MedWorm provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest medical blog items that have been tagged with 'adaptation'. Sat, 03 Sep 2011 02:08:54 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4975940&cid=t_104874_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F06%2F28%2F10-myths-about-happiness%2F I’m leaving my desk for a few days, so in my absence, thought I’d re-post one of my favorite round-up pieces, about ten widespread myths about happiness. A while back, each day for two weeks, I posted about Ten Happiness Myths. Here they are, for your reading convenience. (Click on each myth to read a longer explanation of it.) 1. Happy people are annoying and stupid. Wrong. Actually, studies show that people find happy people much more likable than their less-happy peers. Happy people are viewed as friendlier, smarter, warmer, less selfish, more self-confident, and more socially skilled — even more physically attractive. 2. Nothing changes a person’s happiness level much. It’s true that there’s a powerful genetic link to happiness — usually it’s estimated t... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4975940 Tue, 28 Jun 2011 19:23:58 +0100 4975940 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4893351&cid=t_104874_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F008118.html An interesting article in Wired looks at research on the relative resistance of different types of plankton to increasing acidity caused by rising carbon dioxide dissolving into the oceans. The results showed that coccoliths are indeed resistant to dissolution. Inorganic calcite crystals begin dissolving around pH 8.2, but the coccoliths remained intact until about pH 7.8. Some marine plankton will run into trouble sooner. But the coccolithophores could survive until the end of the 21st century. Some marine plankton and invertebrates build shells from aragonite — a form of calcium carbonate which dissolves more easily than calcite — and these organisms will be the first to feel the effect of increasing ocean acidity. Calcite-secreting organisms which aren’t as resistant as... (Source: F... FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4893351 Sun, 29 May 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4893351 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4723944&cid=t_104874_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F04%2F17%2Fa-general-theory-of-love-part-2-the-science-of-attraction%2F “When love is not madness, it is not love.” ~Pedro Calderon de la Barca “Love must be as much a light, as it is a flame.” ~Henry David Thoreau “Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place.” ~Zora Neale Hurston To be loved means being free to be yourself in the presence of another person.  It is the mutuality of this experience that we each crave.  Somehow we know when it is near, and ache when it is lost. We have all had it: the look, the feeling, and the sense of awe in the presence of the person we are attracted to.  But is it more than just the infusion of the catecholamine neurotransmitter, dopamine, or the mammalian hormone oxytocin? Yes. You most likely know that the limbic system is the seat of emotions and it regulates the type, degre... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4723944 Sun, 17 Apr 2011 15:50:10 +0100 4723944 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4605939&cid=t_104874_129_f&fid=36038&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.everydayhealth.com%2Fblog%2Ftrevis-life-with-multiple-sclerosis-ms%2Fms-awareness-week-day-4-st-patricks-day%2F This is MY day; Patrick’s Day! I usually try to rise before 5:00am so that the scones will be hot when Caryn wakes. Then, in goes the wheaten bread (a whole wheat soda bread from the North of Ireland). Then, I pack it all up and begin deliveries to a few local haunts before tucking in for some fine music, a Guinness or so and some good craic! Today when the alarm rang, my MS had been at work all night. New symptoms of right arm/hand spasticity and pain came from nowhere. I couldn’t roust myself until well after 8:00. Things are much slower around here this morning. The baking will get done (I prepared everything last night — dry ingredients measured & sifted, wed scaled, etc.) It will just take longer. In honor of the day, Everyday Health listed a bunch of “green” foods which... Life with MS blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4605939 Thu, 17 Mar 2011 18:04:36 +0100 4605939 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4532437&cid=t_104874_129_f&fid=36038&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.everydayhealth.com%2Fblog%2Ftrevis-life-with-multiple-sclerosis-ms%2Fms-induced-humility%2F If you have to make a trip to the emergency department at your local hospital, 6:30 on Oscar night isn’t a bad time to be seen quickly. Not to worry – it was far from life-threatening, the