Parasites, Pussycats and Psychosis

This open access book analyzes the evidence linking Toxoplasma gondii to the increasing incidence of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder in the United States. Initially establishing that infectious agents are regularly transmitted from animals to humans, lead to human disease, and that infectious agents can cause psychosis, it then examines the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii in detail. Infecting 40 million Americans, Toxoplasma gondii is known to cause congenital infections, eye disease, and encephalitis for individuals who are immunosuppressed. It has also been shown to change the behavior of nonhuman mammals, as well as to alter some personality traits in humans. After discussing the clinical evidence linking Toxoplasma gondii to human psychosis, the book elucidates the epidemiological evidence further supporting this linkage; including the proportional increase in incidence of human psychosis as cats transitioned to domestication over 800 years. Finally, the book assesses the magnitude of the problem and suggests solutions. Parasites, Pussycats and Psychosis: The Unknown Dangers of Human Toxoplasmosis provides a comprehensive review of the evidence linking human psychosis in the United States to infections of Toxoplasma gondii. It will be of interest to infectious disease specialists, general practitioners, scientists, historians, and cat-lovers

Parasites, Pussycats and Psychosis

This open access book analyzes the evidence linking Toxoplasma gondii to the increasing incidence of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder in the United States. Initially establishing that infectious agents are regularly transmitted from animals to humans, lead to human disease, and that infectious agents can cause psychosis, it then examines the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii in detail. Infecting 40 million Americans, Toxoplasma gondii is known to cause congenital infections, eye disease, and encephalitis for individuals who are immunosuppressed. It has also been shown to change the behavior of nonhuman mammals, as well as to alter some personality traits in humans. After discussing the clinical evidence linking Toxoplasma gondii to human psychosis, the book elucidates the epidemiological evidence further supporting this linkage; including the proportional increase in incidence of human psychosis as cats transitioned to domestication over 800 years. Finally, the book assesses the magnitude of the problem and suggests solutions. Parasites, Pussycats and Psychosis: The Unknown Dangers of Human Toxoplasmosis provides a comprehensive review of the evidence linking human psychosis in the United States to infections of Toxoplasma gondii. It will be of interest to infectious disease specialists, general practitioners, scientists, historians, and cat-lovers

The New Neurobiology of Severe Psychiatric Disorders and Its Implications for Laws Governing Involuntary Commitment and Treatment

Medical advances have led to statutory changes and common law overrulings. This paper argues that such changes are now needed for laws governing the involuntary commitment and treatment of individuals with severe psychiatric disorders. Recent advances in the understanding of the neurobiology of these disorders have rendered obsolete many assumptions underlying past statutes and legal decisions. This is illustrated by using schizophrenia as an example and examining two influential cases: California’s Lanterman-Petris-Short Act (1969) and Wisconsin’s Lessard decision (1972). It is concluded that laws governing involuntary commitment and treatment need to be updated to incorporate the current neurobiological understanding of severe psychiatric disorders

Development of sputtered techniques for thrust chambers

Techniques and materials were developed and evaluated for the fabrication and coating of advanced, long life, regeneratively cooled thrust chambers. Materials were analyzed as fillers for sputter application of OFHC copper as a closeout layer to channeled inner structures; of the materials evaluated, aluminum was found to provide the highest bond strength and to be the most desirable for chamber fabrication. The structures and properties were investigated of thick sputtered OFHC copper, 0.15 Zr-Cu, Al2O3,-Cu, and SiC-Cu. Layered structures of OFHC copper and 0.15 Zr-Cu were investigated as means of improving chamber inner wall fatigue life. The evaluation of sputtered Ti-5Al-2.5Sn, NASA IIb-11, aluminum and Al2O3-Al alloys as high strength chamber outer jackets was performed. Techniques for refurbishing degraded thrust chambers with OFHC copper and coating thrust chambers with protective ZrO2 and graded ZrO2-copper thermal barrier coatings were developed

What \u3cem\u3eMatter of Soram\u3c/em\u3e Got Wrong: “Child Abuse” Crimes that May Trigger Deportation Are Constantly Evolving and Even Target Good Parents

Many are surprised to learn that crime-based deportations do not necessarily make intuitive sense. Under the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA), a misdemeanor drug offense for which probation was imposed 20 years ago can be an “aggravated felony,” a category reserved for the presumably most serious offenses that result in detention, deportation, and denial of most forms of immigration relief. But a felony conviction for kidnaping may have no consequences at all. The crime of “child abuse, child neglect, or child abandonment” removal ground created by IIRIRA similarly leads to illogical results. This deportability ground, first created in 1996 by IIRIRA, is causing federal circuit courts (and arguably the Board of Immigration Appeals itself) to split over whether this deportability ground is narrow or broad. We contend that the narrow interpretation, best defended by the Tenth Circuit, is the proper one. Not only does the legislative history support a narrow reading, but the ground’s broad interpretation adopted by the Second Circuit improperly includes civil actions (not just crimes) and does not even require acts that cause injury to a child. As a result, the broad interpretation sweeps too far. It includes parents with civil violations for leaving their child unattended, either out of circumstances arising from the lack of child care for the working poor or from deliberate parenting choices known as “free-range” parenting in which children are encouraged to function independently and with limited parental supervision. The deportability ground should be interpreted narrowly—as intended by Congress— to trigger deportation only for those who are harming and preying on children

