAAAAAIc/9ymE010W22A/s320/babykedar.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The birthday <s>monkey</s> boy, circa 1987.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>EcoPhysioMichellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08814617477894983790noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156082872312528312.post-62751193042359742202011-05-08T10:02:00.000-04:002011-05-08T10:02:00.590-04:00Happy Mothers' Day!<object height="390" width="640"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/osWuWjbeO-Y?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/osWuWjbeO-Y?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="640" height="390" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>EcoPhysioMichellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08814617477894983790noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156082872312528312.post-48255473706581319972011-05-05T10:48:00.004-04:002011-05-05T10:54:14.353-04:00Links - May 5, 2011<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TkExTndJAoc/TbiftjBrvaI/AAAAAAAAAIQ/AuM-pNhEL7w/s1600/links1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TkExTndJAoc/TbiftjBrvaI/AAAAAAAAAIQ/AuM-pNhEL7w/s1600/links1.png" /></a></div>Feliz Cinco de Mayo! Before I get to the links, here are some things that have been going on lately:<br />
<br />
- My post not too long ago on <a href="http://ecophysio.fieldofscience.com/2011/04/good-news-for-people-with-specific.html">the efficacy of cortisol supplement during exposure therapy for specific phobias</a> was picked by Jason as one of his <a href="http://researchblogging.org/news/?p=2609">ResearchBlogging Editor's Selections</a> last week.<br />
<br />
- Razib and Zach have invited me to contribute at <a href="http://www.brownpundits.com/">Brown Pundits</a>. I'm not really sure what I'm going to talk about over there yet, but I accepted the offer.<br />
<br />
- <a href="http://ecophysio.fieldofscience.com/2011/05/total-calorie-intake-is-most.html">I already mentioned it</a>, but I have a guest post at the <a href="http://www.labspaces.net/view_blog.php?ID=860">LabSpaces guest blog Dangerous Experiments</a> on <a href="http://www.labspaces.net/blog/1324/Total_calorie_intake_is_most_influential_in_regulating_adiponectin">caloric intake and hypoadiponectinemia</a>. My last guest post was on <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=whats-the-deal-with-male-circumcisi-2011-04-04">circumcision and cervical cancer</a> at the <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/guest-blog/">Scientific American guest blog</a>.<br />
<br />
<strong>Physiology</strong><br />
<br />
<a href="http://earthsky.org/health/how-peppermint-may-cool-that-irritable-bowel-syndrome">How peppermint may cool that irritable bowel syndrome</a>. IBS is thought to be caused by permanent agitation of enteric nerves (nerves in the gastrointestinal tract) that become oversensitive to inflammation, often occurring after an infection such as a bout of gastroenteritis (caused by "stomach flu" or food poisoning). Menthol from peppermint and other "cooling" compounds may be able to soothe the bowels and alleviate some of the symptoms of IBS. I think I may have already known this on a subconscious level, since I tend to suck on peppermints when I'm feeling anxious (anxiety and stress are major triggers of IBS).<br />
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<a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=superfetation-pregnant-while-alread-2011-04-27">Superfetation: Pregnant while already pregnant</a>. On the Scientific American Guest Blog, a discussion of the unlikely factors that must happen in concert for a woman to get pregnant again when she's already got a half-done bun in her oven.<br />
<br />
<strong>Other Biology</strong><br />
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<a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=how-do-you-id-a-dead-osama-anyway-2011-05-02">How do you ID a dead Osama?</a> Christie Wilcox explains the DNA analysis process that may have been used to confirm Bin Laden's identity. <a href="http://spittoon.23andme.com/2011/05/03/dna-analysis-stars-in-gwat/">See also 23andMe's post on the topic</a>.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2011/04/26/135694052/natures-living-tape-recorders-may-be-telling-us-secrets?sc=fb&cc=fp">Nature's Living Tape Recorders May Be Telling Us Secrets</a>. Superb lyrebirds are superb mimics of any sound you can imagine. Be sure to watch the embedded video.<br />
<br />
<strong>Other Stuff</strong><br />
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<a href="http://www.livescience.com/14014-boost-interest-space-talk-poop.html">How to Boost Interest in Space: Talk About Poop</a>. Yeah, I mean, look. I've seen enough space movies to know that peeing in space has to be pretty tightly controlled, otherwise you've got a big ol' mess (and, actually, I've never heard anyone address the issue of women trying to urinate in space; that's gotta be more difficult). BUT WHAT ABOUT POOPING?!<br />
