Friday 26 December 2008
Tuesday 23 December 2008
CDS 231208-HbSC DISEASE
////////////////////Accelerated genetic drift on chromosome X during the human dispersal out of Africa
Alon Keinan1,2, James C Mullikin3, Nick Patterson2 & David Reich1,2
Top of page
Comparisons of chromosome X and the autosomes can illuminate differences in the histories of males and females as well as shed light on the forces of natural selection. We compared the patterns of variation in these parts of the genome using two datasets that we assembled for this study that are both genomic in scale. Three independent analyses show that around the time of the dispersal of modern humans out of Africa, chromosome X experienced much more genetic drift than is expected from the pattern on the autosomes. This is not predicted by known episodes of demographic history, and we found no similar patterns associated with the dispersals into East Asia and Europe. We conclude that a sex-biased process that reduced the female effective population size, or an episode of natural selection unusually affecting chromosome X, was associated with the founding of non-African populations.
////////////////////////////////////Darwinian evolution provides a wonderful explanation for physical
pain: it has survival value, and that's pretty much the story. But
the full range of our suffering goes way beyond physical pain.
Buddhism meditation practice lets us witness the difference between
the pain that belongs to the body and the pain that is created by the
mind. And it provides a systematic, though certainly not easy,
technique for eliminating the later.
>
Even with purely physical pain, not all of it has survival value.
Examples: pain from childbirth, terminal cancer, shingles, the
various neuropathies in which irritated pain neurons fire in the
absence of any surrounding tissue damage. True, the suffering from
physical pain can be ameliorated by learning to overcome the
associated fear, to engage in various relaxation techniques and
physical therapy exercises, to persist in one's usual activities
despite pain, and probably to engage in various forms of meditation.
But people like to believe that their suffering serves some purpose.
(Giving birth is a fine purpose, but why should it be painful? And
death is not always so.)
My own general explanation of suffering is that in order for
organisms that can get around on their own to survive and evolve,
they must not only learn to avoid tissue damage; they must as well
have a biologic drive to survive. And yet in order for us to evolve,
we have to die and make way for new generations. So the biologic
drive to survive must be frustrated. This works better as an
explanation for psychic distress than it does for physical pain from
such things as childbirth, terminal cancer, shingles and
neuropathies. About the best that can be said for such conditions is
that they amount to collateral damage.
And then there is the suffering that involves neither physical pain
nor unhelpful attitudes: the punishing auditory hallucinations of a
schizophrenia, the hypervigilence, emotional numbing and flashbacks
of PTSD, the black hole of despair in severe depression. Cognitive
therapy can help in some such cases, as can medication, but these
things are not merely a matter of mistaken thinking: there is actual
tissue damage in the brain. Presumably the damage can also occur in
the part of the brain which enables us to experience insight, though
exactly where that part is located either has not been determined, or
has been and I have not yet heard about it. How does any of this
have survival value?
It was long ago discovered that the very painful, debilitating and
life-shortening disease of sicle cell anemia has survival value in
areas endemic to malaria, in that those heterozygous to the condition
are more resistant to malaria. If you are homozygous it is just
tough luck. Perhaps other diseases, whether they affect the brain or
other organ systems, will also turn out to be relics of the interplay
between genetics and environment. For example, the calorie-hoarding
propensity found in obesity has survival advantage in places like
Eastern Europe where for millenia there were frequent famines. Now
that food is more widely and consistently available, people get fat
and develop diabetes and other problems.
J
/////////////////////////////////// "Avoiding Temptation"
It is so difficult this time of the year for me to
follow my own advice with everyone bringing candy,
cakes, etc. (I have a sweet tooth.)
It is too tempting for me to leave the "goodies"
alone, so I am trying to get most of them out of
the house immediately.
As I was unbuttoning my belt after having much
too much to eat yesterday, I asked myself why I
was dealing myself such misery. I know in my heart
of hearts that I feel sooooooooo much better
when I don't eat those sweets at all.
Years ago I had a boss who had a stroke and
recovered with only a slight limp. He lost a lot
of weight and was very thin. When offered
some goodies at a party, he refused. He said that
if he ever took the first bite he would be in trouble.
He would want to eat the whole platter of goodies.
This is good advice for me and for you. Don't
get started eating the goodies in the first place!
They are so hard to leave alone after that first bite.
As with many other things, they are like that old
commercial, "Bet you can't eat just one!"
Avoiding them altogether may be the best thing
you can do for yourself this season.
////////////////////////////////////Set in Our Ways: Why Change Is So Hard
Millions of us dream of transforming our lives, but few of us are able to make major changes after our 20s. Here's why
By Nikolas Westerhoff
Share
Reddit Review it on NewsTrust
Fark
ShareThis
Exclusive to iStockphoto
Key Concepts
* Studies of personality development often focus on traits such as extroversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism and openness to new experiences. In most people, these traits change more during young adulthood than any other period of life, including adolescence. Openness typically increases during a person’s 20s and goes into a gradual decline after that.
* This pattern of personality development seems to hold true across cultures. Although some see that as evidence that genes determine our personality, many researchers theorize that personality traits change during young adulthood because this is a time of life when people assume new roles: finding a partner, starting a family and beginning a career.
* Personality can continue to change somewhat in middle and old age, but openness to new experiences tends to decline gradually until about age 60. After that, some people become more open again, perhaps because their responsibilities for raising a family and earning a living have been lifted.
///////////////////////////////////DARK MATTER/ENERGY
By studying far-flung galaxy clusters, astronomers are able to look back in time at the state of those objects millions or even billions of years ago, when the light just now reaching us was emitted. By comparing relatively close clusters with those more distant, the physical evolution of these gargantuan structures can be traced over time. Their observed development is "exactly what's expected for a universe with a low density of matter and a high density of dark energy," Vikhlinin said. (By current estimates, dark energy makes up nearly three quarters of the universe, dark matter comprises another 20 to 25 percent, and ordinary matter—all that we can see and touch—constitutes a mere 4 percent.)
What Vikhlinin and his co-authors observed is also what was expected for a universe described by Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity, the reigning theory of gravity. At the news conference, Princeton University astrophysicist David Spergel, who did not contribute to the research, called this further confirmation of dark energy "a triumph of general relativity."
Study co-author William Forman, a CfA astrophysicist, noted that although general relativity fit well with his team's observations, Einstein's vision may still require future adjustments. Livio agrees, but believes that the galaxy-cluster result nonetheless provides an important test for relativity. "There was the potential here, with this method," he says, "to tell us whether we had to modify our theory of gravity."
/////////////////////////////The fossil record tells us that the oldest member of our own species lived 195,000 years ago in what is now Ethiopia. From there it spread out across the globe. By 10,000 years ago modern humans had successfully colonized each of the continents save Antarctica, and adaptations to these many locales (among other evolutionary forces) led to what we loosely call races. Groups living in different places evidently retained just enough connections with one another to avoid evolving into separate species. With the globe fairly well covered, one might expect that the time for evolving was pretty much finished.
But that turns out not to be the case. In a study published a year ago Henry C. Harpending of the University of Utah, John Hawks of the University of Wisconsin–Madison and their colleagues analyzed data from the international haplotype map of the human genome [see “Traces of a Distant Past,” by Gary Stix; Scientific American, July 2008]. They focused on genetic markers in 270 people from four groups: Han Chinese, Japanese, Yoruba and northern Europeans. They found that at least 7 percent of human genes underwent evolution as recently as 5,000 years ago. Much of the change involved adaptations to particular environments, both natural and human-shaped. For example, few people in China and Africa can digest fresh milk into adulthood, whereas almost everyone in Sweden and Denmark can. This ability presumably arose as an adaptation to dairy farming.
