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keiths



Posts: 2195
Joined: Jan. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: Dec. 17 2008,19:30   

Science investigates Heddle's brain

Two items from the January issue of Scientific American:
Quote
Seeing on Faith

Religion might literally influence how you view the world.  Scientists in the Netherlands compared Dutch Calvinists with Dutch atheists, looking for any effects potentially imposed on thinking by the neo-Calvinist concept of sphere sovereignty, which emphasizes that each sector of society has its own responsibilities and authorities. The researchers hypothesize that Calvinists therefore might not be as good as atheists at seeing the big picture. Participants were shown images of large rectangles or squares that each consisted of smaller rectangles or squares. In some tests, volunteers had to quickly identify the shapes of the smaller parts; in others, the larger wholes. The Calvinists scored slightly but significantly lower than atheists did in correctly identifying whole images. The investigators plan to study other religions for similar influences. See more in the November 12 PLoS ONE.

Quote

Politics of Blank Looks

How we react to faces could be linked to our political affiliations. Psychologist Jacob M. Vigil of the University of North Florida had 740 college students look at 12 photographs of faces digitally blurred to not display any clear emotion. The volunteers were then asked if these faces expressed sadness, joy, disgust, surprise, fear or anger. The students who identified themselves as Republicans were more likely than those who identified themselves as Democrats to interpret these vague faces as more threatening, as measured by anger or disgust, and less submissive, as conveyed by fear or surprise. These findings, which appeared online October 21 in Nature Precedings, are consistent with research linking conservative political views on military spending and capital punishment with heightened reactions to disturbing images and sounds. Vigil conjectures that the political ideologies we advocate could be linked with the way that we respond to ambiguous details.


--------------
And the set of natural numbers is also the set that starts at 0 and goes to the largest number. -- Joe G

Please stop putting words into my mouth that don't belong there and thoughts into my mind that don't belong there. -- KF

  
midwifetoad



Posts: 4003
Joined: Mar. 2008

(Permalink) Posted: Dec. 18 2008,07:01   

Computational modelling of evolution

Quote
Computer modelling seems to be a very promising technique to study
complex systems like ecosystems or langauge. In the present paper we
briefly review such an approach and present our results in this field. In
section 1.2 we briefly discuss population dynamics of simple two-species
prey-predator systems and classical approaches in this field based on Lotka-
Volterra equations. We also argue that it is desirable to use an alternative
approach, the so-called individual based modelling. An example of such
a model is described in section 1.3. In this section we discuss results of
numerical simulations of the model concerning especially the oscillatory
behaviour.


--------------
Any version of ID consistent with all the evidence is indistinguishable from evolution.

  
ppb



Posts: 325
Joined: Dec. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: Dec. 19 2008,08:12   

We are developing the capability to study the chemical composition of the atmospheres of extrasolar planets.

Hubble finds carbon dioxide on an extrasolar planet

When I first took up astronomy as a hobby in the late 60's our knowledge of the planets in our own solar system was still limited.  Now we can study the atmosphere of planets orbiting other stars many light-years away.

It may not be long before we detect signs of life on earth-like planets.

--------------
"[A scientific theory] describes Nature as absurd from the point of view of common sense. And it agrees fully with experiment. So I hope you can accept Nature as She is - absurd."
- Richard P. Feynman

  
Lou FCD



Posts: 5455
Joined: Jan. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: Dec. 19 2008,11:12   

Quote (ppb @ Dec. 19 2008,09:12)
We are developing the capability to study the chemical composition of the atmospheres of extrasolar planets.

Hubble finds carbon dioxide on an extrasolar planet

When I first took up astronomy as a hobby in the late 60's our knowledge of the planets in our own solar system was still limited.  Now we can study the atmosphere of planets orbiting other stars many light-years away.

It may not be long before we detect signs of life on earth-like planets.

Yes, I was listening to a very good podcast on it yesterday, though I don't recall if it was Are We Alone, or Science Update, or maybe the Astronomy Update from Universe Today. It had been a while since I'd been able to listen to many of them at once, so they had piled up. They all sort of ran together after a few hours yesterday, so ...

It was one of those.

....unless it was another science podcast.

:)

--------------
“Why do creationists have such a hard time with commas?

Linky“. ~ Steve Story, Legend

   
ppb



Posts: 325
Joined: Dec. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: Dec. 19 2008,12:02   

Quote (Lou FCD @ Dec. 19 2008,12:12)

Yes, I was listening to a very good podcast on it yesterday, though I don't recall if it was Are We Alone, or Science Update, or maybe the Astronomy Update from Universe Today. It had been a while since I'd been able to listen to many of them at once, so they had piled up. They all sort of ran together after a few hours yesterday, so ...