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<a href="http://www.deliberatepixel.com/2010/07/16/mythbusting-princess-leia-s-hair">Mythbusting Princess Leia's Hair</a>. As if you needed to be told that Leia's hair defied the laws of physics.<br />
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<a href="http://www.ionpsych.com/2011/05/01/royal-wedding/">I Liked The Royal Wedding (And It's Okay If You Did Too)</a>. What kind of power does the monarchy really have?EcoPhysioMichellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08814617477894983790noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156082872312528312.post-23746206768135853002011-05-03T09:30:00.001-04:002011-05-03T09:32:32.380-04:00Total calorie intake is most influential in regulating adiponectin<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9mPBtsPwDtU/TcAC9ko6DRI/AAAAAAAAAIY/rm3IbshDWMs/s1600/Fatmouse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="135" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9mPBtsPwDtU/TcAC9ko6DRI/AAAAAAAAAIY/rm3IbshDWMs/s200/Fatmouse.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><a href="http://www.labspaces.net/blog/1324/Total_calorie_intake_is_most_influential_in_regulating_adiponectin">Today I have a guest post over at the LabSpaces guest blog Dangerous Experiments</a>. In that post I discuss a recent paper that examines the relative influence of total caloric intake, relative amount of dietary fat, and existing body fat on the circulating levels of an endocrine called adiponectin. Adiponectin is involved in energy homeostasis, specifically glucose uptake and the breakdown of fat, among other things. Hypoadiponectinemia (having too little adiponectin) is a risk factor for a lot of obesity-related diseases, like Type II Diabetes and metabolic syndrome.<br />
<br />
<hr /><span style="float: left; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 5px;"><a href="http://www.researchblogging.org/"><img alt="ResearchBlogging.org" src="http://www.researchblogging.org/public/citation_icons/rb2_large_gray.png" style="border: 0;" /></a></span><span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Am+J+Physiol+Endocrinol+Metab.&rft_id=info%3A%2F10.%E2%80%8B1152%2F%E2%80%8Bajpendo.%E2%80%8B00004.%E2%80%8B2011&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Energy+intake+and+adiponectin+gene+expression&rft.issn=&rft.date=2011&rft.volume=&rft.issue=&rft.spage=0&rft.epage=0&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Fajpendo.physiology.org%2Fcontent%2F300%2F5%2FE809.abstract&rft.au=Liping+Qiao%2C+Bonggi+Lee%2C+Brice+Kinney%2C+Hyung+sun+Yoo%2C+and+Jianhua+Shao&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Biology%2CMedicine%2CHealth%2CEndocrinology%2C+Physiology%2C+Metabolism">Liping Qiao, Bonggi Lee, Brice Kinney, Hyung sun Yoo, and Jianhua Shao (2011). Energy intake and adiponectin gene expression <span style="font-style: italic;">Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab.</span> : <a href="http://ajpendo.physiology.org/content/300/5/E809.abstract" rev="review">10.1152/ajpendo.00004.2011</a></span>EcoPhysioMichellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08814617477894983790noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156082872312528312.post-49745329182948782062011-05-02T10:33:00.003-04:002011-05-02T13:34:40.303-04:00Ohio State University student body reacts to Osama Bin Laden's death<i>Cross-posted at <a href="http://www.brownpundits.com/2011/05/02/osu-students-react/">Brown Pundits</a>.</i><br />
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"<a href="http://www2.nbc4i.com/news/2011/may/02/3/campus-parties-after-bin-laden-news-ar-473528/">Campus Parties After Bin Laden News</a>" - NBC4 Columbus, OH<br />
<br />
<blockquote>Within an hour of the announcement from President Obama that Osama Bin Laden had been killed, students and other young people began to gather at Mirror Lake on the OSU campus.<br />
<br />
The traditional place for a rally prior to the annual Ohio State-Michigan football rivalry, Sunday night, it became a place of celebration.<br />
<br />
Bin Laden is viewed as the planner behind the 9/11 attacks on the U.S. and a reason the U.S. has been fighting in Afghanistan for nearly 10 years.<br />
<br />
Police gathered near the lake after the flag-waving group, estimated at 1,000, splashed in the water but were just a presence for safety rather than control, according to police.<br />
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The apparently spontaneous event continued after midnight.</blockquote><br />