////////////////////////////1. He´s got the whole world in His hands,
|: He´s got the whole world in His hands, :|
He´s got the whole world in His hands.
2. He´s got the wind and the rain in His hands,
|: He´s got the wind and the rain in His hands, :|
He´s got the whole world in His hands.
3. He´s got the the tiny little baby in His hands,
|: He´s got the the tiny little baby in His hands, :|
He´s got the whole world in His hands.
4. He´s got you and me, brother, in His hands,
|: He´s got you and me, brother, in His hands, :|
He´s got the whole world in His hands.
5. He's got ev'rybody here in His hands.
|: He's got ev'rybody here in His hands. :|
He's got the whole world in His hands.
/////////////////////////////////////
Alon Keinan1,2, James C Mullikin3, Nick Patterson2 & David Reich1,2
Top of page
Comparisons of chromosome X and the autosomes can illuminate differences in the histories of males and females as well as shed light on the forces of natural selection. We compared the patterns of variation in these parts of the genome using two datasets that we assembled for this study that are both genomic in scale. Three independent analyses show that around the time of the dispersal of modern humans out of Africa, chromosome X experienced much more genetic drift than is expected from the pattern on the autosomes. This is not predicted by known episodes of demographic history, and we found no similar patterns associated with the dispersals into East Asia and Europe. We conclude that a sex-biased process that reduced the female effective population size, or an episode of natural selection unusually affecting chromosome X, was associated with the founding of non-African populations.
////////////////////////////////////Darwinian evolution provides a wonderful explanation for physical
pain: it has survival value, and that's pretty much the story. But
the full range of our suffering goes way beyond physical pain.
Buddhism meditation practice lets us witness the difference between
the pain that belongs to the body and the pain that is created by the
mind. And it provides a systematic, though certainly not easy,
technique for eliminating the later.
>
Even with purely physical pain, not all of it has survival value.
Examples: pain from childbirth, terminal cancer, shingles, the
various neuropathies in which irritated pain neurons fire in the
absence of any surrounding tissue damage. True, the suffering from
physical pain can be ameliorated by learning to overcome the
associated fear, to engage in various relaxation techniques and
physical therapy exercises, to persist in one's usual activities
despite pain, and probably to engage in various forms of meditation.
But people like to believe that their suffering serves some purpose.
(Giving birth is a fine purpose, but why should it be painful? And
death is not always so.)
My own general explanation of suffering is that in order for
organisms that can get around on their own to survive and evolve,
they must not only learn to avoid tissue damage; they must as well
have a biologic drive to survive. And yet in order for us to evolve,
we have to die and make way for new generations. So the biologic
drive to survive must be frustrated. This works better as an
explanation for psychic distress than it does for physical pain from
such things as childbirth, terminal cancer, shingles and
neuropathies. About the best that can be said for such conditions is
that they amount to collateral damage.
And then there is the suffering that involves neither physical pain
nor unhelpful attitudes: the punishing auditory hallucinations of a
schizophrenia, the hypervigilence, emotional numbing and flashbacks
of PTSD, the black hole of despair in severe depression. Cognitive
therapy can help in some such cases, as can medication, but these
things are not merely a matter of mistaken thinking: there is actual
tissue damage in the brain. Presumably the damage can also occur in
the part of the brain which enables us to experience insight, though
exactly where that part is located either has not been determined, or
has been and I have not yet heard about it. How does any of this
have survival value?
It was long ago discovered that the very painful, debilitating and
life-shortening disease of sicle cell anemia has survival value in
areas endemic to malaria, in that those heterozygous to the condition
are more resistant to malaria. If you are homozygous it is just
tough luck. Perhaps other diseases, whether they affect the brain or
other organ systems, will also turn out to be relics of the interplay
between genetics and environment. For example, the calorie-hoarding
propensity found in obesity has survival advantage in places like
Eastern Europe where for millenia there were frequent famines. Now
that food is more widely and consistently available, people get fat
and develop diabetes and other problems.
J
/////////////////////////////////// "Avoiding Temptation"
It is so difficult this time of the year for me to
follow my own advice with everyone bringing candy,
cakes, etc. (I have a sweet tooth.)
It is too tempting for me to leave the "goodies"
alone, so I am trying to get most of them out of
the house immediately.
As I was unbuttoning my belt after having much
too much to eat yesterday, I asked myself why I
was dealing myself such misery. I know in my heart
of hearts that I feel sooooooooo much better
when I don't eat those sweets at all.
Years ago I had a boss who had a stroke and
recovered with only a slight limp. He lost a lot
of weight and was very thin. When offered
some goodies at a party, he refused. He said that
if he ever took the first bite he would be in trouble.
He would want to eat the whole platter of goodies.
This is good advice for me and for you. Don't
get started eating the goodies in the first place!
They are so hard to leave alone after that first bite.
As with many other things, they are like that old
commercial, "Bet you can't eat just one!"
Avoiding them altogether may be the best thing
you can do for yourself this season.
////////////////////////////////////Set in Our Ways: Why Change Is So Hard
Millions of us dream of transforming our lives, but few of us are able to make major changes after our 20s. Here's why
By Nikolas Westerhoff
Share
Reddit Review it on NewsTrust
Fark
ShareThis
Exclusive to iStockphoto
Key Concepts
* Studies of personality development often focus on traits such as extroversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism and openness to new experiences. In most people, these traits change more during young adulthood than any other period of life, including adolescence. Openness typically increases during a person’s 20s and goes into a gradual decline after that.
* This pattern of personality development seems to hold true across cultures. Although some see that as evidence that genes determine our personality, many researchers theorize that personality traits change during young adulthood because this is a time of life when people assume new roles: finding a partner, starting a family and beginning a career.
* Personality can continue to change somewhat in middle and old age, but openness to new experiences tends to decline gradually until about age 60. After that, some people become more open again, perhaps because their responsibilities for raising a family and earning a living have been lifted.
///////////////////////////////////DARK MATTER/ENERGY
By studying far-flung galaxy clusters, astronomers are able to look back in time at the state of those objects millions or even billions of years ago, when the light just now reaching us was emitted. By comparing relatively close clusters with those more distant, the physical evolution of these gargantuan structures can be traced over time. Their observed development is "exactly what's expected for a universe with a low density of matter and a high density of dark energy," Vikhlinin said. (By current estimates, dark energy makes up nearly three quarters of the universe, dark matter comprises another 20 to 25 percent, and ordinary matter—all that we can see and touch—constitutes a mere 4 percent.)
What Vikhlinin and his co-authors observed is also what was expected for a universe described by Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity, the reigning theory of gravity. At the news conference, Princeton University astrophysicist David Spergel, who did not contribute to the research, called this further confirmation of dark energy "a triumph of general relativity."
Study co-author William Forman, a CfA astrophysicist, noted that although general relativity fit well with his team's observations, Einstein's vision may still require future adjustments. Livio agrees, but believes that the galaxy-cluster result nonetheless provides an important test for relativity. "There was the potential here, with this method," he says, "to tell us whether we had to modify our theory of gravity."
/////////////////////////////The fossil record tells us that the oldest member of our own species lived 195,000 years ago in what is now Ethiopia. From there it spread out across the globe. By 10,000 years ago modern humans had successfully colonized each of the continents save Antarctica, and adaptations to these many locales (among other evolutionary forces) led to what we loosely call races. Groups living in different places evidently retained just enough connections with one another to avoid evolving into separate species. With the globe fairly well covered, one might expect that the time for evolving was pretty much finished.