accident which predicated my evening visit to the local medical crew. Still – and I’ll beg that we keep it at this – while we made as much light of it as we could, the accident could have been quite serious. “As much light of it as we could”… Yeah; we laughed and made the medical staff laugh right along with us. I firmly ascribe to the adage, “If I didn’t laugh, I’d cry” very oft about multiple sclerosis and it seems to have bled into the rest of my life. I suppose that just plain age brings along with it a certain amount of devil-may-care to our association with our bodies. Being... Life with MS blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4532437 Mon, 28 Feb 2011 20:26:48 +0100 4532437 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4355709&cid=t_104874_87_f&fid=34902&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.futurepundit.com%2Farchives%2F007835.html Who knew? What will organic apples do? Organic meat? Wetter, cooler summers can have a detrimental effect on the milk we drink, according to new research published by Newcastle University. Researchers found milk collected during a particularly poor UK summer and the following winter had significantly higher saturated fat content and far less beneficial fatty acids than in a more 'normal' year. But they also discovered that switching to organic milk could help overcome these problems. Organic supermarket milk showed higher levels of nutritionally beneficial fatty acids compared with 'ordinary' milk regardless of the time of year or weather conditions. In the comments if anyone takes this report seriously I will get very cross with you. Yes, it is a... (Source: FuturePundit) FuturePundit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4355709 Sun, 16 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4355709 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4285301&cid=t_104874_131_f&fid=35005&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Ffungalcompgenomics%2F%7E3%2FrYtx4OOtgDY%2F Though a bit cliche, I think the metaphor of “presents under the tree” of some new plant pathogen genomes summarized in 4 recent publications is still too good to resist.  There are 4 papers in this week’s Science that will certainly make a collection of plant pathogen biologists very happy. There are also treats for the general purpose genome biologists with descriptions of next generation/2nd generation sequencing technologies, assembly methods, and comparative genomics. Much more inside these papers than I am summarizing so I urge you to take look if you have access to these pay-for-view articles or contact the authors for reprints to get a copy. These include the genome of biotrophic oomycete and Arabidopsis pathogen Hyaloperonospora arabidopsidis (Baxter et al). Wh... Fungal Genomes and Comparative Genomics blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4285301 Thu, 23 Dec 2010 16:11:50 +0100 4285301 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3899393&cid=t_104874_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fthe-psychology-of-survival%2F2010.08.24 By ClinkShrink I read this BBC story recently about the Chilean miners trapped for 17 days, who now face months of waiting underground while a rescue tunnel is dug. Although they are all physically well and expected to survive, they face the psychological challenge of waiting for rescue from the cave. This story resonated with me because lately I’ve been hearing a lot about a new book, No Way Down, which was featured on NPR along with some other mountain disaster books. No Way Down covered the story of several teams of mountain climbers who were stranded on K2 when an icefall cut their ropes. Most of the climbers died although a few managed to pick their way back to base camp. Survival stories have always been popular. Entire television series now feature teams of people pitted again... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3899393 Tue, 24 Aug 2010 18:00:00 +0100 3899393 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2851969&cid=t_104874_131_f&fid=34989&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.b5media.com%2F%7Er%2Fb5media%2FGeneticsHealth%2F%7E3%2FPiFMx9Tdeck%2F Countries all over the world are taking serious steps to stop the swine flu pandemic. China began its mass vaccination last week. And by October 5, the United States will distribute the first wave of swine flu vaccines, good for 6 million to million people. But the swiftness of government health agencies and the World Health Organization to address this issue is evidence about how rapid the H1N1 influenza virus has spread. It bears repeating that we need to take precautions in protecting ourselves and our families against the H1N1. What symptoms do you look for in swine flu? The symptoms of swine flu are similar to regular season flu, so report to your doctor if you have any symptoms. You will