It was one of those.

....unless it was another science podcast.

:)


I read about it on Phil Plait's blog.  They did it by subtracting the spectrum of the star itself (while the planet was eclipsed) from the spectrum of the star and the planet together.  Really neat trick.

--------------
"[A scientific theory] describes Nature as absurd from the point of view of common sense. And it agrees fully with experiment. So I hope you can accept Nature as She is - absurd."
- Richard P. Feynman

  
Lou FCD



Posts: 5455
Joined: Jan. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: Dec. 19 2008,15:01   

I lurve me some Dr. BA, now.

--------------
“Why do creationists have such a hard time with commas?

Linky“. ~ Steve Story, Legend

   
Lou FCD



Posts: 5455
Joined: Jan. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: Dec. 20 2008,15:43   

Science Friday video on Eggnog, complete with recipe (with booze) and an experiment.

Does the alcohol in eggnog kill the bacteria? Watch the vid.

--------------
“Why do creationists have such a hard time with commas?

Linky“. ~ Steve Story, Legend

   
stevestory



Posts: 13407
Joined: Oct. 2005

(Permalink) Posted: Dec. 29 2008,16:29   

This is really distressing news about drugs and studies. Assuming it's true, of course, and that the author isn't some crank.

   
Steviepinhead



Posts: 532
Joined: Jan. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: Jan. 05 2009,15:49   

Bipedalsim -- "Lucy" Bones -- Lecture.

If any of our Seattle-area members would be interested in attending a lecture associated with* the current "Lucy's Legacy" exhibit at the Pacific Science Center, I haz TWO FREE TICKETS (a twelve dollar value!) for this Thursday evening, Jan. 8, at 7 pm.  My gf and I can't go because of another commitment (I've gone to the other lectures in the series and they've all been interesting).  

The lecture is roughly an hour long, is presented by the Burke Museum in association with the science center, and takes place in the Eames Auditorium in the Pacific Science Center complex, basically the same place you go to watch IMAX films.

Here's what Teh Lecture is about:
Jan 8, 2009, 7 p.m. - Eames Theater, Pacific Science Center
Dr. Patricia Kramer - "Lucy Walks: functional morphology and the evolution of bipedalism" - Dr. Kramer will discuss how anthropologists decipher clues from fossils to discover how and why our earliest hominid ancestors walked upright.

Dr. Kramer is a Research Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Washington, and Adjunct Curator of Archaeology, Burke Museum.

If interested, please PM me!  We can hack out the ticket hand-off off-line (I live in Fremont, range as far north as Edmonds and as far south as downtown on a daily basis, and will be attending another lecture at the Seattle Art Museum the same night at the same time, so could probably swing by any location downtown north of the SAM on my way there -- for example, a location just outside the Pacific Science Center!)




__
Note that I will not be treating you to the exhibit itself, but only to the lecture.

  
Kristine



Posts: 3061
Joined: Sep. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: Jan. 05 2009,19:38   

Quote (stevestory @ Dec. 29 2008,16:29)
This is really distressing news about drugs and studies. Assuming it's true, of course, and that the author isn't some crank.

Marcia Angell was the first woman to serve as editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine and has appeared on PBS criticizing our health care industry. She's a critic of the pharmaceutical industry and of "alternative medicine." Yep, a depressing article, all right - and unfortunately, I trust her assessment.

--------------
Which came first: the shimmy, or the hip?

AtBC Poet Laureate

"I happen to think that this prerequisite criterion of empirical evidence is itself not empirical." - Clive

"Damn you. This means a trip to the library. Again." -- fnxtr

  
Peter Henderson



Posts: 298
Joined: Aug. 2007

(Permalink) Posted: Jan. 06 2009,08:40   

While arguing with some nutters over on the Premier Christian Radio forum I came across this excellent lecture to the Royal institution by our very own (she hails from Norn Iron) Professor Jocelyn Bell Burnell:

http://vega.org.uk/video/programme/69

Although it's quite old (1997) it's still a good lesson on stellar evolution.

  
qetzal



Posts: 311
Joined: Feb. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: Jan. 06 2009,17:04   

Quote (stevestory @ Dec. 29 2008,16:29)
This is really distressing news about drugs and studies. Assuming it's true, of course, and that the author isn't some crank.