But that turns out not to be the case. In a study published a year ago Henry C. Harpending of the University of Utah, John Hawks of the University of Wisconsin–Madison and their colleagues analyzed data from the international haplotype map of the human genome [see “Traces of a Distant Past,” by Gary Stix; Scientific American, July 2008]. They focused on genetic markers in 270 people from four groups: Han Chinese, Japanese, Yoruba and northern Europeans. They found that at least 7 percent of human genes underwent evolution as recently as 5,000 years ago. Much of the change involved adaptations to particular environments, both natural and human-shaped. For example, few people in China and Africa can digest fresh milk into adulthood, whereas almost everyone in Sweden and Denmark can. This ability presumably arose as an adaptation to dairy farming.
////////////////////////////1. He´s got the whole world in His hands,
|: He´s got the whole world in His hands, :|
He´s got the whole world in His hands.
2. He´s got the wind and the rain in His hands,
|: He´s got the wind and the rain in His hands, :|
He´s got the whole world in His hands.
3. He´s got the the tiny little baby in His hands,
|: He´s got the the tiny little baby in His hands, :|
He´s got the whole world in His hands.
4. He´s got you and me, brother, in His hands,
|: He´s got you and me, brother, in His hands, :|
He´s got the whole world in His hands.
5. He's got ev'rybody here in His hands.
|: He's got ev'rybody here in His hands. :|
He's got the whole world in His hands.
/////////////////////////////////////
Saturday 20 December 2008
Thursday 18 December 2008
BLUE LIGHT PREVNTS SUICD
There is a lot of research into the psychology of color, but not as much has looked into the color of blue illumination itself (as opposed to the color of an object or wall). But some research looking into short wavelength light (blue) has demonstrated that it is a potentially effective treatment for seasonal affective disorder (a seasonal type of depression; see for instance, Glickman, et al., 2006), and helps to reduce the stress response in fish (it hasn’t been yet tested on humans).
If this finding is robust and the behavior change associated with it is still prevalent a few years from now (when everyone has become accustomed to the new light color), it would be an interesting finding. A simple, inexpensive change might be effective in helping reduce at least one method of suicide (and reduce crime to boot).
///////////////////////////////DRD2 GENE=HGHR EDUCN
Gene Reduces College-Going for Men Who Lack Social Support
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Young men are less likely to attend college if they carry a common form of a gene associated with poor impulse control, a new study has found. But the study also found that a strong environment—a high-quality high school and heavily involved parents—can counteract that genetic risk. For boys with this gene who grow up in supportive environments, there was no drop in college attendance.
The study, which was written by three sociologists and a behavioral geneticist, examined genes and survey data from more than 2,500 people who have participated in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. The paper appears in the November issue of the American Journal of Sociology, which was published last week.
The lead author, Michael J. Shanahan, a professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, insists that the study should not be used to support fatalism or genetic determinism. On the contrary, he says, the study offers a new kind of evidence about the roles that social institutions play in reproducing or ameliorating inequality. ...
Among white men, 59.3 percent of those without DRD2 risk continued their educations beyond high school, whereas only 44.4 percent of those with DRD2 risk did so. Among African-American men, 51.5 percent of those without DRD2 risk continued their educations, but only 34.7 percent of those with DRD2 risk did so.
//////////////////////////////////// Natural ability can almost compensate for the want of every kind of cultivation; but no cultivation of the mind can make up for the want of natural ability.--SCHOPENHAUER.
/////////////////////////////////////
If this finding is robust and the behavior change associated with it is still prevalent a few years from now (when everyone has become accustomed to the new light color), it would be an interesting finding. A simple, inexpensive change might be effective in helping reduce at least one method of suicide (and reduce crime to boot).
///////////////////////////////DRD2 GENE=HGHR EDUCN
Gene Reduces College-Going for Men Who Lack Social Support
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Young men are less likely to attend college if they carry a common form of a gene associated with poor impulse control, a new study has found. But the study also found that a strong environment—a high-quality high school and heavily involved parents—can counteract that genetic risk. For boys with this gene who grow up in supportive environments, there was no drop in college attendance.
The study, which was written by three sociologists and a behavioral geneticist, examined genes and survey data from more than 2,500 people who have participated in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. The paper appears in the November issue of the American Journal of Sociology, which was published last week.
The lead author, Michael J. Shanahan, a professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, insists that the study should not be used to support fatalism or genetic determinism. On the contrary, he says, the study offers a new kind of evidence about the roles that social institutions play in reproducing or ameliorating inequality. ...
Among white men, 59.3 percent of those without DRD2 risk continued their educations beyond high school, whereas only 44.4 percent of those with DRD2 risk did so. Among African-American men, 51.5 percent of those without DRD2 risk continued their educations, but only 34.7 percent of those with DRD2 risk did so.
//////////////////////////////////// Natural ability can almost compensate for the want of every kind of cultivation; but no cultivation of the mind can make up for the want of natural ability.--SCHOPENHAUER.
/////////////////////////////////////
Wednesday 17 December 2008
BLUE LIGHT PREVNTS SUICD
There is a lot of research into the psychology of color, but not as much has looked into the color of blue illumination itself (as opposed to the color of an object or wall). But some research looking into short wavelength light (blue) has demonstrated that it is a potentially effective treatment for seasonal affective disorder (a seasonal type of depression; see for instance, Glickman, et al., 2006), and helps to reduce the stress response in fish (it hasn’t been yet tested on humans).
If this finding is robust and the behavior change associated with it is still prevalent a few years from now (when everyone has become accustomed to the new light color), it would be an interesting finding. A simple, inexpensive change might be effective in helping reduce at least one method of suicide (and reduce crime to boot).
///////////////////////////////DRD2 GENE=HGHR EDUCN
Gene Reduces College-Going for Men Who Lack Social Support
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Young men are less likely to attend college if they carry a common form of a gene associated with poor impulse control, a new study has found. But the study also found that a strong environment—a high-quality high school and heavily involved parents—can counteract that genetic risk. For boys with this gene who grow up in supportive environments, there was no drop in college attendance.
The study, which was written by three sociologists and a behavioral geneticist, examined genes and survey data from more than 2,500 people who have participated in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. The paper appears in the November issue of the American Journal of Sociology, which was published last week.
The lead author, Michael J. Shanahan, a professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, insists that the study should not be used to support fatalism or genetic determinism. On the contrary, he says, the study offers a new kind of evidence about the roles that social institutions play in reproducing or ameliorating inequality. ...
Among white men, 59.3 percent of those without DRD2 risk continued their educations beyond high school, whereas only 44.4 percent of those with DRD2 risk did so. Among African-American men, 51.5 percent of those without DRD2 risk continued their educations, but only 34.7 percent of those with DRD2 risk did so.
//////////////////////////////////// Natural ability can almost compensate for the want of every kind of cultivation; but no cultivation of the mind can make up for the want of natural ability.--SCHOPENHAUER.
/////////////////////////////////////
If this finding is robust and the behavior change associated with it is still prevalent a few years from now (when everyone has become accustomed to the new light color), it would be an interesting finding. A simple, inexpensive change might be effective in helping reduce at least one method of suicide (and reduce crime to boot).
///////////////////////////////DRD2 GENE=HGHR EDUCN
Gene Reduces College-Going for Men Who Lack Social Support
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Young men are less likely to attend college if they carry a common form of a gene associated with poor impulse control, a new study has found. But the study also found that a strong environment—a high-quality high school and heavily involved parents—can counteract that genetic risk. For boys with this gene who grow up in supportive environments, there was no drop in college attendance.