not know just from the symptoms what kind of flu you have. I know it can seem very confusing wit... Genetics and Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2851969 Tue, 29 Sep 2009 05:54:05 +0100 2851969 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2842704&cid=t_104874_131_f&fid=34989&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.b5media.com%2F%7Er%2Fb5media%2FGeneticsHealth%2F%7E3%2FPiFMx9Tdeck%2F Countries all over the world are taking serious steps to stop the swine flu pandemic. China began its mass vaccination last week. And by October 5, the United States will distribute the first wave of swine flu vaccines, good for 6 million to million people. But the swiftness of government health agencies and the World Health Organization to address this issue is evidence about how rapid the H1N1 influenza virus has spread. It bears repeating that we need to take precautions in protecting ourselves and our families against the H1N1. What symptoms do you look for in swine flu? The symptoms of swine flu are similar to regular season flu, so report to your doctor if you have any symptoms. You will not know just from the symptoms what kind of flu you have. I know it can seem very confusing w... Genetics and Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2842704 Tue, 29 Sep 2009 05:54:05 +0100 2842704 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2682082&cid=t_104874_131_f&fid=34994&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gnxp.com%2Fblog%2F2009%2F08%2Fgenome-more-than-coding.php Evolutionary Processes Acting on Candidate cis-Regulatory Regions in Humans Inferred from Patterns of Polymorphism and Divergence. Let me just jump to the final paragraph since that's probably what most readers are curious about:Our analysis of human polymorphism and divergence in conserved non-coding sites suggests that the evolution of candidate cis-regulatory regions is often driven by both positive and negative selection. Our findings reinforce the idea that the non-coding portion of our genome has an important functional and evolutionary role, and suggest that patterns of natural selection in non-coding DNA are often distinct from that of protein-coding regions. Many of the adaptive changes in candidate cis-regulatory regions might have occurred near genes expressed in the fetal brain... Gene Expression blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2682082 Sat, 08 Aug 2009 01:12:00 +0100 2682082 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2639695&cid=t_104874_136_f&fid=36070&url=http%3A%2F%2Fnetwork.nature.com%2Fpeople%2Fbasanta%2Fblog%2F2009%2F07%2F26%2Fvirus-adaptation-that-produces-cancer Some time ago I learnt that a significant proportion of cancers are started as a result of virus activity (I believe that the figure was something around 20% of them). That left me thinking how neat (intellectually, that is) would be if viruses and tumour cells became mutualistic cooperators. A virus that alters the behaviour of a cell making it proliferate when in other circumstances wouldn’t (as tumour cells do) does provide a fitness benefit to tumour cells. The payback that would make this interaction mutualistic would be something that increases the reproductive rate of the virus. Virus (even those associated with tumourigenesis) are not normally too concerned about boosting the replicative capabilities of the cells they infect. If they do initiate a tumour that is more likely t... Cancerevo: Evolution and cancer blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2639695 Sun, 26 Jul 2009 05:39:07 +0100 2639695 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1920902&cid=t_104874_86_f&fid=36669&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffadelibrary.wordpress.com%2F2008%2F10%2F30%2Fthe-meaning-of-integrated-care-a-systems-approach%2F Conclusion: When we perceive health and social services as CASs we should gain more insight into the processes that go on within and between organizations and how top management, for example within a hospital, in fact executes its steering function. Posted in Access from Home, Access from Work, Complexity Science, E-Journals, Electronic Resources, Integrated Care   Tagged: Complex Adaptive Systems, Complex Tasks, Complexity Science, Integrated Care, Self-organization, Successive Adaptation    (Source: Fade Library) Fade Library blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1920902 Thu, 30 Oct 2008 11:46:16 +0100 1920902 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1552083&cid=t_104874_109_f&fid=36089&url=http%3A%2F%2Fthesituationist.wordpress.com%2F2008%2F06%2F26%2Fthe-situation-of-civil-settlements-abstract%2F John Bronsteen, Christopher Buccafusco, and Jonathan Masur recently posted their fascinating article, “Hedonic Adaptation and the Settlement of Civil Lawsuits” (forthcoming in the Columbia Law Review) on SSRN. Here’s the abstract. * * * This