More videos on YouTube <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PscLnHJj020">here</a> and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDCpeTEd-PY">here</a>.<br />
<br />
To be honest, I've never understood my students' desire to celebrate things by jumping into Mirror Lake (really a man-made pond in the middle of campus). I didn't even understand it when I was an undergrad here. I wonder how this kind of mass mob assembles spontaneously? I'm sure Facebook had a lot to do with it.<br />
<br />
I don't begrudge these students their catharsis. I doubt many of them know someone who died in the actual 9/11 attack, but I'm willing to bet that a good number of them have lost a friend or relative in the 10 years that followed. I lost an acquaintance from high school, and my youngest brother is in the Navy right now (he's stationed at the same base as the Navy SEALs that carried out the operation).<br />
<br />
However, watching several hundred (possibly a thousand) overwhelmingly white bodies assemble in a mob to celebrate the death of a brown man still leaves me a little uneasy, no matter how vile the individual was. I hope that in their celebration they were able to maintain some perspective and remember President Obama's words, "We are not at war with Islam," and the subtext beneath his words: we are not at war with brown-skinned people who have funny names. Like, you know, the President. Or my boyfriend. Or my future kids.<br />
<br />
I like to believe the best in people and especially in my students. I hope my brown students were safe last night. I hope <i>everyone</i> was safe last night and in the times to come. That's all.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://twitter.com/#!/ReallyVirtual/" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JFVn489aFcA/Tb7KNJJvFzI/AAAAAAAAAIU/QEWlHSGCDhk/s1600/obltweet.gif" /></a></div><b>Edit</b>: <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/ReallyVirtual/">Related reading</a>:EcoPhysioMichellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08814617477894983790noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156082872312528312.post-44009204459323946322011-04-25T12:00:00.003-04:002011-04-27T19:00:17.764-04:00Links - April 25, 2011<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TkExTndJAoc/TbiftjBrvaI/AAAAAAAAAIQ/AuM-pNhEL7w/s1600/links1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TkExTndJAoc/TbiftjBrvaI/AAAAAAAAAIQ/AuM-pNhEL7w/s1600/links1.png" /></a></div><strong>Physiology</strong><br />
<br />
<a href="http://professorkateclancy.blogspot.com/2011/04/aapa-symposium-on-evolution-through.html">AAPA symposium on Evolution through the Life Course: Why we shouldn't prescribe hormonal contraception to twelve year olds</a>. Can the benefits of hormonal contraceptives seen in adult women be applied to girls as young as 11-12? Can the use of hormonal contraceptives influence the development of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal endocrine pathways in pubescent girls? Oral contraceptives are often marketed as period regulators, especially to young girls who are more likely to experience irregular periods. However, period irregularity after menarche is due to the maturation process of the negative-feedback arc that regulates the endocrine pathway, and the effects of flooding this developing system with exogenous hormones aren't well understood.<br />
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<a href="http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2011/04/20/divided-by-language-united-by-gut-bacteria-%E2%80%93-people-have-three-common-gut-types/">Divided by language, united by gut bacteria – people have three common gut types</a> and <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/21/science/21gut.html?_r=2">Bacterial Ecosystems Divide People Into 3 Groups, Scientists Say</a>. The microbiome seems to be a pretty hot topic right now.<br />
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<a href="http://terriblepunyrightness.wordpress.com/2011/04/20/that-semen-antidepressant-study/">http://terriblepunyrightness.wordpress.com/2011/04/20/that-semen-antidepressant-study/</a>. I'm glad someone finally took this to task. If you're not familiar, there's an oft-cited study on college-age women that claims that women who don't use condoms are less depressed than women who use condoms or are abstinent. The authors took this to mean that there are magical happy juices in semen that is absorbed through the vaginal wall and boosts women's mood. However, there are problems with this study that people often fail to address when discussing it.<br />
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<a href="http://www.medgadget.com/archives/2011/04/erection_inducing_condoms_may_soon_be_available_in_europe.html">Erection-inducing condoms may soon be available in Europe</a>. The condoms use a topical vasodilator to prevent, um, deflation after putting it on.<br />