The study, which was written by three sociologists and a behavioral geneticist, examined genes and survey data from more than 2,500 people who have participated in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. The paper appears in the November issue of the American Journal of Sociology, which was published last week.
The lead author, Michael J. Shanahan, a professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, insists that the study should not be used to support fatalism or genetic determinism. On the contrary, he says, the study offers a new kind of evidence about the roles that social institutions play in reproducing or ameliorating inequality. ...
Among white men, 59.3 percent of those without DRD2 risk continued their educations beyond high school, whereas only 44.4 percent of those with DRD2 risk did so. Among African-American men, 51.5 percent of those without DRD2 risk continued their educations, but only 34.7 percent of those with DRD2 risk did so.
//////////////////////////////////// Natural ability can almost compensate for the want of every kind of cultivation; but no cultivation of the mind can make up for the want of natural ability.--SCHOPENHAUER.
/////////////////////////////////////
CDS 171208-JB CTS,DTHS EVRYWHR
////////////////
CME Late Preterm Infants May Have Long-Term Neurodevelopmental Complications
A study shows that even in infants born at 34 to 36 weeks, prematurity is associated with long-term neurodevelopmental consequences, with risks increasing as gestation decreases.
//////////////////Apparent Rise in Autism Prevalence Linked to Shift in Age at Diagnosis
The increase in autism prevalence that many studies have reported in recent years may be attributable, at least in part, to a drop in the age at diagnosis over time, the results of a Danish study suggest.
////////////////////////////////Procalcitonin Discriminates Between Bacterial and Aseptic Meningitis in Children
Serum procalcitonin is highly sensitive and specific for differentiating bacterial from aseptic meningitis in pediatric patients, physicians in Europe report in the December issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.
///////////////////////////////////bl.com=At age 4, success is...not peeing in your pants.
At age 12, success is...having friends.
At age 16, success is...having a driver's license.
At age 20, success is...having sex.
At age 35, success is...having money.
At age 50, success is...having money.
At age 60, success is...having sex.
At age 70, success is...having a driver's license.
At age 75, success is...having friends.
At age 90, success is...not peeing in your pants.
//////////////////////////////ACD ATTCK DSFGRD VCTMS-IND-GONBU-MHU
///////////////////////////
Learn To Be Quiet
Franz Kafka
You need not do anything.
Remain sitting at your table and listen.
You need not even listen, just wait.
You need not even wait,
just learn to be quiet, still and solitary.
And the world will freely offer itself to you unmasked.
It has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet.
Franz Kafka, 1883-1924, was a popular Czech novelist and short story author.
WANTED ALL WORKS TO BE BURNT AFTR HS DTH
///////////////////////////////Depression and Anxiety Stress the Heart
Although depression and anxiety are risk factors for cardiovascular disease, new research suggests mental stressors may also contribute to adoption of health behaviors that exacerbate cardiac ...
http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/12/16/depression-and-anxiety-stress-the-heart/3511.html
//////////////////////////////////Ever wonder about those people who spend $2.00 apiece on those little bottles of Evian water? Try spelling Evian backwards. NAIVE
////////////////////////////\TOWELHEAD-FLM SN
//////////////////////////////
From Chapter VII: The Yoga of the Division of Wisdom
VII.8. RASO'HAMAPSU KAUNTEYA PRABHAASMI SHASHISOORYAYOH;
PRANAVAH SARVAVEDESHU SHABDAH KHE PAURUSHAM NRISHU.
(Krishna speaking to Arjuna)
I am the sapidity in water, O Arjuna! I am the light in the moon
and the sun; I am the syllable Om in all the Vedas, sound in
ether, and virility in men.
VII.9. PUNYO GANDHAH PRITHIVYAAM CHA TEJASHCHAASMI VIBHAAVASAU;
JEEVANAM SARVABHOOTESHU TAPASHCHAASMI TAPASWISHU.
I am the sweet fragrance in earth and the brilliance in fire, the
life in all beings; and I am austerity in ascetics.
THAT IS PANGON
////////////////////////
CME Late Preterm Infants May Have Long-Term Neurodevelopmental Complications
A study shows that even in infants born at 34 to 36 weeks, prematurity is associated with long-term neurodevelopmental consequences, with risks increasing as gestation decreases.
//////////////////Apparent Rise in Autism Prevalence Linked to Shift in Age at Diagnosis
The increase in autism prevalence that many studies have reported in recent years may be attributable, at least in part, to a drop in the age at diagnosis over time, the results of a Danish study suggest.
////////////////////////////////Procalcitonin Discriminates Between Bacterial and Aseptic Meningitis in Children
Serum procalcitonin is highly sensitive and specific for differentiating bacterial from aseptic meningitis in pediatric patients, physicians in Europe report in the December issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.
///////////////////////////////////bl.com=At age 4, success is...not peeing in your pants.
At age 12, success is...having friends.
At age 16, success is...having a driver's license.
At age 20, success is...having sex.
At age 35, success is...having money.
At age 50, success is...having money.
At age 60, success is...having sex.
At age 70, success is...having a driver's license.
At age 75, success is...having friends.
At age 90, success is...not peeing in your pants.
//////////////////////////////ACD ATTCK DSFGRD VCTMS-IND-GONBU-MHU
///////////////////////////
Learn To Be Quiet
Franz Kafka
You need not do anything.
Remain sitting at your table and listen.
You need not even listen, just wait.
You need not even wait,
just learn to be quiet, still and solitary.
And the world will freely offer itself to you unmasked.
It has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet.
Franz Kafka, 1883-1924, was a popular Czech novelist and short story author.
WANTED ALL WORKS TO BE BURNT AFTR HS DTH
///////////////////////////////Depression and Anxiety Stress the Heart
Although depression and anxiety are risk factors for cardiovascular disease, new research suggests mental stressors may also contribute to adoption of health behaviors that exacerbate cardiac ...
http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/12/16/depression-and-anxiety-stress-the-heart/3511.html
//////////////////////////////////Ever wonder about those people who spend $2.00 apiece on those little bottles of Evian water? Try spelling Evian backwards. NAIVE
////////////////////////////\TOWELHEAD-FLM SN
//////////////////////////////
From Chapter VII: The Yoga of the Division of Wisdom
VII.8. RASO'HAMAPSU KAUNTEYA PRABHAASMI SHASHISOORYAYOH;
PRANAVAH SARVAVEDESHU SHABDAH KHE PAURUSHAM NRISHU.
(Krishna speaking to Arjuna)
I am the sapidity in water, O Arjuna! I am the light in the moon
and the sun; I am the syllable Om in all the Vedas, sound in
ether, and virility in men.
VII.9. PUNYO GANDHAH PRITHIVYAAM CHA TEJASHCHAASMI VIBHAAVASAU;
JEEVANAM SARVABHOOTESHU TAPASHCHAASMI TAPASWISHU.
I am the sweet fragrance in earth and the brilliance in fire, the
life in all beings; and I am austerity in ascetics.
THAT IS PANGON
////////////////////////
Monday 15 December 2008
SARCASM TEST FOR DEMENTIA
Sarcasm Useful For Detecting Dementia
Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday December 15, @12:28PM
from the yeah-that'll-work dept.
Medicine
An anonymous reader writes "Sarcasm may be the lowest form of wit, but Australian scientists are using it to diagnose dementia, according to a new study. Researchers at the University of New South Wales, found that patients under the age of 65 suffering from frontotemporal dementia (FTD), the second most common form of dementia, cannot detect when someone is being sarcastic."