paper examines the burgeoning psychological literature on happiness and hedonic adaptation (a person’s capacity to preserve or recapture her level of happiness by adjusting to changed circumstances), bringing this literature to bear on a previously overlooked aspect of the civil litigation process: the probability of pre-trial settlement. The glacial pace of civil litigation is commonly thought of as a regrettable source of costs to the relevant parties. Even relatively straightforward personal injury lawsuits can last for as lo... The Situationist blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1552083 Fri, 27 Jun 2008 02:03:47 +0100 1552083 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1497501&cid=t_104874_131_f&fid=35005&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Ffungalcompgenomics%2F%7E3%2F305452837%2F A year ago researchers at James Madison University discovered that, Pedobacter cryoconitis, a bacteria first found on the skin of red backed salamanders, was found to prevent the growth of the chytrid B. dendrobatidis, which is currently decimating frog populations. (Mountain Yellow-Legged Frog from wikipedia) The newest research on the subject is being presented this year at ASM by Brianna Lam who worked with other biologists from both San Francisco State University and JMU. Lam’s research indicates that adding pedobacter to the skin of mountain yellow-legged frogs would lessen the effects of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), a lethal skin pathogen that is threatening remaining populations of the frogs in their native Sierra Nevada habitats. Lam first conducted petri dish experi... Fungal Genomes and Comparative Genomics blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1497501 Thu, 05 Jun 2008 18:49:39 +0100 1497501 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1449380&cid=t_104874_131_f&fid=35005&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Ffungalcompgenomics%2F%7E3%2F291867666%2F (Truffle picture from BBC.com) The BBC (link) has an interesting article about a  Chinese Black truffle being found as an invasive species in Italy. The Italian's and European truffle aficionados are worried that the Chinese Black Truffle will outcompete the Perigord Black truffle, which is supposed to be very tasty and the second most expensive truffle by weight, behind only the Piedmont White Truffle. The scientific journal article (link) the BBC cites is present in the new phytologist and was authored by a lab from the "Dipartimento di Biologia Vegetale dell’Università di Torino. Looks like the Chinese truffle species could be a good invasive species model and also economically important. Truffles are interesting its amazing people would pay so much for a mushroom, sadly I can't ... Fungal Genomes and Comparative Genomics blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1449380 Fri, 16 May 2008 20:15:14 +0100 1449380 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1272608&cid=t_104874_134_f&fid=36049&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.diabetesnotes.com%2Fevolving-energy-requirements-among-populations-the-key-to-fighting-diabetes%2F We already know that diabetes is on the rise in urban parts of the world where sedentary lifestyles are a plenty. But did you know that Asian Indians are on the rise faster then others. It is believed that 32 million such people have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and that number will double in the next quarter century or so. Scary! Research is being done to better understand why Asian Indians are developing diabetes at such a fast rate when they have lower BMI’s and typically better diet guidelines. Researchers observed that the Indian subjects, irrespective of their diabetic status, had a greater degree of insulin resistance than the American subjects of Northern European origin, even though the study subjects were not obese, a condition commonly associated with insulin resist... Diabetes Notes blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1272608 Mon, 03 Mar 2008 01:32:26 +0100 1272608 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1204677&cid=t_104874_131_f&fid=35005&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffungalgenomes.org%2Fblog%2F2008%2F02%2Fneurospora-speciation-through-experimental-evolution%2F Dettman, Anderson, and Kohn recently published a paper in BMC Evolutionary Biology on reproductive experimental evolution in two Neurospora crassa populations evolved under different selective conditions. This is a great study that complements work published last year in Nature on experimental evolution in Saccharomyces cerevisiae populations. Neurospora populations were evolved under high salt and low temperature and were started from either high diversity (interspecific crosses, N. crassa vs N. intermedia) or low diversity (intraspecific cross, two N. crassa isolates