Having worked on new drug development for some years, I think most of Angell's criticisms in this article are on target. I haven't agreed with some of her previous opinions on pharma, and there are some minor bits in this one that I think are wrong, but I agree with her main points: conflicts of interest and publication bias are serious problems that affect how drugs are prescribed in the US and result in significant detriment to patients.

  
Steviepinhead



Posts: 532
Joined: Jan. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: Jan. 06 2009,18:04   

What?!?  Nobody wants to learn how Lucy's bones bespeak her bipedalism?
Quote (Steviepinhead @ Jan. 05 2009,13:49)
Bipedalsim -- "Lucy" Bones -- Lecture.

If any of our Seattle-area members would be interested in attending a lecture associated with* the current "Lucy's Legacy" exhibit at the Pacific Science Center, I haz TWO FREE TICKETS (a twelve dollar value!) for this Thursday evening, Jan. 8, at 7 pm.  My gf and I can't go because of another commitment (I've gone to the other lectures in the series and they've all been interesting).  

The lecture is roughly an hour long, is presented by the Burke Museum in association with the science center, and takes place in the Eames Auditorium in the Pacific Science Center complex, basically the same place you go to watch IMAX films.

Here's what Teh Lecture is about:
Jan 8, 2009, 7 p.m. - Eames Theater, Pacific Science Center
Dr. Patricia Kramer - "Lucy Walks: functional morphology and the evolution of bipedalism" - Dr. Kramer will discuss how anthropologists decipher clues from fossils to discover how and why our earliest hominid ancestors walked upright.

Dr. Kramer is a Research Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Washington, and Adjunct Curator of Archaeology, Burke Museum.

If interested, please PM me!  We can hack out the ticket hand-off off-line (I live in Fremont, range as far north as Edmonds and as far south as downtown on a daily basis, and will be attending another lecture at the Seattle Art Museum the same night at the same time, so could probably swing by any location downtown north of the SAM on my way there -- for example, a location just outside the Pacific Science Center!)




__
Note that I will not be treating you to the exhibit itself, but only to the lecture.

Just bumping this again -- Free tickets to the above Seattle lecture are available!

  
ppb



Posts: 325
Joined: Dec. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: Jan. 07 2009,10:55   

Quote (Steviepinhead @ Jan. 06 2009,19:04)
What?!?  Nobody wants to learn how Lucy's bones bespeak her bipedalism?
Quote (Steviepinhead @ Jan. 05 2009,13:49)
Bipedalsim -- "Lucy" Bones -- Lecture.

If any of our Seattle-area members would be interested in attending a lecture associated with* the current "Lucy's Legacy" exhibit at the Pacific Science Center, I haz TWO FREE TICKETS (a twelve dollar value!;) for this Thursday evening, Jan. 8, at 7 pm.  My gf and I can't go because of another commitment (I've gone to the other lectures in the series and they've all been interesting).  

The lecture is roughly an hour long, is presented by the Burke Museum in association with the science center, and takes place in the Eames Auditorium in the Pacific Science Center complex, basically the same place you go to watch IMAX films.

Here's what Teh Lecture is about:
Jan 8, 2009, 7 p.m. - Eames Theater, Pacific Science Center
Dr. Patricia Kramer - "Lucy Walks: functional morphology and the evolution of bipedalism" - Dr. Kramer will discuss how anthropologists decipher clues from fossils to discover how and why our earliest hominid ancestors walked upright.

Dr. Kramer is a Research Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Washington, and Adjunct Curator of Archaeology, Burke Museum.

If interested, please PM me!  We can hack out the ticket hand-off off-line (I live in Fremont, range as far north as Edmonds and as far south as downtown on a daily basis, and will be attending another lecture at the Seattle Art Museum the same night at the same time, so could probably swing by any location downtown north of the SAM on my way there -- for example, a location just outside the Pacific Science Center!;)




__
Note that I will not be treating you to the exhibit itself, but only to the lecture.

Just bumping this again -- Free tickets to the above Seattle lecture are available!

I'd love to go.  Do they come with free airline tickets to Seattle?  :)

--------------
"[A scientific theory] describes Nature as absurd from the point of view of common sense. And it agrees fully with experiment. So I hope you can accept Nature as She is - absurd."
- Richard P. Feynman

  
J-Dog



Posts: 4402
Joined: Dec. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: Jan. 07 2009,11:16   

Quote (Steviepinhead @ Jan. 06 2009,18:04)
What?!?  Nobody wants to learn how Lucy's bones bespeak her bipedalism?
Quote (Steviepinhead @ Jan. 05 2009,13:49)
Bipedalsim -- "Lucy" Bones -- Lecture.