////////////////////////////A 2007 report in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that one's level of physical fitness correlated with long-term survival better than one's level of obesity. That is, overweight people who were fit had a lower risk of death than non-overweight people who were sedentary.
//////////////////////////////A 2006 report in The Lancet suggested that individuals who were overweight but not obese (BMI of 25 to 29.9), actually had a slightly lower risk than patients who of "normal" weight (BMI 20 to 24.9).
////////////////////////On a population basis, being merely overweight (BMI between 25 and 29.9) is also associated with increased risk. But on an individual basis, the level of risk really does depend on several other factors, including your fitness levels, the amount of "excess" weight accounted for by muscle mass rather than fat, and your waist-to-hip ratio. (Your waist size should be less than your hip size.)
Importance of Your Waist-to-Hip Ratio
////////////////////////////////
Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday December 15, @12:28PM
from the yeah-that'll-work dept.
Medicine
An anonymous reader writes "Sarcasm may be the lowest form of wit, but Australian scientists are using it to diagnose dementia, according to a new study. Researchers at the University of New South Wales, found that patients under the age of 65 suffering from frontotemporal dementia (FTD), the second most common form of dementia, cannot detect when someone is being sarcastic."
////////////////////////////A 2007 report in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that one's level of physical fitness correlated with long-term survival better than one's level of obesity. That is, overweight people who were fit had a lower risk of death than non-overweight people who were sedentary.
//////////////////////////////A 2006 report in The Lancet suggested that individuals who were overweight but not obese (BMI of 25 to 29.9), actually had a slightly lower risk than patients who of "normal" weight (BMI 20 to 24.9).
////////////////////////On a population basis, being merely overweight (BMI between 25 and 29.9) is also associated with increased risk. But on an individual basis, the level of risk really does depend on several other factors, including your fitness levels, the amount of "excess" weight accounted for by muscle mass rather than fat, and your waist-to-hip ratio. (Your waist size should be less than your hip size.)
Importance of Your Waist-to-Hip Ratio
////////////////////////////////
OBSTY CRSS
Obesity 'controlled by the brain'
BBC News - 5 hours ago
Seven new gene variants discovered by scientists suggest strongly that obesity is largely a mind problem. The findings suggest the brain plays the dominant role in controlling appetite, and that obesity cannot easily be blamed on metabolic flaws.
/////////////////////////////////
Talking therapy has 'lasting impact' on those with eating disorders
Daily Mail - 48 minutes ago
By Daily Mail Reporter People with eating disorders could benefit from a special form of cognitive behavioural therapy, which works on their obsessive feelings researchers said.
//////////////////////////////////PEDIGREE COLLAPSE
2, 4, 8, 16 ... how can you always have MORE ancestors as you go back in time?
August 21, 1987
Dear Cecil:
Have you ever considered the puzzle of doubling ancestors? Everybody has two parents, four grandparents, eight great grandparents, and so on back through time, with the number of ancestors doubling in each generation. Go back 30 generations and the number of ancestors tops one billion. Eventually we arrive at a time when we have more ancestors than there could have been people in the world. How can this be? Common sense, not to mention the book of Genesis, suggests the human race started off with a handful of individuals whose numbers steadily increased. What are the implications of these two surging numerical tides, ancestors and descendants, butting head to head? Enclosed is a $10 check for the trouble of a personal reply.
— George M., Monrovia, California
Dear George:
You ask a question as cosmic as this one and you think a lousy sawbuck is going to cover it? Keep your money until you can fork over some real cash. The ancestor puzzle has its explanation in what one genealogist has called "pedigree collapse." This occurs when relatives, usually cousins, marry, in effect narrowing the family tree. (Fortunately for the gene pool, most of the cousins are only distantly related.) When this happens you find that many of the "slots" in a given generation of your family tree are filled by duplicates.
Consider an extreme case. Mr. and Mrs. Nosepicker have two children, a girl and a boy. These two develop an unnatural yen for one another and marry. Six months later the girl gives birth to an eight-pound horseradish with a lisp. In theory, the horseradish has four grandparents. In reality, its maternal and paternal grandparents are identical. Two of the four grandparent slots are thus filled by duplicates--pedigree collapse with a vengeance. Only slightly less extreme is the case of Alfonso XIII of Spain (1886-1941). Because of inbreeding in the royal family, he had only ten great-great-grandparents instead of the expected 16.
If you go back far enough, however, pedigree collapse happens to everybody. Think of your personal family tree as a diamond-shaped array imposed on the ever-spreading fan of human generations. (I told you this was cosmic.) As you trace your pedigree back, the number of ancestors in each generation increases steadily up to a point, then slows, stops, and finally collapses. Go back far enough and no doubt you would find that you and all your ancestors were descended from the first human tribe in some remote Mesopotamian village. Or, if you like, from Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
/////////////////////////////////////
The fossil record tells us that the oldest member of our own species lived 195,000 years ago in what is now Ethiopia. From there it spread out across the globe. By 10,000 years ago modern humans had successfully colonized each of the continents save Antarctica, and adaptations to these many locales (among other evolutionary forces) led to what we loosely call races. Groups living in different places evidently retained just enough connections with one another to avoid evolving into separate species. With the globe fairly well covered, one might expect that the time for evolving was pretty much finished.
sci am
////////////////////////////////////////But that turns out not to be the case. In a study published a year ago Henry C. Harpending of the University of Utah, John Hawks of the University of Wisconsin–Madison and their colleagues analyzed data from the international haplotype map of the human genome [see “Traces of a Distant Past,” by Gary Stix; Scientific American, July 2008]. They focused on genetic markers in 270 people from four groups: Han Chinese, Japanese, Yoruba and northern Europeans. They found that at least 7 percent of human genes underwent evolution as recently as 5,000 years ago. Much of the change involved adaptations to particular environments, both natural and human-shaped. For example, few people in China and Africa can digest fresh milk into adulthood, whereas almost everyone in Sweden and Denmark can. This ability presumably arose as an adaptation to dairy farming.
////////////////////////////////////////Even if intelligence is not at risk, some scientists speculate that other, more heritable traits could be accumulating in the human species and that these traits are anything but good for us. For instance, behavior disorders such as Tourette’s syndrome and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may, unlike intelligence, be encoded by but a few genes, in which case their heritability could be very high. If these disorders increase one’s chance of having children, they could become ever more prevalent with each generation. David Comings, a specialist in these two diseases, has argued in scientific papers and a 1996 book that these conditions are more common than they used to be and that evolution might be one reason: women with these syndromes are less likely to attend college and thus tend to have more children than those who do not. But other researchers have brought forward serious concerns about Comings’s methodology. It is not clear whether the incidence of Tourette’s and ADHD is, in fact, increasing at all. Research into these areas is also made more difficult because of the perceived social stigma that many of these afflictions attach to their carriers.
//////////////////////////////////18 LAKH SPECIES IN WORLD
/////////////////////////////////MR JB CTS-RECESSN
///////////////////////////////////ESN=
Boy or girl? It's in the father's genes
Published: Thursday, December 11, 2008 - 11:58 in Psychology & Sociology
Learn more about: evolutionary biology genes newcastle university prospective parents x chromosome y chromosomes
A Newcastle University study involving thousands of families is helping prospective parents work out whether they are likely to have sons or daughters. The work by Corry Gellatly, a research scientist at the university, has shown that men inherit a tendency to have more sons or more daughters from their parents. This means that a man with many brothers is more likely to have sons, while a man with many sisters is more likely to have daughters.
The research, published online today by the journal Evolutionary Biology, involved a study of 927 family trees containing information on 556,387 people from North America and Europe going back to 1600.