D143 (Louisiana, USA)and D69 (Ivory Coast)) as described in Figure 1. The experimentally evolved populations were then tested for asexual and sexual fitness (they were taken through complete meiotic cycle throughout the ex... Fungal Genomes and Comparative Genomics blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1204677 Tue, 05 Feb 2008 08:12:01 +0100 1204677 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1184764&cid=t_104874_129_f&fid=36038&url=http%3A%2F%2Fblog.healthtalk.com%2Fmultiple-sclerosis%2Flife-with-ms%2Fdo-i-really-have-ms%2F You know, we’ve talked about the stages of grief and mourning more than once in these e-pages. We seem to focus on the anger, the sadness, the acceptance; what we haven’t focused upon is denial. If this concept offends any of us that are “further along” with MS than others, I wholeheartedly offer an apology in advance. I think, however, that even people who are harder hit by their multiple sclerosis can understand the concept on some level. Have you ever thought (or even said aloud), “Do I really have multiple sclerosis?” It’s easy to see why we might query in such a way. MS is a disease that can (and does in a plurality of cases) go into long periods of dormancy or remission. Have you ever found yourself stable for months or even years and wondered if the docs got it right? ... Life with MS blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1184764 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 22:39:19 +0100 1184764 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1021246&cid=t_104874_122_f&fid=34755&url=http%3A%2F%2Fneuropsychological.blogspot.com%2F2007%2F11%2Fswarm-intelligence.html Carl Zimmer has a piece in tomorrow's New York Times about swarm intelligence.From Ants to People, an Instinct to Swarm Carl Zimmer13 November 2007The New York TimesIf you have ever observed ants marching in and out of a nest, you might have been reminded of a highway buzzing with traffic. To Iain D. Couzin, such a comparison is a cruel insult — to the ants. Americans spend a 3.7 billion hours a year in congested traffic. But you will never see ants stuck in gridlock. Army ants, which Dr. Couzin has spent much time observing in Panama, are particularly good at moving in swarms. If they have to travel over a depression in the ground, they erect bridges so that they can proceed as quickly as possible.“They build the bridges with their living bodies,” said Dr. Couzin, a mathematical bio... BrainBlog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1021246 Mon, 12 Nov 2007 23:38:00 +0100 1021246 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=570168&cid=t_104874_131_f&fid=35005&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffungalgenomes.org%2Fblog%2F2007%2F04%2Ffungus-could-cause-a-food-shortage%2F A while back, Jason blogged briefly on a New Scientists article about the rise of a new Puccinia graminis strain, Ug99, that is spreading through West African wheat fields at an enormous rates. It looks like this story is growing in the scientific conciousness, as Science is now running an article on the spread of this wheat pandemic. The article has a nice bit of background regarding the rise of the disease. It seems that it is spreading so quickly for due to its relatively broad host range compared to other strains. While scientists have been working to derive resistant wheat varieties, Puccinia has successfully foiled their recent attempts by mutating to acheive resistance to the plant expressed Sr24. To boot, this strain has been found in Yemen, allowing its spores to hitch a ride alon... Fungal Genomes and Comparative Genomics blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=570168 Wed, 25 Apr 2007 18:48:18 +0100 570168 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=486621&cid=t_104874_131_f&fid=35005&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffungalgenomes.org%2Fblog%2F2007%2F01%2Fexperimental-cooperative-evolution%2F A paper in Nature this week describes how a few mutations can alter the interactions between species in a biofilm from competitive to cooperative system. This is a great study that goes from start to finish on studying community interactions, looking at an evolved phenotype, and understanding the genetic and physiological basis for the adaptation. Acinetobacter sp. and Pseudomonas putida were raised in a carbon-limited environment with only benzyl alcohol as the carbon source. Acinetobacter can processes the benzyl alcohol, while P. putida is unable to. Acinetobacter takes up the bezyl alcohol and secretes benzoate that P. putida can then use as a carbon source. The research group propagated these in chemostats and looked at different starting concentrations of the organisms. They found t... Fungal Genomes and Comparative Genomics blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=486621 Wed, 31 Jan 2007 21:33:16 +0100 486621