If any of our Seattle-area members would be interested in attending a lecture associated with* the current "Lucy's Legacy" exhibit at the Pacific Science Center, I haz TWO FREE TICKETS (a twelve dollar value!) for this Thursday evening, Jan. 8, at 7 pm.  My gf and I can't go because of another commitment (I've gone to the other lectures in the series and they've all been interesting).  

The lecture is roughly an hour long, is presented by the Burke Museum in association with the science center, and takes place in the Eames Auditorium in the Pacific Science Center complex, basically the same place you go to watch IMAX films.

Here's what Teh Lecture is about:
Jan 8, 2009, 7 p.m. - Eames Theater, Pacific Science Center
Dr. Patricia Kramer - "Lucy Walks: functional morphology and the evolution of bipedalism" - Dr. Kramer will discuss how anthropologists decipher clues from fossils to discover how and why our earliest hominid ancestors walked upright.

Dr. Kramer is a Research Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Washington, and Adjunct Curator of Archaeology, Burke Museum.

If interested, please PM me!  We can hack out the ticket hand-off off-line (I live in Fremont, range as far north as Edmonds and as far south as downtown on a daily basis, and will be attending another lecture at the Seattle Art Museum the same night at the same time, so could probably swing by any location downtown north of the SAM on my way there -- for example, a location just outside the Pacific Science Center!)




__
Note that I will not be treating you to the exhibit itself, but only to the lecture.

Just bumping this again -- Free tickets to the above Seattle lecture are available!

You could offer them to Casey Luskin and the DI - I am sure with an organization named The Discovery Institute that they are interested in ALL aspects of science....

Oh.  Right.  Never mind!

Srsly... It looks like a great time.  SOMEONE should take advantage of them!

--------------
Come on Tough Guy, do the little dance of ID impotence you do so well. - Louis to Joe G 2/10

Gullibility is not a virtue - Quidam on Dembski's belief in the Bible Code Faith Healers & ID 7/08

UD is an Unnatural Douchemagnet. - richardthughes 7/11

  
Kristine



Posts: 3061
Joined: Sep. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: Jan. 07 2009,17:23   

Quote (ppb @ Jan. 07 2009,10:55)
 
Quote (Steviepinhead @ Jan. 06 2009,19:04)
What?!?  Nobody wants to learn how Lucy's bones bespeak her bipedalism?    
Quote (Steviepinhead @ Jan. 05 2009,13:49)
Bipedalsim -- "Lucy" Bones -- Lecture.

If any of our Seattle-area members would be interested in attending a lecture associated with* the current "Lucy's Legacy" exhibit at the Pacific Science Center, I haz TWO FREE TICKETS (a twelve dollar value!;) for this Thursday evening, Jan. 8, at 7 pm.  My gf and I can't go because of another commitment (I've gone to the other lectures in the series and they've all been interesting).  

The lecture is roughly an hour long, is presented by the Burke Museum in association with the science center, and takes place in the Eames Auditorium in the Pacific Science Center complex, basically the same place you go to watch IMAX films.

Here's what Teh Lecture is about:
Jan 8, 2009, 7 p.m. - Eames Theater, Pacific Science Center
Dr. Patricia Kramer - "Lucy Walks: functional morphology and the evolution of bipedalism" - Dr. Kramer will discuss how anthropologists decipher clues from fossils to discover how and why our earliest hominid ancestors walked upright.

Dr. Kramer is a Research Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Washington, and Adjunct Curator of Archaeology, Burke Museum.

If interested, please PM me!  We can hack out the ticket hand-off off-line (I live in Fremont, range as far north as Edmonds and as far south as downtown on a daily basis, and will be attending another lecture at the Seattle Art Museum the same night at the same time, so could probably swing by any location downtown north of the SAM on my way there -- for example, a location just outside the Pacific Science Center!;)




__
Note that I will not be treating you to the exhibit itself, but only to the lecture.

Just bumping this again -- Free tickets to the above Seattle lecture are available!

I'd love to go.  Do they come with free airline tickets to Seattle?  :)

Me, too! And what kind of chairs do they have in the Eames Theatre? ;)

--------------
Which came first: the shimmy, or the hip?

AtBC Poet Laureate

"I happen to think that this prerequisite criterion of empirical evidence is itself not empirical." - Clive

"Damn you. This means a trip to the library. Again." -- fnxtr

  
Steviepinhead



Posts: 532
Joined: Jan. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: Jan. 07 2009,18:55   

You know, if I thought there was one chance in a bazillion that anyone at the DIsco Institute for the Terminally Simple would get anything out of this lecture, I would offer.  