"The family tree study showed that whether you're likely to have a boy or a girl is inherited. We now know that men are more likely to have sons if they have more brothers but are more likely to have daughters if they have more sisters. However, in women, you just can't predict it," Mr Gellatly explains.
Men determine the sex of a baby depending on whether their sperm is carrying an X or Y chromosome. An X chromosome combines with the mother's X chromosome to make a baby girl (XX) and a Y chromosome will combine with the mother's to make a boy (XY).
The Newcastle University study suggests that an as-yet undiscovered gene controls whether a man's sperm contains more X or more Y chromosomes, which affects the sex of his children. On a larger scale, the number of men with more X sperm compared to the number of men with more Y sperm affects the sex ratio of children born each year.
Sons or daughters?
A gene consists of two parts, known as alleles, one inherited from each parent. In his paper, Mr Gellatly demonstrates that it is likely men carry two different types of allele, which results in three possible combinations in a gene that controls the ratio of X and Y sperm;
* Men with the first combination, known as mm, produce more Y sperm and have more sons.
* The second, known as mf, produce a roughly equal number of X and Y sperm and have an approximately equal number of sons and daughters.
* The third, known as ff produce more X sperm and have more daughters.
"The gene that is passed on from both parents, which causes some men to have more sons and some to have more daughters, may explain why we see the number of men and women roughly balanced in a population. If there are too many males in the population, for example, females will more easily find a mate, so men who have more daughters will pass on more of their genes, causing more females to be born in later generations," says Newcastle University researcher Mr Gellatly.
More boys born after the wars
In many of the countries that fought in the World Wars, there was a sudden increase in the number of boys born afterwards. The year after World War I ended, an extra two boys were born for every 100 girls in the UK, compared to the year before the war started. The gene, which Mr Gellatly has described in his research, could explain why this happened.
As the odds were in favour of men with more sons seeing a son return from the war, those sons were more likely to father boys themselves because they inherited that tendency from their fathers. In contrast, men with more daughters may have lost their only sons in the war and those sons would have been more likely to father girls. This would explain why the men that survived the war were more likely to have male children, which resulted in the boy-baby boom.
In most countries, for as long as records have been kept, more boys than girls have been born. In the UK and US, for example, there are currently about 105 males born for every 100 females.
It is well-documented that more males die in childhood and before they are old enough to have children. So in the same way that the gene may cause more boys to be born after wars, it may also cause more boys to be born each year.
How does the gene work?
The trees (below) illustrate how the gene works. It is a simplified example, in which men either have only sons, only daughters, or equal numbers of each, though in reality it is less clear cut. It shows that although the gene has no effect in females, they also carry the gene and pass it to their children.
In the first family tree (A) the grandfather is mm, so all his children are male. He only passes on the m allele, so his children are more likely to have the mm combination of alleles themselves. As a result, those sons may also have only sons (as shown). The grandsons have the mf combination of alleles, because they inherited an m from their father and an f from their mother. As a result, they have an equal number of sons and daughters (the great grandchildren).
In the second tree (B) the grandfather is ff, so all his children are female, they have the ff combination of alleles because their father and mother were both ff. One of the female children has her own children with a male who has the mm combination of alleles. That male determines the sex of the children, so the grandchildren are all male. The grandsons have the mf combination of alleles, because they inherited an m from their father and f from their mother. As a result, they have an equal number of sons and daughters (the great-grandchildren).
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/press.office/press.release/photos/516diagram_06.1.jpg
//////////////////////////////////////////
Research team explores causes of death on Mount Everest
Published: Tuesday, December 9, 2008 - 19:43 in Health & Medicine
Learn more about: british medical journal high altitude cerebral edema high altitude pulmonary edema leading causes of death massachusetts general hospital mount everest
An international research team led by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators has conducted the first detailed analysis of deaths during expeditions to the summit of Mt. Everest. They found that most deaths occur during descents from the summit in the so-called "death zone" above 8,000 meters and also identified factors that appear to be associated with a greater risk of death, particularly symptoms of high-altitude cerebral edema. The report, which will appear the December 20/27 issue of the British Medical Journal has been released online. "We know that climbing Everest is dangerous, but exactly how and why people have died had not been studied," says Paul Firth, MB, ChB, of the MGH Department of Anesthesia, who led the study "It had been assumed that avalanches and falling ice – particularly in the Khumbu Icefall on the Nepal route – were the leading causes of death and that high-altitude pulmonary edema would be a common problem at such extreme altitude. But our results do not support either assumption."
Thousands of climbers have attempted to reach the summit of 8,850-meter (29,000-foot) Mount Everest since the 1920s. In order to examine the circumstances surrounding all deaths on Everest expeditions, the research team – which included investigators from three British hospitals and the University of Toronto – reviewed available expedition records including the Himalayan Database, a compilation of information from all expeditions to 300 major peaks in the world's highest range. Of a total of reported 212 deaths on Everest from 1921 to 2006, 192 occurred above Base Camp, the last encampment before technical (roped) climbing begins.
///////////////////////////////
Mayo researchers find potential links between breast density and breast cancer risk
Published: Saturday, December 13, 2008 - 08:22 in Health & Medicine
Learn more about: breast cancer risk breast density core needle biopsies dense breast tissue dr ghosh mayo clinic researchers
Having dense breasts - areas that show up light on a mammogram - is strongly associated with increased breast cancer risk, but "why" remains to be answered. Now, by examining dense and non-dense tissue taken from the breasts of healthy volunteers, researchers from Mayo Clinic have found several potential links. In two studies being presented simultaneously in poster form at the Cancer Therapy & Research Center-American Association for Cancer Research (CTRC-AACR) San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, the researchers report that dense breast tissue contains more cells believed to give rise to breast cancer, compared to non-dense tissue. "We found a dramatic difference in tissue composition between dense and non-dense tissue in the breast," says Karthik Ghosh, M.D., a Mayo Clinic breast cancer researcher and physician who led one study.
In a second study, researchers also found that dense breast tissue has more aromatase enzyme than non-dense tissue. This is significant because aromatase helps convert androgen hormones into estrogen, and estrogen is important in breast cancer development, says that study's lead investigator, Celine Vachon, Ph.D.
///////////////////////////////////////
Inside the consumer mind: brain scans reveal choice mechanism (12/15/2008)
Tags:
advertising, decisions
That gorgeous sweater has your name written on it. But, those red suede pumps are calling your name too. What goes through your mind as you consider these choices? During normal economic times, you might indulge in a whole new wardrobe. But now, with considerably tighter budgets, consumers don't have the luxury of saying "It's the holidays -- I'll just buy both!" What happens in buyers' brains as they consider difficult choices? What can retailers do to make the choice process easier for consumers?
Akshay Rao, a marketing professor at the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management, has conducted research that shows that decision making is simplified when a consumer considers a third, less attractive option. For example, when a second, less desirable sweater is also considered in the situation above, the shopper could solve their conundrum by choosing the more attractive sweater. The less appealing sweater plays the role of a "decoy" that makes the other sweater appear more pleasing than before. "In some ways, it is quite straightforward," said Rao. "When a consumer is faced with a choice, the presence of a relatively unattractive option improves the choice share of the most similar, better item."
In their forthcoming Journal of Marketing Research article "Trade-off Aversion as an Explanation for the Attraction Effect: A functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study," Rao and co-author William Hedgcock (University of Iowa) explain the reasons for this decoy effect. Volunteers had their brains scanned while they made choices between several sets of equally appealing options as well as choice sets that included a third, somewhat less attractive option. Overall, the presence of the extra, "just okay" possibility systematically increased preference for the better options. The fMRI scans showed that when making a choice between only two, equally preferred options; subjects tended to display irritation because of the difficulty of the choice process. The presence of the third option made the choice process easier and relatively more pleasurable.
