Somebody needs to warn Britney Spears about this. There’s a brain-eating amoeba around that enters through the nasal cavity.
PHOENIX – KPHO reports that a 14-year-old boy has become the sixth victim to die nationwide this year of a microscopic organism that attacks the body through the nasal cavity, quickly eating its way to the brain. It’s called Naegleria fowleri
“In addition to the Arizona case, health officials reported two cases in Texas and three more in central Florida this year. In response, central Florida authorities started an amoeba telephone hot line advising people to avoid warm, standing water, or any areas with obvious algae blooms.”
According to the Centers For Disease Control, Naegleria infected 23 people from 1995 to 2004. This year health officials said they've noticed a spike in cases, with six Naegleria-related cases so far -- all of them fatal.
Such attacks are extremely rare, though some health officials have put their communities on high alert, telling people to stay away from warm, standing water.
"According to the CDC, this is a heat-loving amoeba. It’s experts predict that as water temperatures go up, it does better "In future decades, as temperatures rise, we'd expect to see more cases."
The amoeba destroys tissue as it makes its way up to the brain.
People who are infected tend to complain of a stiff neck, headaches and fevers, Beach said. In the later stages, they'll show signs of brain damage such as hallucinations and behavioral changes.
Then again, since it attacks the brain, she might not have much to worry about. Kind of reminds one of Mr. Burroughs’ description of the candiru.
Breaking news from our “Hey How you doin’?” department
“Men With Deeper Voices Have More Children, In Hunter-gatherer Society Studied”
Science Daily — Deeper voice pitch predicts reproductive success in male hunter-gatherers, according to a new study from researchers with Harvard University, McMaster University and Florida State University. This is the first study to examine the correlation between voice pitch and child bearing success, and the results point to the role of voice pitch in Darwinian fitness in humans.
The study, published online recently in the journal Biology Letters, was led by Coren Apicella, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Anthropology in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University, with David Feinberg of McMaster University and Frank Marlowe of Florida State University.
"The results of this study have implications for the evolution of vocal dimorphism," says Apicella. "While we don't know the exact reason that these men with deeper voices have fathered more children, it may be that they have increased access to mates, begin reproducing at an earlier age or their wives have shorter inter-birth intervals because they provide more food to them."
"While we find in this new study that voice pitch is not related to offspring mortality rates," says Feinberg," we find that men with low voice pitch have higher reproductive success and more children born to them."
The anthropologists studied the reproductive patterns of the Hadza, a Tanzanian hunter-gatherer tribe that lives much the same way that human beings did 200,000 years ago. According to the Apicella, the Hadza were chosen because they provide a window to our past. The females gather berries and dig for tubers, while the males hunt animals and collect honey.
Marriages are not arranged, so that men and women choose their own spouses. The Hadza are monogamous, but extra-marital affairs are common, and the divorce rate is high.
For the study, voice recordings were collected from 49 men and 52 women between the ages of 18 and 55, in nine different Hadza camps. Participants provided the names of children born to them, whether surviving or deceased, and were then recorded speaking the Swahili word for "hello" into a microphone. These vocal recordings were analyzed for fundamental frequency.
It was previously known that women find deeper male voices more attractive, especially during the more fertile phase of their menstrual cycle, but understanding the relationship between mate preferences and fertility is difficult in most modern populations, because of the widespread use of birth control methods. The Hadza, however, do not employ birth control methods, and therefore reproductive success corresponds directly with natural fertility.
Hadza females may choose mates with deeper voices because they are perceived to be better providers, according to the researchers. Previous studies have also shown a relationship between testosterone and deeper vocal pitch, and so increased testosterone may contribute to the male's ability to hunt. Because of their similarity to the hunter-gatherer lifestyle of our ancestors, the reproductive success of the Hadza could be indicative the way that human beings evolved.
"It's possible that vocal dimorphism has evolved over thousands of years, partly due to mate selection," says Apicella. "Perhaps at one time, men and women's voices were closer in pitch than they are today."
The research was funded by the National Science Foundation and the Department of Anthropology at Harvard University.
Oh, I don’t know. If you go to a Clinton fund raiser I bet you’d find that the men and women’s voices are pretty close in pitch there as well.
Headline of the day
“Drunken golf-cart joyriders crash into police car”
(Once again, courtesy of The Obscure Store)
According to the Trenton Times
“Two Princeton University students have been arrested in connection with a golf cart crash on Roper Lane in which the driver of the vehicle was allegedly intoxicated, police said.