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<a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-mindful-self-express/201104/the-neuroscience-relationship-breakups">The neuroscience of relationship breakups</a>. Looking at a photo of an ex-significant other immediately after a breakup activates the same areas of the brain as when experiencing physical pain.<br />
<br />
<strong>Other Biology</strong><br />
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<a href="http://katiephd.com/dna-origami-gets-curves/">DNA Origami Gets Curves</a>. Just look at the pictures!<br />
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<a href="http://scienceblogs.com/thoughtfulanimal/2011/04/perseverative_error_piaget.php">Perseverating on Perseverative Error: What Does The "A-not-B Error" Really Tell Us About Infant Cognition?</a> Baby talk may be an adaptive mechanism for learning generalizable information.<br />
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<a href="http://mashable.com/2011/04/24/time-lapse-nature/">Nature in time-lapse: 10 awe-inspiring videos</a>. They're all good, but this one is my favorite:<br />
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<br />
<strong>Other Stuff</strong><br />
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<a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2291198/">Nervous nellies</a>. Culture is probably to blame for the fact that girls seem to be plagued by anxiety more often than boys. A good companion piece to this: <a href="http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2011/04/the-secret-lives-of-boys/">The secret lives of boys</a>.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.anthropologyinpractice.com/2011/04/reflections-of-gotham-why-do-new.html">Reflections of Gotham: Why Do New Yorkers Wear So Much Black?</a> A pretty cool summary of the history of dyes and textile trade, and how that may be influencing the color choices of New Yorkers.EcoPhysioMichellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08814617477894983790noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156082872312528312.post-48555830236796224962011-04-22T09:00:00.001-04:002011-04-22T10:40:25.862-04:00Book Review - Get Me Out<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xiF9qomsR3E/TbBsIbon0jI/AAAAAAAAAIM/fkOBfvFoEjk/s1600/GetMeOutPbk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xiF9qomsR3E/TbBsIbon0jI/AAAAAAAAAIM/fkOBfvFoEjk/s400/GetMeOutPbk.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>Earlier this year I received <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Get-Me-Out-History-Childbirth/dp/0393339068/">Get Me Out: A History of Childbirth from the Garden of Eden to the Sperm Bank</a> by <a href="http://www.randihutterepstein.com/">Dr. Randi Hutter Epstein</a> through a <a href="http://scienceonline2011.com/">Science Online 2011</a> giveaway contest on Twitter. It took me a while to get around to reading it, partially because I was busy churning out my thesis at the time, but also because it wasn't a topic I found entirely interesting. I am not interested in being pregnant at this point in my life, so a book about childbirth isn't on my radar right now. However, I decided to keep it around because you never really know what the future may bring. As it turns out, last week I had a very disturbing nightmare about being pregnant and being forced to have an abortion. The dream continued to disturb me a few days after the fact, so I grabbed the book off my bookshelf and started to read, thinking that it might help displace the "bad taste" of the dream.<br />
<br />
Epstein has a nice light touch to her writing, so what could easily have been a dense and difficult book was actually very smooth and palatable. I banged it out in two days and it definitely achieved the desired effect of getting my mind off of the nightmare. The book is organized into five parts:<br />
<br />
The first part covers the history of childbirth up to the 20<sup>th</sup> century. The focus is mainly on the invention of forceps and the contributions of Dr. Marion Sims, who is lauded for developing a surgical method to fix vaginal fistulas (a painful complication of childbirth where the vaginal wall tears and opens into the bladder or rectum) and simultaneously abhorred for developing his method through what essentially amounts to the torture of slave women.<br />
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The second part covers the move from bedroom to hospitals. Puerperal fever was a leading cause of post-partum death among mothers before the discovery of germs, which doctors transmitted freely between women in hospitals. This led to the bizarre practice of letting women's genitals "air out" on the roof of hospitals for days after giving birth, thinking that this would keep the mother from getting sick. After the establishment of sanitation came more drugs, and a chapter is devoted to "twilight sleep", the first attempt to use drugs to ease childbirth.<br />