But the odds of that being considerably less than the odds of abiogenesis ...  And even Vegas wouldn't give me odds on Luskin understanding his own zip code, much less bipedalism (which brings to mind a joke about bicycles...).

Also sorry, but I can't spring for the airline tix.  Plus, it's been very windy around here lately.  Perhaps not the time to try to land at SeaTac airport.  Though the seats in the Eames are reasonably comfy, once you get there.
Going once, going twice...!

  
utidjian



Posts: 185
Joined: Oct. 2007

(Permalink) Posted: Jan. 09 2009,13:11   

Self-Seplicating Chemicals Evolve in Lifelike Ecosystem

I am afraid that much tard will come of that article. It would be nice to see the original paper.

-DU-

--------------
Being laughed at doesn't mean you're progressing along some line. It probably just means you're saying some stupid shit -stevestory

  
stevestory



Posts: 13407
Joined: Oct. 2005

(Permalink) Posted: Jan. 10 2009,15:56   

self-replicating chemicals

   
stevestory



Posts: 13407
Joined: Oct. 2005

(Permalink) Posted: Jan. 10 2009,15:58   

http://blogs.sciencemag.org/origins/

   
stevestory



Posts: 13407
Joined: Oct. 2005

(Permalink) Posted: Jan. 11 2009,21:40   

Steven Pinker on genes in the NYT

Quote
The most prominent finding of behavioral genetics has been summarized by the psychologist Eric Turkheimer: “The nature-nurture debate is over. . . . All human behavioral traits are heritable.” By this he meant that a substantial fraction of the variation among individuals within a culture can be linked to variation in their genes. Whether you measure intelligence or personality, religiosity or political orientation, television watching or cigarette smoking, the outcome is the same. Identical twins (who share all their genes) are more similar than fraternal twins (who share half their genes that vary among people). Biological siblings (who share half those genes too) are more similar than adopted siblings (who share no more genes than do strangers). And identical twins separated at birth and raised in different adoptive homes (who share their genes but not their environments) are uncannily similar.

   
Lou FCD



Posts: 5455
Joined: Jan. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: Jan. 15 2009,20:21   

The Bacterial Symbiont Wolbachia Induces Resistance to RNA Viral Infections in Drosophila melanogaster in PLoS Biology.

Quote
Wolbachia are vertically transmitted, obligatory intracellular bacteria that infect a great number of species of arthropods and nematodes. In insects, they are mainly known for disrupting the reproductive biology of their hosts in order to increase their transmission through the female germline. In Drosophila melanogaster, however, a strong and consistent effect of Wolbachia infection has not been found. Here we report that a bacterial infection renders D. melanogaster more resistant to Drosophila C virus, reducing the load of viruses in infected flies. We identify these resistance-inducing bacteria as Wolbachia. Furthermore, we show that Wolbachia also increases resistance of Drosophila to two other RNA virus infections (Nora virus and Flock House virus) but not to a DNA virus infection (Insect Iridescent Virus 6). These results identify a new major factor regulating D. melanogaster resistance to infection by RNA viruses and contribute to the idea that the response of a host to a particular pathogen also depends on its interactions with other microorganisms. This is also, to our knowledge, the first report of a strong beneficial effect of Wolbachia infection in D. melanogaster. The induced resistance to natural viral pathogens may explain Wolbachia prevalence in natural populations and represents a novel Wolbachia–host interaction.


Interesting in itself, but something in the intro also caught my eye.

Quote
Wolbachia were first discovered infecting the mosquito Culex pipiens in 1924, but interest in these bacteria mainly arose when it was shown that infected mosquito males do not successfully breed with noninfected females. This phenomenon is termed cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) and has, since then, been found in many other insect species infected with Wolbachia. In some hosts, Wolbachia can also cause feminization, male killing, or parthenogenesis. All these mechanisms profoundly alter the reproductive biology of their hosts and are thought to increase the success of bacterial transmission through the female germline. In the majority of known cases, Wolbachia behave like reproductive parasites of their hosts.


(references removed and emphasis added)

That's just cool. (Weird, but cool.)

--------------
“Why do creationists have such a hard time with commas?

Linky“. ~ Steve Story, Legend

   
Henry J



Posts: 5786
Joined: Mar. 2005

(Permalink) Posted: Jan. 15 2009,20:41   

Monkey business in Florida!

