Two people were arrested in relation to Friday's Lockerby Confectionary robbery. During the robbery, a female came in with a knife and fled with an undisclosed amount of money.[...]
According to our biological mantra, any energy spent either finding, courting and or fornicating with a member of the opposite sex is only justified if such an act is a bona fide attempt at spreading one's genetic blueprints. Where's the fun in that? Homo sapien males engage in copious amounts of sex without the thought of reproduction, and actively seek out partners that are sexually sterilized (see 'Yes I'm on the pill') in order to engage in it without the 'worry' of the potential side-effects (i.e. offspring). Biologists generally assume that most other boys in the animal kingdom are much more asute than this when it comes to leaving your share of genes in the pool for subsequent generations. Indiscriminate sex should be a rare occurrence due to the fact that energy is wasted on dead-end sex as opposed to being used for other forms of survival (e.g. food gathering or avoiding predators) or reproduction (e.g. courting a viable mate or creating a favorable environment in order to attract one). However, there are always exceptions…and like the human male, there are others who do not necessarily wait for Ms. Right to come along before attempting sexual relations. Animal species that live in both sexual and asexual forms present an interesting conundrum when it comes to mate selection. Females are generally the gender with both sexual and asexual morphs, leaving the males to determine where his sperm will be most usefully spent. However, many are incapable of discriminating between sexually competent or sterile females, meaning that human males aren't the only ones to discard sperm without regard for its future…
The New Zealand mud snail (Potamopyrgus antipodarum) is a lake-dwelling mollusc whose females can be either sexually reproducing (requiring male 'input' for successful embryo production), or asexually reproducing (clonally reproducing without sexual activity). Further, many native populations of this organism are infected with a parasitic trematode that causes castration (sterilization) in females. Hence, males in these populations have several factors acting against their sexual success, leaving them in quite a conundrum when it comes to allocating energy to reproduction. One might imagine that the powers of evolution would have dealt these poor fellas a little help in the mate-discrimination department; however, that doesn't seem to be the case. Mate choice experiments in which males were given a choice of either a) sexual vs asexual females OR b) healthy vs castrated females revealed that they don't do a whole lot of discriminating1. Males showed no preferance for viable over non-viable females, appearing instead to simply attempt copulation with whichever females they could find. In this species the average copulation event lasts approximately 2 hours, during which both the male and the female involved in the act are relatively immobilized…leaving them more susceptible to predation. Conclusion: a copulation event represents a fairly large cost to a male if he is mating with an asexual or a sterilized female. So would he do it? Although the possibility exists that there may be an even larger cost to a male (in terms of time and energy lost) if he were to attempt to discriminate between fertile and sterile females, the scientists conducing this study surmise that at some level the male mud snails are engaging in behavior that is simply not contributing positively to their biological fitness in any way1.
Rotifers are tiny freshwater-dwelling organisms that also have two distinct female forms: sexual and asexual. Akin to the mud snail and the human, there are no clear physical differences between sexual and asexual females; although those females that are sexual must be fertilized when they are at a very early age (they are no longer fertile after 9-20 hours of life2). Male rotifers show a distinct preference for fertilizing very young females (2-3 hours old) which slightly improves the liklihood of fertilizing a sexual female, although they do not specifically discriminate between sexual and asexual individuals3. Why don't the males preferentially select females with the capability to propagate their genetic lineages? They have a short lifespan (approximately 48 hours) and a large-enough supply of sperm so as not to become completely tapped out during this short time (it takes a total of about 13 copulations for him to be spent), drastically decreasing the need to discern between sexual and asexual females. If he had a lower amount of sperm to work with, it may lead to increased selection pressure to find the right girl rather than any girl.