BM=
////////////////////////////////
The little things? The little moments? They aren’t little.
Jon Kabat-Zinn
Author and stress expert
BBC News - 5 hours ago
Seven new gene variants discovered by scientists suggest strongly that obesity is largely a mind problem. The findings suggest the brain plays the dominant role in controlling appetite, and that obesity cannot easily be blamed on metabolic flaws.
/////////////////////////////////
Talking therapy has 'lasting impact' on those with eating disorders
Daily Mail - 48 minutes ago
By Daily Mail Reporter People with eating disorders could benefit from a special form of cognitive behavioural therapy, which works on their obsessive feelings researchers said.
//////////////////////////////////PEDIGREE COLLAPSE
2, 4, 8, 16 ... how can you always have MORE ancestors as you go back in time?
August 21, 1987
Dear Cecil:
Have you ever considered the puzzle of doubling ancestors? Everybody has two parents, four grandparents, eight great grandparents, and so on back through time, with the number of ancestors doubling in each generation. Go back 30 generations and the number of ancestors tops one billion. Eventually we arrive at a time when we have more ancestors than there could have been people in the world. How can this be? Common sense, not to mention the book of Genesis, suggests the human race started off with a handful of individuals whose numbers steadily increased. What are the implications of these two surging numerical tides, ancestors and descendants, butting head to head? Enclosed is a $10 check for the trouble of a personal reply.
— George M., Monrovia, California
Dear George:
You ask a question as cosmic as this one and you think a lousy sawbuck is going to cover it? Keep your money until you can fork over some real cash. The ancestor puzzle has its explanation in what one genealogist has called "pedigree collapse." This occurs when relatives, usually cousins, marry, in effect narrowing the family tree. (Fortunately for the gene pool, most of the cousins are only distantly related.) When this happens you find that many of the "slots" in a given generation of your family tree are filled by duplicates.
Consider an extreme case. Mr. and Mrs. Nosepicker have two children, a girl and a boy. These two develop an unnatural yen for one another and marry. Six months later the girl gives birth to an eight-pound horseradish with a lisp. In theory, the horseradish has four grandparents. In reality, its maternal and paternal grandparents are identical. Two of the four grandparent slots are thus filled by duplicates--pedigree collapse with a vengeance. Only slightly less extreme is the case of Alfonso XIII of Spain (1886-1941). Because of inbreeding in the royal family, he had only ten great-great-grandparents instead of the expected 16.
If you go back far enough, however, pedigree collapse happens to everybody. Think of your personal family tree as a diamond-shaped array imposed on the ever-spreading fan of human generations. (I told you this was cosmic.) As you trace your pedigree back, the number of ancestors in each generation increases steadily up to a point, then slows, stops, and finally collapses. Go back far enough and no doubt you would find that you and all your ancestors were descended from the first human tribe in some remote Mesopotamian village. Or, if you like, from Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
/////////////////////////////////////
The fossil record tells us that the oldest member of our own species lived 195,000 years ago in what is now Ethiopia. From there it spread out across the globe. By 10,000 years ago modern humans had successfully colonized each of the continents save Antarctica, and adaptations to these many locales (among other evolutionary forces) led to what we loosely call races. Groups living in different places evidently retained just enough connections with one another to avoid evolving into separate species. With the globe fairly well covered, one might expect that the time for evolving was pretty much finished.
sci am
////////////////////////////////////////But that turns out not to be the case. In a study published a year ago Henry C. Harpending of the University of Utah, John Hawks of the University of Wisconsin–Madison and their colleagues analyzed data from the international haplotype map of the human genome [see “Traces of a Distant Past,” by Gary Stix; Scientific American, July 2008]. They focused on genetic markers in 270 people from four groups: Han Chinese, Japanese, Yoruba and northern Europeans. They found that at least 7 percent of human genes underwent evolution as recently as 5,000 years ago. Much of the change involved adaptations to particular environments, both natural and human-shaped. For example, few people in China and Africa can digest fresh milk into adulthood, whereas almost everyone in Sweden and Denmark can. This ability presumably arose as an adaptation to dairy farming.
////////////////////////////////////////Even if intelligence is not at risk, some scientists speculate that other, more heritable traits could be accumulating in the human species and that these traits are anything but good for us. For instance, behavior disorders such as Tourette’s syndrome and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may, unlike intelligence, be encoded by but a few genes, in which case their heritability could be very high. If these disorders increase one’s chance of having children, they could become ever more prevalent with each generation. David Comings, a specialist in these two diseases, has argued in scientific papers and a 1996 book that these conditions are more common than they used to be and that evolution might be one reason: women with these syndromes are less likely to attend college and thus tend to have more children than those who do not. But other researchers have brought forward serious concerns about Comings’s methodology. It is not clear whether the incidence of Tourette’s and ADHD is, in fact, increasing at all. Research into these areas is also made more difficult because of the perceived social stigma that many of these afflictions attach to their carriers.
//////////////////////////////////18 LAKH SPECIES IN WORLD
/////////////////////////////////MR JB CTS-RECESSN
///////////////////////////////////ESN=
Boy or girl? It's in the father's genes
Published: Thursday, December 11, 2008 - 11:58 in Psychology & Sociology
Learn more about: evolutionary biology genes newcastle university prospective parents x chromosome y chromosomes
A Newcastle University study involving thousands of families is helping prospective parents work out whether they are likely to have sons or daughters. The work by Corry Gellatly, a research scientist at the university, has shown that men inherit a tendency to have more sons or more daughters from their parents. This means that a man with many brothers is more likely to have sons, while a man with many sisters is more likely to have daughters.
The research, published online today by the journal Evolutionary Biology, involved a study of 927 family trees containing information on 556,387 people from North America and Europe going back to 1600.
"The family tree study showed that whether you're likely to have a boy or a girl is inherited. We now know that men are more likely to have sons if they have more brothers but are more likely to have daughters if they have more sisters. However, in women, you just can't predict it," Mr Gellatly explains.
Men determine the sex of a baby depending on whether their sperm is carrying an X or Y chromosome. An X chromosome combines with the mother's X chromosome to make a baby girl (XX) and a Y chromosome will combine with the mother's to make a boy (XY).
The Newcastle University study suggests that an as-yet undiscovered gene controls whether a man's sperm contains more X or more Y chromosomes, which affects the sex of his children. On a larger scale, the number of men with more X sperm compared to the number of men with more Y sperm affects the sex ratio of children born each year.
Sons or daughters?
A gene consists of two parts, known as alleles, one inherited from each parent. In his paper, Mr Gellatly demonstrates that it is likely men carry two different types of allele, which results in three possible combinations in a gene that controls the ratio of X and Y sperm;
* Men with the first combination, known as mm, produce more Y sperm and have more sons.
* The second, known as mf, produce a roughly equal number of X and Y sperm and have an approximately equal number of sons and daughters.
* The third, known as ff produce more X sperm and have more daughters.
"The gene that is passed on from both parents, which causes some men to have more sons and some to have more daughters, may explain why we see the number of men and women roughly balanced in a population. If there are too many males in the population, for example, females will more easily find a mate, so men who have more daughters will pass on more of their genes, causing more females to be born in later generations," says Newcastle University researcher Mr Gellatly.
More boys born after the wars
In many of the countries that fought in the World Wars, there was a sudden increase in the number of boys born afterwards. The year after World War I ended, an extra two boys were born for every 100 girls in the UK, compared to the year before the war started. The gene, which Mr Gellatly has described in his research, could explain why this happened.