Henry

  
Henry J



Posts: 5786
Joined: Mar. 2005

(Permalink) Posted: Jan. 16 2009,14:46   

Mars has gas!

  
Kristine



Posts: 3061
Joined: Sep. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: Jan. 21 2009,08:50   

Tara Smith cans has teh famous - Aetiology made JASIST! *Whoop!* (I hear a chorus: "Jasist? What's that?")

"Scholarly hyperwriting: The function of links in academic weblogs"
María José Luzón, University of Zaragoza, Centro Politécnico Superior, Department of English and German Philology, c/María de Luna 3, 50018 Zaragoza, Spain
Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Volume 60, Issue 1, Pages 75-89

Abstract.    
Quote
Weblogs are gaining momentum as one of most versatile tools for online scholarly communication. Since academic weblogs tend to be used by scholars to position themselves in a disciplinary blogging community, links are essential to their construction. The aim of this article is to analyze the reasons for linking in academic weblogs and to determine how links are used for distribution of information, collaborative construction of knowledge, and construction of the blog's and the blogger's identity. For this purpose I analyzed types of links in 15 academic blogs, considering both sidebar links and in-post links. The results show that links are strategically used by academic bloggers for several purposes, among others to seek their place in a disciplinary community, to engage in hypertext conversations for collaborative construction of knowledge, to organize information in the blog, to publicize their research, to enhance the blog's visibility, and to optimize blog entries and the blog itself.

Aetiology was one of the blogs examined, and really, the article doesn't tell you anything you don't already know. (This is in the "Why didn't I know that they didn't know about this so I could have written it, arg!" category.)

--------------
Which came first: the shimmy, or the hip?

AtBC Poet Laureate

"I happen to think that this prerequisite criterion of empirical evidence is itself not empirical." - Clive

"Damn you. This means a trip to the library. Again." -- fnxtr

  
Henry J



Posts: 5786
Joined: Mar. 2005

(Permalink) Posted: Jan. 23 2009,16:03   

Newly discovered catfish species climbs rocks  
Quote

Fish's pelvic fin decouples from body and moves backward and forward
Photo of a new species of climbing fish, Lithogenes wahari.
A previously unknown species of climbing catfish has been discovered in remote Venezuela, [...]

  
Kristine



Posts: 3061
Joined: Sep. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: Jan. 29 2009,11:27   

PANDAS:
Quote
Occasionally, children can suddenly develop OCD [Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder], or have a sudden worsening of existing OCD symptoms, when they have strep throat. It seems that the body forms antibodies against the streptococci bacteria. These antibodies attack certain key areas in the brain, leading to OCD symptoms or worsening of existing symptoms. Treatment of the strep infection with antibiotics results in significant improvement or even elimination fo the OCD symptoms. This relatively rare reaction to strep is called Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections—PANDAS.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder By Bruce M. Hyman and Cherry Pedrick (a psychotherapist and a nurse, respectively)

--------------
Which came first: the shimmy, or the hip?

AtBC Poet Laureate

"I happen to think that this prerequisite criterion of empirical evidence is itself not empirical." - Clive

"Damn you. This means a trip to the library. Again." -- fnxtr

  
Henry J



Posts: 5786
Joined: Mar. 2005

(Permalink) Posted: Jan. 29 2009,14:05   

But, the acronym gives a rather misleading idea of what it's about before reading the excerpt. ;)

Henry

  
Kristine



Posts: 3061
Joined: Sep. 2006

(Permalink) Posted: Jan. 29 2009,17:21   

Yes - it made me think of a certain book. :)

--------------
Which came first: the shimmy, or the hip?

AtBC Poet Laureate

"I happen to think that this prerequisite criterion of empirical evidence is itself not empirical." - Clive

"Damn you. This means a trip to the library. Again." -- fnxtr

  
stevestory



Posts: 13407
Joined: Oct. 2005

(Permalink) Posted: Jan. 29 2009,22:22   

Quote (Henry J @ Jan. 15 2009,21:41)
Monkey business in Florida!

Henry

Florida is deeply weird. Deeply. Like chromozomically, DNA-level weird. It's a part of who we are. We are deeply wrong. Malfunctional on an atomic level. But it makes sense to us. We understand why we do what we do. We understand why Fark.com has only one tag specific to a state, and we understand why that tag says Florida. We understand Adaptation. We don't even know what the big deal is. We understand Carl Hiassen and Dave Barry. It's just the same old, same old for us. A loose monkey throwing feces is hardly even newsworthy. It's SNAFU.

   
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