As these examples show, if males cannot distinguish between fertile and sterile females, several of his sexual conquests may be in vain. This could mean big trouble if you are a rotifer or a mud snail: reproduction is as important as survival to any particular individual, and if the chances to do so are impaired then biological fitness is automatically lowered. So where does that leave the Homo sapien? Far from the priorities of our cousins in the animal kingdom, many of ours (with respect to reproduction anyway) have been altered in order to minimize biological fitness. Human males, unlike their snail and rotifer counterparts, actually seek out sterility in a potential partner….and for good reason: could you imagine if each of your own sexual conquests had resulted in offspring? You might have the highest biological fitness of all of your friends, but to the Homo sapien this situation would be far from optimal.
1Neiman, M. and Lively, C.M. 2005. Male New Zealand mud snails (Potamopyrgus antipodarum) persist in copulating with asexual and parasitically castrated females. American Midland Naturalist 154: 88-96.
2Snell, T.W. and Childress, M. 1987. Aging and loss of fertility in male and female Brachionus plicatilis (Rotifera). International Journal of Invertebrate Reproduction and Development 12: 103-110.
3Gomez, A. and Serra, M. 1996. Mate choice in male Brachionus pllicatilis Rotifers. Functional Ecology 10: 681-687.
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Meadows of seagrass, a keystone species in marine ecosystems, found in the Mediterranean Sea are likely to be tens of thousands of years old, a study shows.
21-09-2010 07:31 Candida Free Test tinyurl.com Bacterial vaginosis is the infection of the female reproductive system that results from the overgrowth of bacteria in the vagina. This causes the pH balance or acidity of the vagina to be disrupted causing more bacteria to grow. The acidity of the vagina protects the reproductive system from being infected by harmful microorganisms. This infection was often mistaken to be other infections of the reproductive system such as yeast infection or trichomoniasis because they almost have the same symptoms as bacterial vaginosis. A foul, fishy odor is the most common of bacterial vaginosis. A discharge can also come out of the vagina and this may be whitish, yellowish, or greyish. Some women also experience vaginal itching and swollen vagina. Treatment of this infection is really necessary especially if a woman has BV during pregnancy. The bacteria in the vagina may spread up to the cervix toward the uterus. This may cause complications in pregnancy such as miscarriage and difficulty in child birth. For some women, the symptoms are very mild and they choose not to do any treatment but the condition may grow worse due to the continuous growth of bacteria. A woman with this condition is advised to consult her gynaecologist and get herself treated. The gynaecologist can recommend various types of treatment. Usually, antibiotic treatments are prescribed to cure this. The antibiotics may be oral or topical depending on the preference of the patient and …
The School of Biological Sciences hosted Douglas Mock, University of Oklahoma’s George Lynn Cross Research Professor of Zoology, yesterday afternoon in Schroeder Hall as part of the school’s ongoing seminar series.
Carie Weddle, biological sciences Ph.D. student, introduced Mock, who, Weddle explained, was the person to “woo her from the dark side” and helped her to pursue a career in biology.
“In addition to being a fantastic lecturer, mentor, and advisor, Doug has an exceedingly distinguished research career,” Weddle said.
Mock received his undergraduate degree from Cornell University and graduated from the University of Minnesota with both a master’s and Ph.D. Following his degrees, Mock did a post-doctoral fellowship at the Smithsonian Institution.
Mock centered his research on biparental care systems, in which both the male and female birds take care in raising offspring.
“In the research, we tweaked male contributions of provision by implanting time-release testosterone under their dorsal skin and study how it affects the young,” Mock said.
As Mock explained in his presentation, the biological problem of biparental care in birds acts as a model system.
“The two central questions about parental care I would like to address are what parents are actually trying to accomplish in a reproductive cycle and what stabilizes a simple, cooperative partnership between a male and a female,” he said.
Biparental care, especially in sparrows, puts a historical emphasis on provision, bringing food back to the nest, according to the number of offspring the parents care for.
“In species that have broods of multiple offspring, you have an allocation question to be embedded with other questions. In addition of trying to figure out how hard to work and how much food to bring, you have to decide on how much time to invest in each of the offspring,” Mock explained.
Over the course of six years, Mock and his fellow researchers monitored 111 broods, with an average of 12 hours for each brood.
