When I was in fifth grade back home in the Dominican Republic, I had "the talk" with my mom. It might seem a little young, but our school was teaching us about human reproduction, and they had told the parents that they would address the biological part of it, but the parents had to sit down with us and go over the fact that people didn't necessarily do it for human reproduction purposes.

For me, the talk was very positive. My mom has always been very straightforward and has made sure that I trust her enough to reach out to her with any questions or concerns. But I knew that wasn't the case with everyone. And as I grew older and actually hit puberty, the chat around sex became all about abstinence rather than "this is how you can protect yourself."

Let's be honest: if you tell any teenager that they're not allowed to do something, they will want to do it even more. But then, in a country like the Dominican Republic, you also had the church's influence dictating how people particularly women should live their lives.

The church and the state are pretty much one entity there's no real separation. So, when it comes to issues such as allowing women to choose what to do with their bodies, or even teaching sex ed in schools, there's an automatic push against it because "that's not how God wanted it."

They vilify sex, making it seem like the ultimate sin when done outside of the "sacred bond of marriage." They limit access to information to vulnerable people, the ones who only have access to a church in their community, and as a result, we have a teenage pregnancy crisis.

Human Rights Watch reported in a study that the Dominican Republic has the highest adolescent fertility rate of all of the countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).

"While some adolescent pregnancies are planned and wanted at the time they occur, many are not. The total ban on abortion in the Dominican Republic means adolescent girls facing unwanted pregnancies must choose between clandestine and often risky abortions or the lifelong consequences of having a child against their wishes."

The study goes on to list the consequences of this crisis, starting with serious health risks not only for the mother but also the baby, difficulty for the expecting mother to continue her education despite a law that prohibits expulsion of pregnant girls from school which then cuts back even more on her chances for a better life for her and her child. In most cases, the girls end up trapped in a never-ending poverty cycle, which then traps their babies when they're born. And it doesn't help that in many parts of the DR, there's no place girls can gain access to confidential, nonstigmatizing, adolescent-friendly sexual and reproductive health services.

"The Dominican Republic is one of few countries in Latin America and the Caribbean where abortion is criminalized and prohibited in all circumstances, even for women and girls who become pregnant from rape or incest, whose lives are endangered by pregnancy, or who are carrying pregnancies that are not viable, meaning the fetus will not survive outside the womb," The Human Rights Watch study continued.

Girls, particularly those from poor and rural communities, suffer the consequences of these policy failures most profoundly, and that's why it's so important to provide information, talk about sexual and reproductive health, foment sexual education in schools, expand health services and providers who aren't judgmental, decriminalize abortion, and give girls and women the option to safely end their pregnancies.

See the article here:
In My Country, Sex Is Still Taboo, and Not Talking About It Has Made Things Worse - POPSUGAR

Sex drive foods, you say? A myth, you say? Not so fast. These 34-plus edibles are not only good for you, theyll rev up your libido and boost blood flow to the genitals, taking sex from ordinary to extraordinary Just in time for Valentines Day. Wink.

Spinach is a potent source of magnesium, which helps dilate blood vessels, according to Japanese researchers. Better blood flow to the genitals creates greater arousal for men and women. Spinach and other green veg, like broccoli, Brussels sprouts, kale, cabbage, Swiss chard and bok choy, are also good sources of our favourite sex nutrient folate. Extra insurance for good reproductive health, folate may lower blood levels of homocysteine (high levels are a risk factor for peripheral arterial disease).

The antioxidant catechin found in tea promotes blood flow all over the body for sex power and brainpower; it enhances memory, mood and focus. One particularly potent catechin, a compound called ECGC prevalent in green tea, is thought to increase fat burn. Drink freshly brewed green or black tea every day hot or iced.

One study shows that vitamin C may increase libido in women. Another finds that people who eat foods high in vitamin C report better moods and have more sex. It also helps boost blood flow, meaning that both sexes can get friskier, faster. Note: men who consume at least 200mg of vitamin C a day improve their sperm counts and motility, according to research at the University of Texas Medical Branch.

Grapefruit contains 120 percent of the recommended daily allowance of 90mg of vitamin C for men. Other excellent sources are kiwi, mango, oranges, spanspek, strawberries, broccoli, tomatoes, leafy greens and ascorbic acid supplements. And watermelons. Theyre filled with high concentrations of lycopene, beta carotene, and, the big one, citrulline, which is particularly exciting for its ability to relax blood vessels, the same basic effect that Viagra has.

