Starship Asterisk*

Ann wrote: I use it all the time! Only when something demands Explorer Exploder do I change browsers.

Ann

rstevenson wrote:Friends don't let friends use Explorer. Please define "demands Explorer".

Rob

Beyond wrote: Aw Rob. ... Well, at least we both like toroids. That's a 'hole' lot, ya know.

owlice wrote:
Soooo, the little cat was sitting next to me purring and the big cat was curled up on the floor when I hit "play" for this video... and then the little cat could not get off the sofa fast enough and the big cat ended up in the hallway. (I laughed my head off, of course! Poor kitties, but wow, so funny to see their reaction!)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasmosis wrote:
<<Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic disease caused by the protozoan Toxoplasma gondii. The parasite infects most genera of warm-blooded animals, including humans, but the primary host is the felid (cat) family. Up to one third of the world's human population is estimated to carry a Toxoplasma infection.

It has been found that the parasite has the ability to change the behaviour of its host: infected rats and mice are less fearful of cats—in fact, some of the infected rats seek out cat-urine-marked areas. This effect is advantageous to the parasite, which will be able to proliferate as a cat could eat the infected rat and later reproduce. The mechanism for this change is not completely understood, but there is evidence that toxoplasmosis infection raises dopamine levels and concentrates in the amygdala in infected mice.

The findings of behavioural alteration in rats and mice have led some scientists to speculate that Toxoplasma may have similar effects in humans, even in the latent phase that had previously been considered asymptomatic. Toxoplasma is one of a number of parasites that may alter their host's behaviour as a part of their life cycle. The behaviors observed, if caused by the parasite, are likely due to infection and low-grade encephalitis, which is marked by the presence of cysts in the human brain, which may produce or induce production of a neurotransmitter, possibly dopamine, therefore acting similarly to dopamine reuptake inhibitor type antidepressants and stimulants.

Correlations have been found between latent Toxoplasma infections and various characteristics:

• Decreased novelty seeking behaviour
  Slower reactions
  Lower rule-consciousness and greater jealousy (in men)
  Greater warmth, conscientiousness and moralistic behavior (in women)

The evidence for behavioral effects on humans is controversial. No prospective research has been done on the topic, e.g., testing people before and after infection to ensure that the proposed behavior arises only afterwards. Although some researchers have found potentially important associations with Toxoplasma, the causal relationship, if any, is unknown, i.e., it is possible that these associations merely reflect factors that predispose certain types of people to infection. However, many of the neurobehavioral symptoms that are postulated to be due to toxoplasmosis correlate to the general function of dopamine in the human brain, and the fact that toxoplasma encodes the dopamine synthetic enzyme tyrosine hydroxylase enzymes makes it likely that neurobehavioral symptoms can result from infection.

Studies have found that toxoplasmosis is associated with an increased car accident rate in people with Rh-negative blood. The chance of an accident relative to uninfected people is increased roughly 2.5 times.

This may be due to the slowed reaction times that are associated with infection. "If our data are true then about a million people a year die just because they are infected with Toxoplasma," the researcher Jaroslav Flegr told The Guardian. The data shows that the risk decreases with time after infection, but is not due to age. Ruth Gilbert, medical coordinator of the European Multicentre Study on Congenital Toxoplasmosis, told BBC News Online these findings could be due to chance, or due to social and cultural factors associated with Toxoplasma infection. However there is also evidence of a delayed effect which increases reaction times.

Other studies suggest that the parasite may influence personality. There are claims of Toxoplasma causing antisocial attitudes in men and promiscuity (or even "signs of higher intelligence" ) in women, and greater susceptibility to schizophrenia and bipolar disorder in all infected persons. A 2004 study found that Toxoplasma "probably induce a decrease of novelty seeking."

[Studies] suggests that male carriers have shorter attention spans, a greater likelihood of breaking rules and taking risks, and are more independent, anti-social, suspicious, jealous and morose. It also suggests that these men are deemed less attractive to women. Female carriers are suggested to be more outgoing, friendly, more promiscuous, and are considered more attractive to men compared with non-infected controls. The results are shown to be true when tested on mice, though it is still inconclusive. A few scientists have suggested that, if these effects are genuine, prevalence of toxoplasmosis could be a major determinant of cultural differences.>>

owlice wrote:
neufer, you knew I'd have to love that toxoplasmosis entry; thanks very much for it! Makes me sorry I didn't take parasitology; though I took what I thought was a good amount of clinical microbiology, much of the info you provided via Wikipedia on toxoplasmosis is new to me. Very interesting; thank you!

neufer wrote: Greater warmth, conscientiousness and moralistic behavior

owlice wrote:

neufer wrote:
Greater warmth, conscientiousness and moralistic behavior

Generally considered good things, yes?

(Hmmm... may be better if it were moral behavior, rather than moralistic?)

But why the confused face?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moralistic_fallacy wrote:

Little Debye length

<<The moralistic fallacy is in essence the reverse of the naturalistic fallacy.

Examples:

Moralistic fallacy:

• Warfare is destructive and tragic, and so it is not of human nature.
  
  Eating meat harms animals and the environment, and so no one has physiological use for it.
  
  Men and women ought to be given equal opportunities, and so women and men can do everything equally well.

Naturalistic fallacy:

• Warfare must be allowed because human violence is instinctive.
  
  Veganism is folly because humans have eaten meat for thousands of years.
  
  Adultery is acceptable because people can naturally want more sexual partners.

An instance of the naturalistic fallacy presumes that what is—or what occurs—forms what ought to be. Thus nature is reasoned a priori as moral. An instance of the moralistic fallacy implies that the undesirable opposes nature. It wrongly presumes that what ought to be — that which is deemed preferable — will have some bearing on what is or what naturally occurs.

Within natural science, an instance of the moralistic fallacy can result in rejection of basic science, whose goal is understanding the natural world, on account of its potential misuse in applied science, whose goal as engineering is the alteration of events. This is a blurring of scientific assessment, a matter assessed within natural sciences like physics or biology, versus significance assessment, a matter weighed in social sciences like social psychology, sociology, and political science, or in behavioral sciences like psychology. Thus one fails to clearly distinguish between epistemological value and practical value.>>

neufer wrote: Do you suffer from Toxoplasma.... and if so what is your Debye length

owlice wrote:

neufer wrote:
Do you suffer from Toxoplasma.... and if so what is your Debye length

If not, can I still have a Debye length?? (Do I want one?)

owlice wrote:
So women who are infected may be more promiscuous, yet engage in moralistic behavior?