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The third part explores the role of psychology in conception, the natural childbirth movement, and the devastating consequences of certain fertility drugs. The fourth part covers C-sections, freebirthers (an even more radical take on natural childbirth), and sonograms, and the fifth part covers gamete donation and cryopreservation.<br />
<br />
Running themes throughout this book include the battle against midwives by medical doctors, the battle against medical doctors by pregnant women, and the rapidly oscillating opinions on what role drugs should play in pregnancies and childbirth. It seems that throughout history, doctors have been attempting to discredit midwives (both out of concern for women's well-being, but also in order to take over their business), women have been at odds with doctors over what is best for their pregnancies, and women have been unable to agree with each other over whether or not to take drugs, and which types of drugs, and the reasons to use or not use a particular birthing method. There are millions of different ways to have a child, and nobody can agree on anything! No wonder mothers are so stressed out.<br />
<br />
One thing about this book that bothered me is that the book claims to be a "history of childbirth", but it is more accurately described as a history of childbirth <em>in the western world</em>. The book is not without the occasional reference to things happening in the non-western world, but the book is clearly focused on Europe and America, and largely devoid of Asian or African history and practices. This is not necessarily a bad thing or a criticism of Epstein's work. The book is clearly marketed towards western women, so there's no shame in focusing on western history (and to include a worldwide picture of childbirth throughout the ages would have made the book much longer and probably not as easy a read). I just believe in being honest about the limitations of scope, that's all.<br />
<br />
While Epstein strives to write a fair and balanced book, sometimes her biases do slip in to the narrative. This is particularly obvious in the chapter on freebirthers, who believe in giving birth without any medical help at all. Her language in this chapter tends towards the dismissive at times, but I suppose that's to be expected, given that she's a medical doctor. On a personal level, I think freebirthing is a stupid idea: the kind of idea that also leads parents to decide not to vaccinate their children, so I don't exactly disagree with her. On the whole, though, her stance is clear. There's no one way to have a baby; women should decide what is best for <i>them</i> based on the information available, and then stick to their guns. And, perhaps just as importantly, when a mother chooses one method, it does not inherently translate into her making a judgement against mothers who choose other methods. New mothers have enough to worry about without being paranoid about how others will judge them based on their choices.EcoPhysioMichellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08814617477894983790noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156082872312528312.post-39062694882789539582011-04-21T09:00:00.008-04:002011-04-26T12:16:03.308-04:00Good news for people with specific phobias: Cortisol may increase efficacy of exposure therapy.<span style="float: left; padding: 5px;"><a href="http://researchblogging.org/news/?p=2609"><img alt="This post was chosen as an Editor's Selection for ResearchBlogging.org" src="http://www.researchblogging.org/public/citation_icons/rb_editors-selection.png" style="border:0;"/></a></span>Earlier this week <a href="http://ecophysio.fieldofscience.com/2011/04/question-for-psychneurogastro-friends.html">I shared the story of my specific phobia of vomiting</a>, and little did I know that an <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/108/16/6621.full">article would be published in PNAS the next day</a> (open access!) about the efficacy of cortisol supplementation during exposure therapy for specific phobias.<br />