READ MORE: These Libido-Boosting Foods Amp Up Blood Flow Where It Counts *Wink*

Their nutrients, including folate, iron, phosphorus and selenium, are heart healthy and also known to maintain the health of epithelial tissues, which line the vagina and uterus in women. Eggs are rich in vitamins B6 and B5, which help balance hormone levels and ease stress, and are important for a healthy libido.

Italian researchers found that women who drink red wine in moderation enjoy higher levels of sexual interest and respond with more lubrication than women who dont drink or drink less. The researchers believe that the antioxidants and alcohol in the wine may trigger the production of nitric oxide in the blood, which helps artery walls to relax, increasing blood flow to the genitals. Just limit yourself to a glass or two. More alcohol than that can put a damper on sexual performance.

Worth noting: even teetotallers can benefit from the red grape. Dark grape juice contains antioxidant polyphenols that protect the cardiovascular system and help keep skin flexible and elastic.

That brings us to the meat of this entry. Red meat. Lean cuts are great sources of zinc, a mineral that curbs production of a hormone called prolactin, which, at high levels, can cause sexual dysfunction, according to Berman.

Pumpkin and sunflower seeds, almonds, peanuts, walnuts and other nuts all contain the necessary monounsaturated fats with which your body creates cholesterol and your sex hormones need that cholesterol to work properly.

Thats something the ancient Romans didnt know when they tossed walnuts at newlyweds for good breeding luck. Long linked to fertility the shell, of course, resembles a mans cojones; the inside meat is vulva-like in form nuts make a perfectly sexy snack. Packed with muscle-building protein and filling fibre, they are a heart-healthy, albeit kilojoule-dense, treat.

READ MORE: 6 Superfood Powders Thatll Give Your Body A Boost

How do you eat more protein without going overboard on eggs and meat? Beans. Many studies show that bean eaters are leaner and healthier than people who dont eat beans. According to one study in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, people who eat three quarters of a cup of beans or legumes a day have lower blood pressure and smaller waists than people who get their protein from meat. Beans are also full of cholesterol-lowering soluble fibre. A quarter cup of red kidney beans delivers three grams of fibre, plus more than 6 000 disease-fighting antioxidants.

If, as doctors like to say, whats good for your heart is good for your love life, oily cold-water fish, like salmon, mackerel, sardines and tuna, should figure heavily into your weekly meal rotation. The omega-3 fatty acids DHA and EPA found in fish help to raise dopamine levels in the brain that trigger arousal, according to sexologist Dr Yvonne Fulbright. Fish contains the amino acid L-arginine, which stimulates the release of growth hormones and is converted into nitric oxide in the body. Its worth repeating: nitric oxide is critical for erections and it can help womens sexual function as well by causing blood vessels to open wider for improved blood flow.

Eating oats is one of the few natural ways to boost testosterone in the bloodstream. The male hormone plays a significant role in sex drive and orgasm strength in both men and women. Oats (as well as seeds, ginseng, nuts, dairy and green vegetables) contain L-arginine, the amino acid that enhances the effect nitric oxide has on reducing blood-vessel stiffness. Like Viagra, it helps relax muscles around blood vessels in the penis. When they dilate, blood flow increases so a man can maintain an erection. Studies show that L-arginine also improves blood flow to the clitoris and tissue surrounding the vulva.

READ MORE: 7 Ways To Make Overnight Oats Way, Way Better

In addition to their reputation as the ultimate aphrodisiac (thanks to their resemblance to female genitalia), raw oysters actually do have a connection to sexual function. Oysters hold more zinc than most other foods and it is believed that this mineral may enhance libido by helping with testosterone production higher levels of the hormone are linked to an increase in desire. Zinc is also crucial to healthy sperm production and blood circulation. While Casanova reportedly ate 50 raw oysters a day, about six will provide double the recommended daily allowance of 15mg of zinc. Other good sources of zinc are shrimp, red meat, pumpkin seeds, poultry and pork, eggs and dairy products.

Devouring something gooey and decadent is incredibly sensual. Dark chocolate, in particular, contains a compound called phenylethylamine that releases the same endorphins triggered by sex and increases the feelings of attraction between two people, according to research published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association. In fact, brain scans in a British study showed that eating chocolate causes a more intense and longer brain buzz than kissing does.

Chocolate does also appear to boost heart health. Scientists at the Harvard University School of Public Health examined 136 studies on cocoa and found heart-health benefits from increased blood flow, less platelet stickiness and reduced bad cholesterol. Whats the healthiest chocolate? The disease-fighting flavonols that make dark chocolate good for the body also cause the bitterness. To balance flavour and health benefits, try dark chocolate with 70 percent cacao, recommends Dr Jeffrey Blumberg, who directs the Antioxidants Research Laboratory at Tufts University in the US. A five-centimetre square chunk, at about 400kJ, will deliver a healthy treat without messing with your weight-management efforts.