As the odds were in favour of men with more sons seeing a son return from the war, those sons were more likely to father boys themselves because they inherited that tendency from their fathers. In contrast, men with more daughters may have lost their only sons in the war and those sons would have been more likely to father girls. This would explain why the men that survived the war were more likely to have male children, which resulted in the boy-baby boom.
In most countries, for as long as records have been kept, more boys than girls have been born. In the UK and US, for example, there are currently about 105 males born for every 100 females.
It is well-documented that more males die in childhood and before they are old enough to have children. So in the same way that the gene may cause more boys to be born after wars, it may also cause more boys to be born each year.
How does the gene work?
The trees (below) illustrate how the gene works. It is a simplified example, in which men either have only sons, only daughters, or equal numbers of each, though in reality it is less clear cut. It shows that although the gene has no effect in females, they also carry the gene and pass it to their children.
In the first family tree (A) the grandfather is mm, so all his children are male. He only passes on the m allele, so his children are more likely to have the mm combination of alleles themselves. As a result, those sons may also have only sons (as shown). The grandsons have the mf combination of alleles, because they inherited an m from their father and an f from their mother. As a result, they have an equal number of sons and daughters (the great grandchildren).
In the second tree (B) the grandfather is ff, so all his children are female, they have the ff combination of alleles because their father and mother were both ff. One of the female children has her own children with a male who has the mm combination of alleles. That male determines the sex of the children, so the grandchildren are all male. The grandsons have the mf combination of alleles, because they inherited an m from their father and f from their mother. As a result, they have an equal number of sons and daughters (the great-grandchildren).
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/press.office/press.release/photos/516diagram_06.1.jpg
//////////////////////////////////////////
Research team explores causes of death on Mount Everest
Published: Tuesday, December 9, 2008 - 19:43 in Health & Medicine
Learn more about: british medical journal high altitude cerebral edema high altitude pulmonary edema leading causes of death massachusetts general hospital mount everest
An international research team led by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators has conducted the first detailed analysis of deaths during expeditions to the summit of Mt. Everest. They found that most deaths occur during descents from the summit in the so-called "death zone" above 8,000 meters and also identified factors that appear to be associated with a greater risk of death, particularly symptoms of high-altitude cerebral edema. The report, which will appear the December 20/27 issue of the British Medical Journal has been released online. "We know that climbing Everest is dangerous, but exactly how and why people have died had not been studied," says Paul Firth, MB, ChB, of the MGH Department of Anesthesia, who led the study "It had been assumed that avalanches and falling ice – particularly in the Khumbu Icefall on the Nepal route – were the leading causes of death and that high-altitude pulmonary edema would be a common problem at such extreme altitude. But our results do not support either assumption."
Thousands of climbers have attempted to reach the summit of 8,850-meter (29,000-foot) Mount Everest since the 1920s. In order to examine the circumstances surrounding all deaths on Everest expeditions, the research team – which included investigators from three British hospitals and the University of Toronto – reviewed available expedition records including the Himalayan Database, a compilation of information from all expeditions to 300 major peaks in the world's highest range. Of a total of reported 212 deaths on Everest from 1921 to 2006, 192 occurred above Base Camp, the last encampment before technical (roped) climbing begins.
///////////////////////////////
Mayo researchers find potential links between breast density and breast cancer risk
Published: Saturday, December 13, 2008 - 08:22 in Health & Medicine
Learn more about: breast cancer risk breast density core needle biopsies dense breast tissue dr ghosh mayo clinic researchers
Having dense breasts - areas that show up light on a mammogram - is strongly associated with increased breast cancer risk, but "why" remains to be answered. Now, by examining dense and non-dense tissue taken from the breasts of healthy volunteers, researchers from Mayo Clinic have found several potential links. In two studies being presented simultaneously in poster form at the Cancer Therapy & Research Center-American Association for Cancer Research (CTRC-AACR) San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, the researchers report that dense breast tissue contains more cells believed to give rise to breast cancer, compared to non-dense tissue. "We found a dramatic difference in tissue composition between dense and non-dense tissue in the breast," says Karthik Ghosh, M.D., a Mayo Clinic breast cancer researcher and physician who led one study.
In a second study, researchers also found that dense breast tissue has more aromatase enzyme than non-dense tissue. This is significant because aromatase helps convert androgen hormones into estrogen, and estrogen is important in breast cancer development, says that study's lead investigator, Celine Vachon, Ph.D.
///////////////////////////////////////
Inside the consumer mind: brain scans reveal choice mechanism (12/15/2008)
Tags:
advertising, decisions
That gorgeous sweater has your name written on it. But, those red suede pumps are calling your name too. What goes through your mind as you consider these choices? During normal economic times, you might indulge in a whole new wardrobe. But now, with considerably tighter budgets, consumers don't have the luxury of saying "It's the holidays -- I'll just buy both!" What happens in buyers' brains as they consider difficult choices? What can retailers do to make the choice process easier for consumers?
Akshay Rao, a marketing professor at the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management, has conducted research that shows that decision making is simplified when a consumer considers a third, less attractive option. For example, when a second, less desirable sweater is also considered in the situation above, the shopper could solve their conundrum by choosing the more attractive sweater. The less appealing sweater plays the role of a "decoy" that makes the other sweater appear more pleasing than before. "In some ways, it is quite straightforward," said Rao. "When a consumer is faced with a choice, the presence of a relatively unattractive option improves the choice share of the most similar, better item."
In their forthcoming Journal of Marketing Research article "Trade-off Aversion as an Explanation for the Attraction Effect: A functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study," Rao and co-author William Hedgcock (University of Iowa) explain the reasons for this decoy effect. Volunteers had their brains scanned while they made choices between several sets of equally appealing options as well as choice sets that included a third, somewhat less attractive option. Overall, the presence of the extra, "just okay" possibility systematically increased preference for the better options. The fMRI scans showed that when making a choice between only two, equally preferred options; subjects tended to display irritation because of the difficulty of the choice process. The presence of the third option made the choice process easier and relatively more pleasurable.
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The little things? The little moments? They aren’t little.
Jon Kabat-Zinn
Author and stress expert
Friday 5 December 2008
Tuesday 2 December 2008
CDS 021208-AOD-1993-1ST OPAN-WF ILL-ATOBCFTOD
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>"The beginning is always today."
> - Mary Wollstonecraft
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FCK U
///////////////Celts descended from Spanish fishermen, study finds
By Guy Adams
Don't tell the locals, but the hordes of British holidaymakers who visited Spain this summer were, in fact, returning to their ancestral home.
A team from Oxford University has discovered that the Celts, Britain's indigenous people, are descended from a tribe of Iberian fishermen who crossed the Bay of Biscay 6,000 years ago. DNA analysis reveals they have an almost identical genetic "fingerprint" to the inhabitants of coastal regions of Spain, whose own ancestors migrated north between 4,000 and 5,000BC.
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>"The beginning is always today."
> - Mary Wollstonecraft
////////////////SINCERELY
FCK U
///////////////Celts descended from Spanish fishermen, study finds
By Guy Adams
Don't tell the locals, but the hordes of British holidaymakers who visited Spain this summer were, in fact, returning to their ancestral home.
A team from Oxford University has discovered that the Celts, Britain's indigenous people, are descended from a tribe of Iberian fishermen who crossed the Bay of Biscay 6,000 years ago. DNA analysis reveals they have an almost identical genetic "fingerprint" to the inhabitants of coastal regions of Spain, whose own ancestors migrated north between 4,000 and 5,000BC.
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