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Cortisol, which I have <a href="http://ecophysio.fieldofscience.com/2010/08/on-detecting-stress-endocrines-in.html">blogged</a> <a href="http://ecophysio.fieldofscience.com/2010/07/stress-endocrine-pathway-may-have.html">about</a> <a href="http://ecophysio.fieldofscience.com/2010/07/not-exactly-breaking-news-sex-reduces.html">before</a>, is a major endocrine involved in the human stress response (corticosterone, a closely-related steroid, serves the same purpose in many other animals). Stressful experiences are also learning experiences for many individuals ("I'll never do <em>that</em> again..." etc.), and cortisol seems to have an impact on the building and retrieval of memories. Specifically, it appears to promote the storage of new memories while simultaneously repressing the retrieval of already stored memories. This makes it a potentially beneficial supplement during exposure therapy, which is based on replacing traumatic memories of objects, events, or situations with repeated non-traumatic exposures to "unlearn" the fear.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JzeAUkw8qZo/Ta8_TJXag1I/AAAAAAAAAII/WtDxOlulKyc/s1600/F1.large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JzeAUkw8qZo/Ta8_TJXag1I/AAAAAAAAAII/WtDxOlulKyc/s320/F1.large.jpg" width="289" /></a>In this study, the authors compared two groups of people undergoing exposure therapy for their fear of heights: a control group that received a placebo and an experimental group that received 20mg of cortisol one hour before their treatment sessions. (The two groups did not differ in baseline levels of cortisol, and the experimental group did have higher levels of circulating cortisol, both validated by saliva samples.)<br />
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Exposure therapy reduced self-reported fear in both groups, but the effect was amplified in the cortisol group, both 3-5 days after treatment and at follow-up a month later. This suggests that cortisol supplementation increases the efficacy of exposure therapy in people who have specific phobias of heights. However, more studies need to be done to see if the cortisol treatment has continuing long-term effects in the fear response.<br />
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I hesitate to jump for joy because I have no idea if exposure therapy (with or without cortisol) would be effective or even possible for my specific phobia. I am not sure how well these results can be extrapolated to other specific phobias, although previous research suggests it may also be beneficial in arachnophobia and social phobia.<br />
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<hr /><span style="float: left; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 5px;"><a href="http://www.researchblogging.org/"><img alt="ResearchBlogging.org" src="http://www.researchblogging.org/public/citation_icons/rb2_large_gray.png" style="border: 0;" /></a></span><span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.jtitle=Proceedings+of+the+National+Academy+of+Sciences&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1073%2Fpnas.1018214108&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fresearchblogging.org&rft.atitle=Glucocorticoids+enhance+extinction-based+psychotherapy&rft.issn=0027-8424&rft.date=2011&rft.volume=&rft.issue=&rft.spage=&rft.epage=&rft.artnum=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pnas.org%2Fcgi%2Fdoi%2F10.1073%2Fpnas.1018214108&rft.au=de+Quervain%2C+D.&rft.au=Bentz%2C+D.&rft.au=Michael%2C+T.&rft.au=Bolt%2C+O.&rft.au=Wiederhold%2C+B.&rft.au=Margraf%2C+J.&rft.au=Wilhelm%2C+F.&rfe_dat=bpr3.included=1;bpr3.tags=Biology%2CMedicine%2CPsychology%2CHealth%2CNeuroscience%2CClinical+Psychology">de Quervain, D., Bentz, D., Michael, T., Bolt, O., Wiederhold, B., Margraf, J., & Wilhelm, F. (2011). Glucocorticoids enhance extinction-based psychotherapy <span style="font-style: italic;">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</span> DOI: <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1018214108" rev="review">10.1073/pnas.1018214108</a></span>EcoPhysioMichellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08814617477894983790noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156082872312528312.post-71389733385557073492011-04-20T13:15:00.001-04:002011-04-27T19:01:30.699-04:00Links - April 20, 2011<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TkExTndJAoc/TbiftjBrvaI/AAAAAAAAAIQ/AuM-pNhEL7w/s1600/links1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TkExTndJAoc/TbiftjBrvaI/AAAAAAAAAIQ/AuM-pNhEL7w/s1600/links1.png" /></a></div><strong>Physiology</strong><br />
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<a href="http://www.the-scientist.com/news/display/58122/">Opinion: The decline of physiology</a>. Medical schools in the UK are scaling back their basic physiology education in favor of more pathology and clinical courses which skim over the basic physiology needed to understand those situations. If you are a physiologist, the APS encourages you to participate in the comments discussion.<br />
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<a href="http://j-walkblog.com/index.php?/weblog/comments/Sucked_Out_Of_A_Plane/">Sucked out of a plane?</a> What are the physiological consequences of being sucked out of an airplane? This made me think of the airlock scenes in Battlestar Galactica. (CALLY NOOOOO!)<br />