Red is sexy. But strawberries are sex drive foods for another reason besides their sensual colour: they are high in the B vitamin, folate, which helps prevent birth defects, and vitamin C, a potential libido booster. Blueberries (and blackberries) are just as sexy. Ideal for a great morning-after breakfast in bed, so you have energy for round two, both berries contain compounds that are thought to relax blood vessels and improve circulation for a natural Viagra-like effect.

READ MORE: Vegan Strawberry Smoothie Bowl, Plus More Breakfast Recipes

The ancient Aztecs called them testicles. Hanging in pairs from trees, the fruit is so suggestive that Catholic priests in Spain once forbade parishioners from eating them. But beyond their shape, avocados have a strong connection to the testes, the production centre of sperm, due to their high folate content. Men planning to have children should consider loading up on avocado (as well as leafy greens) because folate may protect sperm from mutations. A study at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in a 2008 issue of the journal Human Reproduction analysed the sperm of 89 men for chromosome abnormalities and then compared the results to a food frequency questionnaire the men completed. The researchers found that men with the highest folate intake had the lowest frequency of sperm with extra chromosomes compared with men who had lower consumption.

This phallic vegetable has been associated with sex since the first hunter-gatherer spotted shoots popping out of the forest floor and cried, Hey, you know what those remind me of? The springtime shoots are loaded with B vitamins that increase levels of histamine, a neurotransmitter that facilitates orgasm. Green asparagus spears are rich in rutin, a potent scavenger of free radicals. The crowns also have high levels of the chemical protodioscin which may improve sexual function. Protodioscin has been shown to boost arousal and even help combat erectile dysfunction in some men, says Dr Lynn Edlen-Nezin, co-author of Great Food, Great Sex.

If you suffer from a bit of sexual anxiety, eat a banana before you hook up. Bananas deliver the feel-good neurochemical serotonin into the blood stream, which elevates mood and calms the nervous system. Bananas contain potassium, a mineral that increases muscle strength, an element crucial to orgasm, says Lou Paget, author of The Great Lover Playbook.

READ MORE: Should You Avoid Bananas If Youre Trying To Lose Weight?

Fortified breakfast cereals and breads contain niacin, a vitamin thats essential for the secretion of histamine, a chemical our bodies need in order to trigger explosive sneezes and orgasms. They are high in thiamin and riboflavin too, vitamins that help you use energy efficiently and that are important for proper nerve function, which translates into more stimulation and pleasure during sex.

Every stalk of this Bloody Mary swizzle stick is packed with androstenone and androstenol, two pheromones that can help men attract women. When you chew a stalk of celery, you release androstenone and androstenol odour molecules into your mouth. They then travel up the back of your throat to your nose, says Dr Alan Hirsch, author of Scentsational Sex: The Secret to Using Aroma for Arousal. Once there, the pheromones boost your arousal, turning you on and causing your body to send off scents and signals that make you more desirable to women.

One of the first body parts the opposite sex looks at when scoping out a potential date: the teeth. Keep them bright and healthy by eating cheese. Cheese is a good source of calcium, to keep your teeth strong, plus it can lower the levels of bacteria in your mouth and keep teeth clean and cavity-free. The American Dental Association recommends eating at least two servings of block cheese every week to maintain tooth health.

Smokin sex drive foods! Chillies contain the chemical capsaicin, which triggers the release of endorphins. It also stimulates nerve endings, increasing metabolism, raising your heart rate, causing flushed cheeks, sweating and other physical effects that mimic arousal.

While coffees association with sex drive foods is tenuous, caffeine has been shown to have health benefits. After a sip of a caffeinated beverage, the brain releases dopamine, a neurochemical that stimulates areas of the brain responsible for alertness, problem solving and pleasure. A cup before a workout has been shown to help athletes exercise longer and harder. And although researchers dont know exactly why, they speculate that the large amounts of antioxidants in coffee and other compounds in caffeine may be responsible for improved insulin resistance and reduced diabetes risk.

Considering their resemblance to female genitalia (when sliced in half), its no surprise figs are historically lauded as sex drive foods. The ancient Greeks are said to have celebrated the arrival of the fig crop with wild sex rituals and the great seductress Cleopatra loved to eat them from the fingers of buff young male attendants. Nutritionally, figs make sense as a sex snack. Like blueberries, they contain more soluble and insoluble fibre than most fruit and vegetables and they are rich in many nutrients important to good sexual health, including potassium, magnesium, iron, manganese, calcium and antioxidants. High in simple sugars, a quarter-cup serving will boost your serotonin levels and provide a quick energy lift.