Age Determination of Live-Captured Beavers by Weight in Southwest Montana (Poster)

Studies evaluating demography and age specific space use of beavers (Castor canadensis) require accurate methods for aging live captured individuals in the field. Unfortunately, techniques for aging live captured beavers in the field are often unreliable and can require previous experience in handling beavers. Previous age weight relationships developed in other regions (e.g., Midwest) may not be suitable, because differences in diets, seasonal behavior, and selection for life history traits likely results in significant regional variation in age weight relationships. Thus, regional assessments of age -weight relationships are necessary for accurate inference. In the fall of 2015, we began a two -year study with the goal of developing accurate growth curves for beavers occurring in southwestern Montana. We are collecting beaver carcasses from local trappers and animal control experts. Carcasses are weighed and the molar teeth extracted for laboratory analysis of cementum annuli which provide an accurate age for each beaver. Regression analysis will be used to model age weight relationships for beavers, and model predictions will be tested using a hold out dataset and cross validation. We expect our results to provide useful information for researchers in forested headwater habitats of Montana, and provide baseline data for calibrations for broader scale assessments in the region. Please contact us if you can provide whole beaver carcasses

Log-normal Star Formation Histories in Simulated and Observed Galaxies

Gladders et al. have recently suggested that the star formation histories (SFHs) of individual galaxies are characterized by a log-normal function in time, implying a slow decline rather than rapid quenching. We test their conjecture on theoretical SFHs from the cosmological simulation Illustris and on observationally inferred SFHs. While the log-normal form necessarily ignores short-lived features such as starbursts, it fits the overall shape of the majority of SFHs very well. In particular, 85% of the cumulative SFHs are fitted to within a maximum error of 5% of the total stellar mass formed, and 99% to within 10%. The log-normal performs systematically better than the commonly used delayed-τ model, and is superseded only by functions with more than three free parameters. Poor fits are mostly found in galaxies that were rapidly quenched after becoming satellites. We explore the log-normal parameter space of normalization, peak time, and full width at half maximum, and find that the simulated and observed samples occupy similar regions, though Illustris predicts wider, later-forming SFHs on average. The ensemble of log-normal fits correctly reproduces complex metrics such as the evolution of Illustris galaxies across the star formation main sequence, but overpredicts their quenching timescales. SFHs in Illustris are a diverse population not determined by any one physical property of galaxies, but follow a tight relation, where width ∝ (peak time)^(3/2). We show that such a relation can be explained qualitatively (though not quantitatively) by a close connection between the growth of dark matter halos and their galaxies

Galaxy interactions in IllustrisTNG-100, I: The power and limitations of visual identification

We present a sample of 446 galaxy pairs constructed using the cosmological simulation IllustrisTNG-100 at z = 0, with M_(FoF,dm)=10¹¹−10^(13.5) M⊙. We produce ideal mock SDSS g-band images of all pairs to test the reliability of visual classification schema employed to produce samples of interacting galaxies. We visually classify each image as interacting or not based on the presence of a close neighbour, the presence of stellar debris fields, disturbed discs, and/or tidal features. By inspecting the trajectories of the pairs, we determine that these indicators correctly identify interacting galaxies ∼45 per cent of the time. We subsequently split the sample into the visually identified interacting pairs (VIP; 38 pairs) and those which are interacting but are not visually identified (nonVIP; 47 pairs). We find that VIP have undergone a close passage nearly twice as recently as the non-VIP, and typically have higher stellar masses. Further, the VIP sit in dark matter haloes that are approximately 2.5 times as massive, in environments nearly 2 times as dense, and are almost a factor of 10 more affected by the tidal forces of their surroundings than the nonVIP. These factors conspire to increase the observability of tidal features and disturbed morphologies, making the VIP more likely to be identified. Thus, merger rate calculations which rely on stellar morphologies are likely to be significantly biased toward massive galaxy pairs which have recently undergone a close passage

Genetic Structure and Diversity of the Medano-Zapata Bison Herd using Microsatellite Data

In the late 1800s, the American plains bison (Bison bison) suffered from a severe reduction in population size, known as a bottleneck event. Their numbers, once in the millions, were reduced to less than a thousand individuals, but populations were able to recover owing to the diligence of several private ranchers and other private and governmental groups. While bison populations have improved today, their genetic diversity has been impacted by the bottleneck event, habitat fragmentation, and hybridization with domestic cattle (Bos taurus). With advances in genetic technology, it is now possible to gather genetic information of a species to aid in their conservation. Here, using genetics software, I analyzed nuclear genetic data previously used to detect cattle genes in the Medano-Zapata bison herd located in Colorado, USA. I was able to determine (1) the number of genetic clusters and (2) calculate different indices of genetic variation to estimate population viability. I hypothesized that more than one cluster would occur within the population due to its large size. My results rejected this hypothesis, with the strongest likelihood supporting a single cluster. This information is important for understanding the genetic diversity of the herd. It is also important for understanding the impacts of cattle genes on bison populations and what they mean for the species’ future conservation