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<a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-neuroscience-of-gut">The neuroscience of the gut</a>. I briefly <a href="http://ecophysio.fieldofscience.com/2011/04/question-for-psychneurogastro-friends.html">mentioned the brain-gut axis</a> earlier this week. It has been established that the gut flora can have an effect on things like obesity (<a href="http://ecophysio.fieldofscience.com/2011/04/correlation-between-gut-bacteria-and.html">although the exact nature of the relationship is still poorly understood</a>), but it seems that the gut flora may also influence the brain and behavior in more ways than previously thought.<br />
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<a href="http://scienceblogs.com/isisthescientist/2011/04/remembering_a_time_when_blood.php">Remembering a time when blood did not flow right to left</a>. A history lesson from Dr. Isis.<br />
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<strong>Genetics</strong><br />
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<a href="http://blogs.plos.org/obesitypanacea/2011/04/12/genes-may-modify-the-health-impact-of-sedentary-behaviour/">Do genes modify the health impact of sedentary behavior?</a> Travis at Obesity Panacea (which isn't a new blog by any means but is quickly becoming one of <em>my</em> new favorites) interviews Caren Smith, the lead author of a <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2801595/">recent paper</a> exploring how genetics may influence the impact of sedentary behavior. They found that women with the TT genotype at SNP rs6507931 were at a higher risk when engaging in sedentary behavior than women with other genotypes. 23andMe v3 includes this SNP, so <a href="https://www.23andme.com/you/explorer/snp/?snp_name=rs6507931">you can look up your genotype here</a>. I'm CT at rs6507931, does that mean I don't have to worry about sedentary behavior affecting my health? No, not at all. As Dr. Smith says in the interview, "With respect to worrying about genotype vs. worrying about sedentary behavior, at the moment we know more about the overwhelmingly beneficial effects of physical activity than we do about the effects of interactions with certain genotype. While it is likely that some people derive greater benefits than others from exercise (or conversely, at put at higher risk through inactivity), the vast majority of people would benefit from increasing their overall physical activity."<br />
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<a href="http://spittoon.23andme.com/2011/04/18/coffee-i-must-have-coffee/">"Coffee, I must have coffee..."</a> At 23andMe's blog, they explore some recent papers that link one's genotype to the amounts of coffee and other caffeinated beverages that one consumes. Anecdotally, I have one of the caffeine-desirous genotypes, and I do drink about 3 cups of black tea a day. When I say cups, I mean <em>my</em> tea cup, which is much closer to 2 measuring cups.<br />
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<a href="http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp/2011/04/razib-khans-23andme-v3-genotype/">Razib Khan's 23andMe v3 genotype</a>. Razib has put his 23andMe data into the public domain.<br />
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<strong>Other Biology</strong><br />
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<a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704628404576264790430954966.html">That's not a dinosaur!</a> Our cultural consensus of what dinosaurs are "supposed" to look like is rapidly diverging from what scientists are discovering about dinosaur morphology. This sorta came home for me when I recently re-watched <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Land_Before_Time">The Land Before Time</a> and realized that the brontosaurus never existed! I also went off on a tangent about how stegosaurus and triceratops did not live during the same time period (which I actually knew even as a kid from reading Calvin and Hobbes). This prompted Kedar to implore me to just shut up and enjoy the movie, but how can I when I'm experiencing cognitive dissonance?!<br />
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<strong>Other Stuff</strong><br />
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<a href="http://commonsenseatheism.com/?p=1404">How to get academic papers for free</a>. I had no idea about a lot of these. After reading this I logged in at my local public library's website using my library card, and was shocked to find that they had access to quite a few academic databases. Not as good as my university's library, but still pretty damn good.<br />