READ MORE: 7 Health Benefits Of Spicy Food Every Hot Sauce Lover Needs To Know About

Sprinkle flaxseeds on your cereal, yoghurt or ice cream for a shot of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, which are the major building blocks of all sex hormones. One tablespoon of the nutty-tasting seeds helps increase testosterone, the chemical with the most direct libido-boosting effect, according to sexuality researcher Dr Helen Fisher. Another good plant-based source of these essential fatty acids is walnuts.

Garlic may be the last thing you want on your breath when youre ready to have sex. But it may be something you want to get more of on other occasions due to its high concentration of the compound allicin. Numerous small clinical studies suggest that regular garlic consumption may reduce cholesterol, blood pressure and risk of certain cancers and work against peripheral artery disease, improving blood flow particularly to the lower extremities.

Honeys B vitamins aid the production of testosterone and its boron content helps the body use oestrogen, which is a key factor in proper blood flow and arousal. In the kitchen, drizzle it on your oats. In the bedroom, drizzle it on any warm, lickable surface.

The calcium in milk is essential for bone building. The vitamin D in fortified milk helps calcium keep your muscles, heart and nervous system humming. Studies show that calcium also influences fat metabolism. Yoghurt is another great source of calcium. But when choosing your yoghurt, reach for the probiotic kind. Hint: the label will read live and active cultures. This yoghurt contains beneficial organisms that work with the bacteria in your gut to boost your immune system. Whats more, yoghurt is one of the few foods with conjugated linoleic acid, a special type of fat that some studies show can reduce body fat.

There are a lot of reasons to eat and drink more of this fruit. When scientists at the University of California studied the pomegranate, they found that it is rich in polyphenols, antioxidants that allow blood to flow through your veins a key component of good sex. And Israeli researchers discovered that men who drank 60ml of pomegranate juice a day for a year lowered their systolic blood pressure by 21 percent and dramatically improved blood flow to their hearts.

Your skin is your largest sex organ. Keep it soft, supple and wrinkle-free by limiting exposure to the sun, one of the primary reasons men and women age prematurely. In addition to applying sunscreen, ingest some SPF by eating sweet potatoes. European researchers found that pigments from beta-carotene-rich foods like sweet potatoes and carrots can build up in your skin, helping to prevent damage from ultraviolet rays.

This article was originally published on http://www.womenshealthsa.co.za

Image credit: iStock

Women's Health

Continued here:
34 foods that ramp up your sex drive and they taste freakin' amazing too - Health24

This model shows the most probable routes that the novel coronavirus will take tospread from the international airport in Beijing to airports around the world. Bubble size represents relative risk at each airport.

By Jon CohenFeb. 7, 2020 , 6:15 PM

Beyond China itself, Thailand is the country that most likely will have people who arrive at one of its airports with an infection by the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) that has sickened more than 30,000 people. So says the latest update of a global risk assessment model created by a team of researchers from the Humboldt University of Berlin and the Robert Koch Institute that relies on air travel data.

Next on the teams list is JapanOsakas international airport, interestingly, is more at risk than Tokyoswhich is followed by South Korea, Hong Kong, and then the United States. Russia likely has more infected people flying in than India, Germany (mainly the Frankfurt and Munich airports) is the most vulnerable country in Western Europe, and Ethiopia is the only sub-Saharan African country to break into the top 30 of virus-threated countries.

So, how seriously should this model, and the dozens of other computer simulations of the outbreak, be taken? Scientists studying the 2019-nCoV outbreak are getting plenty of data to groundtruth and tweak their models. As of yesterday, for example, the most confirmed cases outside of mainland China were in Japan (45), Singapore (28), Thailand (25), Hong Kong (24), and South Korea (23). That could be considered a partial success for the Berlin model, but it also reflects that this is a dynamic outbreak that upends assumptions at a blinding speed; for example, the airport in Wuhan, China, the outbreaks epicenter, was closed on 23 January, which radically altered airline exportation of the virus, and today there are 61 confirmed cases on a cruise ship off the coast of Japan.

This is not so much a tool for making quantitative predictions, says Dirk Brockmann, a physicist at Humboldt who leads the modeling team. Public health officials and policymakers have to develop an intuition because this virus is something unknown. Models can help you develop an intuition.