Martin Jancik, 21, was at the wheel of the cart at about 2:20 a.m. Sunday when it crashed in front of borough Police Officer Daniel Chitren's police car, the police department said. Ariel Rogers, 21, fled the scene on foot”
I bet they had Bruce on the boom box.
“At night we ride through mansions of glory in suicide machines
Sprung from cages out on highway 9,
Chrome wheeled, fuel injected and steppin out over the line”
“God, Ariel, said Martin, "I’ve never felt so alive.”
This guy just can’t help himself. It must have something to do with impulse control.
Joint Chiefs chairman again says gay sex immoral
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, caused a stir at a Senate hearing this week when he repeated his view that gay sex is immoral and should not be condoned by the military.
Pace, who retires next week, said he was seeking to clarify similar remarks he made in spring, which he said were misreported.
"Are there wonderful Americans who happen to be homosexual serving in the military? Yes," he told the Senate Appropriations Committee during a hearing Wednesday focused on the Pentagon's 2008 war spending request.
"We need to be very precise then, about what I said wearing my stars and being very conscious of it," he added. "And that is, very simply, that we should respect those who want to serve the nation but not through the law of the land, condone activity that, in my upbringing, is counter to God's law."
Anti-war protesters sitting behind Pace jeered the four-star general's remarks with some shouting, "Bigot!" That led Committee Chairman Sen. Robert Byrd, D- West Virginia., to adjourn the hearing abruptly and seal off the doors.
The hearing resumed about five minutes later in which Pace said he would be supportive of efforts to revisit the Pentagon's policy so long as it didn't violate his belief that sex should be restricted to a married heterosexual couple.
"I would be very willing and able and supportive" to changes to the policy "to continue to allow the homosexual community to contribute to the nation without condoning what I believe to be activity -- whether it to be heterosexual or homosexual -- that in my upbringing is not right," Pace said.
Pace's lengthy answer on gays was prodded by Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, who said he found Pace's previous remarks as "very hurtful" and "very demoralizing" to homosexuals serving in the military.
In March, the Chicago Tribune reported that Pace said in a wide-ranging interview: "I do not believe the United States is well served by a policy that says it is OK to be immoral in any way."
Harkin said he wanted to give Pace a chance to amend his remarks in light of his retirement.
"It's a matter of leadership, and we have to be careful what we say," Harkin said.
Pace noted that the U.S. Military Code of Justice prohibits homosexual activity as well as adultery. Harkin said, "Well, then, maybe we should change that."
Somebody should tell him ”moral” is the one without the “e.” He’s supposed to be concerned about “morale” What with Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, all the other Stans, Putin walking around without his shirt on, Bob Denver addressing the U.N., Narco-terrorism in Latin America, Special Ops in the Horn of Africa and the deployments we haven’t been told about, it’s really comforting to know that he has time to opine about this.
So, will it be covered by insurance? Will I have to get a referral first?
Study supports physician-aided suicide
SALT LAKE CITY, Sept. 27 (UPI) -- A U.S. study has determined legalization of doctor-assisted suicide does not result in a disproportionate number of deaths among specific groups.
The University of Utah-led study contradicts arguments by assisted suicide critics such legalization would result in disproportionate deaths among the elderly, poor or chronically ill, women, minorities, uninsured, minors, mentally ill and less educated patients.
The study focused on Oregon and the Netherlands, where doctor-assisted suicide is legal. It found only AIDS patients use doctor-assisted suicide at elevated rates, researchers reported.
"Fears about the impact on vulnerable people have dominated debate about physician-assisted suicide," said the study's lead author, bioethicist Professor Margaret Battin. "We find no evidence to support those fears where this practice already is legal."
Oregon is the only U.S. state in which physicians are allowed to prescribe lethal medications to terminally ill patients.
The Netherlands allows doctors to prescribe medication for suicide or perform euthanasia for patients facing intolerable suffering.
The research is reported in the October issue of the Journal of Medical Ethics.
Copyright 2007 by United Press International. All Rights Reserved.
That’s right doc. Dead men tell no tales.
One last thought...
How about a remake of "Gilligan's Island" with Ahmadinejad as Gilligan, Hugo Chavez as The Skipper, George Soros as Mr. Howell, Steven Hawking as The Professor, Katie Couric as Mary Anne and Christiane Amanpour as Ginger?
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