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<a href="http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2011/04/20/mis-illustrating-abortion/">Mis-illustrating abortion</a>. 90% of abortions happen in the first trimester, so why do 90% of news articles about abortion show pictures of women in their third trimester?<br />
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<a href="http://www.boingboing.net/2011/04/19/richard-metzger-how.html">How I, a married, middle-aged man, became an accidental spokesperson for gay rights overnight</a>. "The real problem here is certainly not that Facebook is a homophobic company. It's that their terrible corporate policy on censorship needs to stop siding with the idiots, the complainers and the least-enlightened and evolved amongst us as a matter of <em>business expediency</em>!"<br />
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<a href="http://www.ufunk.net/en/insolite/les-pin-up-classiques-et-les-filles-mod%C3%A8les/">The real life models for classic pinup paintings.</a> Okay, this is pure fluff. Pure, delicious fluff:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GQM3xs-HBi8/Ta8Ujo7Uu0I/AAAAAAAAAIE/sYoX02SafkM/s1600/classic-pin-up-girls-01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GQM3xs-HBi8/Ta8Ujo7Uu0I/AAAAAAAAAIE/sYoX02SafkM/s1600/classic-pin-up-girls-01.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.ufunk.net/en/insolite/les-pin-up-classiques-et-les-filles-mod%C3%A8les/">Source.</a> You know, I've always thought those ankles looked like they were bent at an unnatural angle, but apparently they're true to life!</div>EcoPhysioMichellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08814617477894983790noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-156082872312528312.post-17469902127072399902011-04-19T11:46:00.002-04:002011-04-19T12:31:54.261-04:00My Dodecad identity-by-state neighbors.Dienekes recently <a href="http://dodecad.blogspot.com/2011/04/ibs-similarity-matrix-and-population.html">computed</a> an identity-by-state (IBS is his abbreviation, although that means something <i>very</i> different to me) similarity matrix for all the individuals in the Dodecad Ancestry Project. The IBS score is a ratio between individuals that, to my understanding, can be read as a proxy for genetic similarity.<br />
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He also <a href="http://dodecad.blogspot.com/2011/04/your-nearest-ibs-neighbors-up-to-dod603.html">posted an R object</a> that you can download to find your closest IBS neighbors. I ran the program for myself (DOD493) and added the ancestry of DOD participants that have posted in the <a href="http://dodecad.blogspot.com/2010/11/information-about-project-samples.html">ancestry thread</a>. In the interest of saving space, I have removed all the DOD samples that have not disclosed their ancestry (you can see which ones are missing in the "Rank" column). Click to enlarge:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VGQacTGvZ6w/Ta2sc_JA1NI/AAAAAAAAAH8/KYaItuVx53E/s1600/DOD-IBS.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="268" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VGQacTGvZ6w/Ta2sc_JA1NI/AAAAAAAAAH8/KYaItuVx53E/s640/DOD-IBS.gif" width="640" /></a></div><br />
Not much here surprises me. Most of my neighbors have at least one of my ancestral components (British, German, and French). Obvious exceptions are the two Lithuanians, the Spaniard, the Scandinavian, and the Belarusian. My guess is that the Eastern Europeans have unstated Western European admixture and that the Spaniard probably has French admixture specifically.<br />
<br />
Something I do find a bit puzzling is that I don't seem to have much genetic similarity with Italians. This has been puzzling me all throughout, ever since I began trying to decipher my own admixture. All through my adult life I have been approached by strangers at the bus stop or in restaurants to tell me that I look identical to their Sicilian (always Sicilian for some reason) niece/grandma/whatever. (I think this may just be the nature of Italians, that they like to seek out their own kind. I've never had someone come up to me and tell me I look like I belong to any <i>other</i> ethnic group.) I expected to find some Italian admixture, probably on my paternal grandmother's side, just because so many Italians seem to think I'm one of them. If I'm not, why is my phenotype so misleading?<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UxJvwbi4lzI/Ta24mkcG0_I/AAAAAAAAAIA/fMpiTqbEvOM/s1600/michelle-snooki.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="257" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UxJvwbi4lzI/Ta24mkcG0_I/AAAAAAAAAIA/fMpiTqbEvOM/s400/michelle-snooki.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><b>Edited to add photo evidence.</b> Separated at birth, obviously. Dude, Snooki doesn't even have <i>brown eyes</i>.EcoPhysioMichellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08814617477894983790noreply@blogger.com13