A flurry of models of the 2019-nCoV outbreak have been shared on websites, preprint servers, and in peer-reviewed journals, and many attempt to do far more than just sharpen hunches about where infected air travelers are going to land. If they have robust enough data, models can forecast the rate at which an outbreak will grow and help predict the impact of various interventions. When you start to include disease dynamics and population information, theres more information than just intuition, says Alessandro Vespignani, an infectious disease modeler at Northeastern University.

The centerpiece of many outbreak/infectious disease/pathogen models is the basic reproduction number, or Ro (pronounced R zero or R naught). Its essentially how many people each infected person can infect if the transmission of the virus is not hampered by quarantines, face masks, or other factors. Modelers also look at the incubation time, which is how long it takes for the virus to cause symptoms. The serial interval factors in the time between a person developing symptoms and a contact becoming ill. In this young outbreak, unknowns riddle every model. The current estimate for 2019-nCoVs incubation time has been hard to pin down with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggesting theres a range of 2 to 14 days. There are many things that should be carefully weighted at this point, and thats why the modeling has difficulties, Vespignani says.

One of the first models to come outby a group at Imperial College London on its website on 17 Januarylooked at confirmed infections outside China to infer the number of infections that likely had occurred in Wuhan. At the time the group released that model, Wuhan had only reported that 41 illnesses were caused by the virus, and the model estimated that by 12 January, the infection had actually sickened 1723 people in the city. Those estimates, which were startling at the time, seem quaint now: As of 5 February, there were 27,619 confirmed cases, and a modeling study by the University of Hong Kongs Joseph Wu and colleagues that was published online by The Lancet on31 January estimated that Wuhan alone had 75,815 cases by 25 January.

Many of the early calculationsincluding the initial airport analysis done by Brockmanns team (which does daily updates)lost all meaning after Wuhan shut down public transportation. That was just over 2 weeks ago, which seems like 2 years ago now, Vespignani says.

One of the most vexing mysteries at the moment that can undermine modeling is whether people with 2019-nCoV who do not have symptoms can transmit an infection. Its possible that there are infected people who never become ill but still transmit. There also may be infected people who transmit before they develop symptoms. Most of the fate of the epidemic is in this element, Vespignani says.

The viral diagnostic tests being used to confirm cases now typically are only done on people seeking care because they are ill. One way to find asymptomatic or presymptomatic cases is to examine peoples blood for signs of an immune response to 2019-nCoV. To know the full extent of spread youd like to collect blood samples from contacts of infected people and do the same 2 weeks later and see if theyve developed antibodies to the virus, says Marion Koopmans, whose team at Erasmus Medical Center is racing to develop an antibody test for 2019-nCoV. That gives you a better estimate of spread without symptoms.

Models may also become sharper as researchers have a finer understanding of the epidemiology of infected cases, which means details about their location, health, age, and gender. Those data can help modelers make more reliable assumptions about factors like incubation time. To that end, computational epidemiologist Moritz Kraemer at the University of Oxford has spearheaded an unusual effort to compile a line list of confirmed cases by sifting through government reports, the medical literature, reliable media accounts, and social media. Line lists contain incredibly useful information that are not visible in aggregated case counts, Kraemer says. Unfortunately, line list data are rarely available during outbreaks and until now only routinely collected by governments that do not share them openly.

This line list, which has more than 15,000 cases on it now, documents everything thats public about infected individuals. His group has already used the data in a study that assesses the capacity of countries in Africa to detect and respond to cases; two of the five most vulnerable countries on the continent, Ethiopia and Nigeria, have what they call variable capacity to respond to the outbreak. A modeling study by a different group used the data to assess transmission dynamics, concluding that once a place has three cases, there is more than a 50% chance the virus can become established in the population.

On top of needing better data, models also suffer from how their forecasts are interpreted by journalists or the public. Robin Thompson, a mathematical epidemiologist at Oxford who has modeled the outbreak, contends many news stories have garbled descriptions of Ro, the basic reproduction number, and exaggerated the risk of spread. Its being misused in this outbreak, Thompson says.

Most estimates for 2019-nCoV calculate that Ro is between two and threethat an infected person will infect two or three others. But this is just an average. Some infected people, by chance, wont transmit the virus to anyone else. The real question from a population standpoint is what is the probability with an Ro of, say, 2.2, that there will be sustained transmission of the virus? With this new virus, Thompson calculates theres a 54.5% chance of sustained spread starting from a single infected person if nothing, for example a vaccine, prevents transmission.