The team sat and watched, Mock added, which times throughout the day were most active for a parent to bring food back to the nest. This study brought the research team around 90 percent of the overall variation of the feeding times for sparrows.
Mock’s general interests are evolutionary and ecological aspects of behavior. His particular interests include joining direct behavioral observations with experimental testing of evolutionary hypotheses under field conditions.
Once again, my posting frequency has slid by the wayside. Lots of studying going on with these advanced classes — I love the topics! Vaginal breech birth (options related to breech positioning – version, vag birth, c/s), shoulder dystocia management, all sorts of newborn complications………lots and lots of things to read and learn about. I’m so super excited about getting to put this knowledge into real, hands on practice when I start my clinicals this summer!
Work on L&D has been busy, busy, BUSY as usual! Helping brings lots of babies into this world. A lot of drama to get some of these babies earthside too, with several babies recently having to go to the NICU for extra support early in life.
One can only hope for a “good” Thursday shift today, but knowing the history of Thursday shifts………….there is a good reason why I lovingly refer to Thursdays as “psychotic family fun days”. No offense to anyone, but the crazy family members (drunk, plain old wackadoodle people) tend to come out to the hospital on Thursdays. Thursdays are traditionally when we have family members duking it out with each other in the halls and in the waiting room. Good thing we have security cameras all over the place, and a good bunch of security guards on evenings/nights.
Dr. Joseph Francis Kennedy, M.D. did pioneering research on in vitro fertilization which led to the first test tube pregnancy in San Diego in 1983.
He cofounded the Infertility, Gynecology, Obstetrics Medical Group in 1979 with two colleagues from the University of California San Diego and helped thousands of infertile patients have babies. He later worked as a consultant for the Medical Board of California and was instrumental in ensuring quality medical care in the San Diego community.
Dr. Kennedy died after a four-year battle with cancer of the pancreas Jan. 24 at his home in La Jolla. He was 76.
As a district consultant for the board over the past 15 years, Dr. Kennedy investigated complaints to the State of California against physicians in the San Diego area.
“Dr. Kennedy was committed to work for the public good. He was tough, but fair,” said Dr. Wendy Buchi of IGO Medical Group. “He did not hesitate to come down hard on a physician who was not practicing within the standard of care, but would be a physician’s strongest and most dedicated advocate if he thought a frivolous complaint had been made.”
He was known as an important medical force in the community. “He was always concerned about the well being of others – he always was a doctor even when not practicing, he was sharing his knowledge,” said family friend Colette Royston.
Dr. Kennedy graduated cum laude from St. John’s University in New York, where several members of the Catholic Physician’s Guild saw his potential and gave him a loan to attend New York Medical College. He later did his residency at Johns Hopkins University in obstetrics-gynecology. In the mid 1960s, he served two years in the Navy as chief of obstetrics at Marine Corp Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina. He returned to Johns Hopkins for an endocrinology fellowship at the School of Medicine and the School of Hygiene and Public Health in Reproductive Biology, doing research on female reproduction and serving on the faculty.
Dr. Kennedy moved to UCSD School of Medicine, where he taught human sexuality for several years and continued his research on female reproductive cells with grants from the Ford Foundation grant and the National Institutes of Health.
“He was among the pioneers to bring human sexuality out of the dark ages and into its current modern status,” said colleague Dr. Philip Young.
As a champion for women’s reproductive freedom, he supported their mission and was a physician for Planned Parenthood in the 1970s and 1980s, serving on an international medical team that provided tubal ligation in underdeveloped countries. “He did what he thought was right for the community,” said longtime friend Dr. Ivor Royston.
Dr. Kennedy applied his intellect to community service, serving on the boards of the Museum of Man and the San Diego Natural History Museum, where he helped raise $40 million for the museum’s addition, which opened in 2001. His literary pursuits included writing poetry and starting a book/movie club. He played Scrabble with his grandchildren eager to encourage them to spell correctly and took many trips throughout the world with his wife and friends, including a final one to his roots in Ireland.