Ro does not change during an outbreak: A virus has a certain, fixed contagiousness factormeasles, for example, more easily spreads between people than influenza. But even in the absence of a vaccine, human behavior and the environment itself can alter the likelihood of spread. Hospitals isolate infected people or they choose to stay home. A further decrease also often occurs as an outbreak matures and many people become immune because of previous exposure, reducing the number of susceptible hosts. Hand washing, wearing protective garb, and social distancing can also reduce transmission rates. A climactic shift, like winter becoming spring, may affect the ability of a respiratory virus to transmit through the air.

In the lingo of modelers, what matters most is not the unchanging basic reproduction number of Ro, but what they somewhat unimaginatively refer to as the reproduction number, or R, that factors in these other variables. R is constantly in flux. Heres an example of R, expressed as a percentage: Thompson calculates that if 50% of infected symptomatic people are isolated and 20% are asymptomatic, then the risk of sustained transmission is 24.2%.

The take home message from this R analysis is that countries other than China still have a good chance of containing 2019-nCoV. Early on in an outbreak, you can take advantage of the fact that theres this probability of the thing fading out, Thompson says. And if you can isolate the few infected people you have very quickly, then the probability of this fading out is much higher.

Ultimately, models are a science-based attempt to inform public health policy. Take travel restrictions. Wu says he doubts that restricting travel from Wuhan will have any impact on spread within China at this point. He points to calculations by an international team of scientists that the Wuhan travel restrictions, which those researchers described as the largest quarantine in human history, delayed spread to other cities in China by just 2.91 days. Keeping Wuhan locked down now would not make a difference for [epidemiological] curves for other cities in China now, Wu says. Now, social distancing there is essential.

Hong Kong, which has 24 confirmed cases to date, waited until today to close its own borders to people from mainland China. The public had asked the government to reduce the flow from the mainland, and the government had different reasons for not wanting to do that, Wu says. Public health is a priority, but the economy is also a major concern. If it cuts people flow, it can also cut the supply chain of necessary products to Hong Kong.

So the balance between public health and politics factor in to 2019-nCoVs spreadwhich means a refined understanding of Ro and R, incubation time, the serial interval, and other variables can only sharpen a models predictive powers to a point. As most every honest modeling paper cautions, There are limits to this analysis.

Read the rest here:
Scientists are racing to model the next moves of a coronavirus that's still hard to predict - Science Magazine

C. elegans is a tiny, transparent nematode worm that responds to space conditions in ways similar to ... [+] human responses.

Astronauts arent the only ones living on the International Space Station. There are lab rats in space, plants in space, and yes, there are worms in space too. Space worms!!

Caenorhabditis elegans, a nematode worm, is used for studying biology in space because this worm shares many essential biological characteristics of human biology and is a common, well-studied organism used in biomedical research as a model for human development, genetics, aging and disease.

C. elegans starts out as a single cell just like us. It has a transparent body so its cells are visible with a microscope. These worms breathe air from the Space Station environment via a series of ventilation holes in their housing container. In just 2-3 weeks, they undergo a complex process of development, with embryonic cleavage, morphogenesis and growth into the adult. C. elegans has a nervous system with a 'brain', muscles and a gut. They produce sperm and eggs, and reproduce as hermaphrodites. These worms are also capable of rudimentary learning. After reproduction, the worms gradually age, lose vigor and finally die.

C. elegans is currently being used to investigate the effects of radiation and microgravity on muscle anatomy to understand the influence of spaceflight on muscle physiology. These investigations help researchers understand how the human body loses muscle mass while living in microgravity because loss of muscle mass and performance is a problem for astronauts on future human space exploration missions.

Visit link:
There Are Worms In Space - Forbes

KUWAIT CITY, Feb 8: Kuwaitis generally pass their time eating locusts and enjoying their taste as a healthy snack which doesnt cause any diseases to human body as it feeds on wild herbs and wild plants, and the old people use to wait for coming of locuts because it was a cheap food reports Al Rai

But this confidence finally turned into fear, panic and a warning not to eat it, after a video appeared showing a person offering to remove a worm from the stomach of Locust, warning that eating it would cause poisoning, which puzzled those waiting for the season to enjoy his taste.

As per Dr. Jinan Al-Harbi as researcher in Entomology confirmed that the video circulated regarding locust worms is true and realistic, indicating that locusts can be a carrier of many microorganism, including fungi, viruses and bacteria. She further stated what we see inside the locusts stomach is the larva of one of the insects that may have entered by eating the locust for plants loaded with eggs of this insect and this is the only explanation for the existence of the worm.

Al-Harbi further stated that there is a type of parasite known as horse nematode (worm) that lives in the stomach of locusts and is harmful and causes its death, but its shape is completely different from what is found in the spread video, indicating that the larva in the insects abdomen may be a blue fly or one of insects such as a beetle and may be It is fatal to the locust because it feeds on its internal gut, but its secretions and excreta are harmful to humans, and it may cause intestinal infections and poisoning.

She also said that she is not sure that all locusts have this worm because we need to do a random examination of a group of locusts, but care is necessary and care must be taken and stop eating the locusts at the present time.

Locust carries a worm, symptoms appear only in its final stages when the larva wipes out its inner gut and becomes black, as it leads to impaired blood circulation and vital functions and is not edible, but if a person eats it while it is loaded with worms, it is normal to be poisoned and symptoms of vomiting is noticed.

As per Dr. Jinan Al-Harbi there are 20,000 species of locusts and varies according to the environment in which they live, considering that locusts are types of grasshoppers that have strong back legs that help him jump for long distances equivalent to 20 times his body length. She explained that the desert locusts are the most dangerous and the most influential on our region, as it is spread in Africa, Mauritania, Morocco and Sudan, and moves through the Red Sea to the Arabian Peninsula and from there to Iran, Iraq and Syria, and locusts reproduce at a tremendous speed, where the female can lay 95 to 158 eggs at a time One at least three times during its life cycle.

Al-Harbi reported that desert locusts feed on plants, so we find its spread is associated with rainy seasons, while its absence and its reproduction in dry seasons are weak.

The Desert Locust was considered one of the favorite foods of some peoples in Asia and the Arab countries, especially Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Yemen, as it works to revitalize the body because it feeds on wild, aromatic and natural plants as it is one of the most effective tonic and stimulants and helps in treating rheumatism and back pain. It is also rich in protein, fats and organic materials such as manganese, calcium, iron, sodium, potassium and phosphorous.

Locusts should be avoided after spraying them with pesticides, as they are exposed to poisoning, as they destroy agricultural crops, and cause huge losses in the agricultural sector and the economy.

See the article here:
Worms in the stomachs of locusts create fear among Kuwaitis - ARAB TIMES - KUWAIT NEWS - Arab Times Kuwait English Daily

Bees are an important factor for our environment and our sustenance. Without insect pollination, many plant species including various crops cannot reproduce.

A UK researcher, studying the survival of bees at the University of Sheffield, spoke to us about the situation. She said:

Extensive landscape change causing the destruction of biodiverse green spaces in favour of concrete have resulted in the depletion of essential bumblebee foraging resources such as wildflowers and fruit trees.

As bumblebees are a key pollinator, the resulting declines of bumblebee populations have severe cascading effects on our ecosystems.

The feeding habits of these insects are crucially important to the eating habits of the human being. Globally, more than 20,000 bee species need to be considered. Among these, bumble bees are of particular importance besides the famous honey bee.

Professor Sara Leonhardt, who specialises in plant-insect interactions, said:

Bee mortality therefore affects food supply for human beings.

Bees obtain most of their nutrients from their main food sources, which are nectar and pollen. While nectar is mainly a source of carbohydrates, pollen contains most of the other necessary nutrients: proteins, fat, minerals and vitamins. Until today, most bee researchers assumed that bees, like other herbivores, mainly consider the protein content when choosing their food.

Using a two-step mechanistical approach that included learning and feeding experiments, the group established a new way to literally keep a close eye on the feeding habits of insects.

Which nutrients can bumble bees taste in pollen?

As a first step, learning experiments helped the scientists to establish the bumble bees preference for certain nutrients in this case fat and protein.

Fabian Rdenauer, main author of the study, explained:

We are focusing on fatty and amino acids, which represent the two essential pollen macro nutrients and which are likely to be perceived and thus tasted by bees.

In this context, a small amount of fatty acids was added to pollen to increase its fat content. The researchers found that bumble bees could clearly differentiate between normal pollen and pollen with increased fat content and did show a clear preference for normal pollen. Surprisingly, the bumble bees made no clear distinction when the pollen amino acid content was altered in the same way.

Which nutrients actually affect the bumble bees foraging behavior and what are the consequences for their survival and reproductive capabilities? Those were the central questions guiding the subsequent feeding experiments.

The more fat the pollen contained, the less the bumble bees consumed that pollen, Leonhardt concluded. Bumble bees actually accepted death over having to consume the high-fat pollen. The work group therefore concluded that fat in pollen adversely affects the bumble bees reproductive capabilities and survival, which is why it is being avoided.

Similar to the learning experiment, variations in the amino acid content of pollen did not affect the bees feeding habits, survival or reproduction.

Our study highlights the importance of fat for foraging bumble bees. It also shows that there is a correlation between nutrient perception, nutritional regulation and reproductive fitness, stated Dr. Johannes Spaethe from the University of Wrzburg, who also led the study.

The bees can taste what is good for them and collect their food accordingly, said Leonhardt, summarising the results.

Currently, the researchers are creating a dataset on pollen nutritional chemistry in order to obtain an overview across the wide spectrum of different plant species. They are also examining the nutritional needs of other species of bees.

The research team said:

In the future, this may lead to better understanding the effect of variation in flowering plant species on bees, and it may improve protective measures such as flower strips in agricultural landscapes.

Read the study here.

Editor's Recommended Articles

See original here:
Researchers emphasise that bumble bees need biodiversity - Open Access Government

By Santhosh Babu

Campaigning for Saturdays Delhi assembly elections ended on Thursday. This time, due to nationwide protests and rallies related to the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, the polls can be crucial to study how voters respond to the campaigns.

In the 2015 film, Our Brand is Crisis, a fictionalised account of how political campaign experts influenced the 2002 Bolivian presidential elections, the oppositions political strategist says, You know, when Adlai Stevenson was running for president, a woman came up to him on a rally one night and said, Every thinking person will be voting for you. Stevenson said Ma'am, thats not enough. I need a majority.

In other words, the thinking people may not be enough to make a majority. Then who are the majority? If the majority is not using its thinking skills, what are these people using to choose whom to give their vote?

Let us look at the campaigns and strategies of the three political parties during the Delhi elections from a behavioural science perspective. To analyse the impact of the campaigns of BJP, Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), one needs to examine three parts of the human brain. These three parts are not, of course, independent entities and there is some overlap and a collective way of functioning.

1. The Reptilian Brain: Humans share this with birds and reptiles. This part of the brain is in control of our innate and automatic self-preserving behaviour patterns, which ensure our survival and that of our species. Instincts of feeding, fighting, feeling and reproduction are influenced and controlled by this brain. So, defending territory, flight and fight responses, and aggression are based in this part of the brain, sometimes called the unconscious brain.

BJP campaigns are usually designed more to appeal to this part of the brain. Protecting territory, aggression, self-preservation, and safety from perceived enemies become the most predominate messages in the campaign. BJP is not alone in this strategy. Donald Trumps presidential election campaigns leading up to his victory in January 2017 also focused on this part of the human brain. National security, safety from other religions and cultures not similar to ones own, and a stark either a friend or an enemy attitude appeal very well to a reptilian brain.

2. The Emotional Brain: While self-preservation and aggression in the reptilian brain can create powerful emotions, the centre of emotions resides in the mammalian brain that humans share with other mammals. For instance, While rationally people know smoking is injurious to health, the positive feelings we associate with smoking most often overcome our rational thoughts.

Many reptilian brain focus areas like self-preservation, fighting and reproduction are also related to strong emotional experiences. An easy way to differentiate them is to look at sex for lust or reproduction, and sex as an emotionally bonding activity. The first could be closer to the primitive reptilian brain; the second closer to the emotional one. The Congress campaign on TV has tried to create a positive emotion about Delhi, connecting it to the party.

3. The New Brain (Neocortex): This part of the brain is responsible for abstract and rational thought, foresight, hindsight, insight, reasoning, decision-making and logical problem-solving.

So, in an easy (although oversimplified) way, we could say the reptilian brain is our primitive, instinctive brain, the mammalian one is our emotional brain, and the neocortical one is our logical brain. AAPs claims about focus on health and education, and its appeal to votes based on the work the government and party have done is an appeal to the new brain.

In his 2011 book, Thinking, Fast and Slow, 2002 economics Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman writes that fast thinking often relies on prior experiences to make decisions. Fast thinking relies on the limbic system -- the emotional part of the brain, and to the reptilian brain that works with stimulus and response.

On the other hand, slow thinking takes place in the neocortex, the rational part of the brain. Slow thinking is hard work and takes a lot of brain energy. But this process is what allows us to solve complex problems.

So, which part of the brain is likely to be most effective in Delhis election campaigns? The advertising fraternity will say that addressing the reptilian and emotional brain is most effective. As the quote from Our Brand is Crisis has it, in elections, every thinking person voting for you is not enough. You need a majority to win, something that BJP has been most aware in previous elections.

The writer is CEO OrgLens, a social network mapping company

See more here:
Delhi elections: Which campaign brain will win? - Economic Times