Marc Abrahams's Blog, page 592

Kids' brain response to ice cream and a milkshake

How does part of the brain respond when you stuff kids with ice cream over a long period of time and then offer them an ice-cream-filled milkshake? This is the first study to involve a scientist named Burger who investigates that question in the particular way that this study goes about it (Thanks to investigator Gus Rancatore for bringing it to our attention.):

"Frequent ice cream consumption is associated with reduced striatal response to receipt of an ice cream–based milkshake," Kyle S. Burger and Eric Stice [pictured here], American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, April 2012.  The authors, at the Oregon Research Institute in Eugene, Oregon, explain:

Objective: We tested the hypothesis that frequent ice cream consumption would be associated with reduced activation in rewardrelated brain regions (eg, striatum) in response to receipt of an ice cream–based milkshake and examined the influence of adipose tissue and the specificity of this relation.

Design: Healthy-weight adolescents (n = 151) underwent fMRI during receipt of a milkshake and during receipt of a tasteless solution. Percentage body fat, reported food intake, and food craving and liking were assessed.

Results: Milkshake receipt robustly activated the striatal regions, yet frequent ice cream consumption was associated with a reduced response to milkshake receipt in these reward-related brain regions.

The study presents these pretty pictures, which may in some way pertain to something:

BONUS: Investigator Vaughn Tan informs us that these findings can be summarized in a phrase: "eating ice cream frequently reduces marginal utility of further ice cream consumption".

BONUS: Dr. Cassius Bordelon of Baylor College of Medicine explains his own, unrelated insights into brains and ice cream:

What else does a bear do in the woods?

"What else does a bear do in the woods?"* asks investigator Don Davis, answering his own question by alerting us to this new study:

"Behaviour of Solitary Adult Scandinavian Brown Bears (Ursus arctos) when Approached by Humans on Foot," Gro Kvelprud Moen, Ole-Gunnar Støen [pictured here], Veronica Sahlén, Jon E. Swenson,  (2012). PLoS ONE 7(2): e31699.  The authors are at Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, and at the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, Trondheim, Norway, report:

"During 2006–2009, we approached 30 adult (21 females, 9 males) GPS-collared bears 169 times during midday, using 1-minute positioning before, during and after the approach…. Most bears (80%) left the initial site during the approach, going away from the observers, whereas some remained at the initial site after being approached (20%). Young bears left more often than older bears, possibly due to differences in experience, but the difference between ages decreased during the berry season compared to the pre-berry season. The flight initiation distance was longer for active bears (115±94 m) than passive bears (69±47 m), and was further affected by horizontal vegetation cover and the bear's age. Our findings show that bears try to avoid confrontations with humans on foot."

*BONUS: "Defecation rates of captive brown bears" [study]

BONUS: Ig Nobel Prize winner Troy Hurtubise exploring a similar question with grizzly bears, some years ago:

Coming: The new Improbable Research book

We're pleased to announce:  The new book will be published this September, by OneWorld Publications in London.

The book is called This Is Improbable. You can pre-order it now, if you want an improbable book.

Rini's riveting mummy heads

This photo by Dario Piombino-Mascali, EURAC, and Clinical Anatomy/Wiley is one of several featured in James Owen's National Geographic article "Mummy Pictures: Secrets of Stunning 19th-Century Heads Revealed":

Owen explains: "Working in the town of Salò, anatomist Giovan Battista Rini (1795-1856) "petrified" the corpses and body parts by bathing them in a cocktail of mercury and other heavy metals, according to new chemical analyses and CT scans, to be described in a future issue of the journal Clinical Anatomy."

(HT Erwin Kompanjie)

BONUS: A recent, different Giovan Battista Rini, this one a Professor of Internal Medicine:

Working Memory Across Nostrils

This week's memorable cross-nostrils study of the week is:

"Working Memory Across Nostrils," Yaara Yeshurun, Yadin Dudai, and Noam Sobel, Behavioral Neuroscience, vol.122, 2008, pp.1031-1037.

What the vet noticed (micturition)

A veterinarian may have saved the life of a human, by being observant. The case is document in the monograph:

"Primary bladder phaeochromocytoma diagnosed by a vet," Oderda M, Michelon F, Appendino M, Gallo M, Senetta R, Pacchioni D, Tizzani A, Gontero P., Scandinavian Journal of Urology and Nephrology, 2010 Apr;44(3):186-9. The authors, at the University of Turin, report:

"This study reports the case of a woman, treated for hypertensive crisis, who was diagnosed with bladder phaeochromocytoma thanks to a vet noting her fainting after micturition."

 

The further vaginal pH adventures of Kate Clancy

Professor Kate Clancy embarks on chapter-the-next in her exploration of vaginal pH. In her Context and Variation blog, Clancy writes:

Vaginal pH Redux: Acidic Tampons, Coming to a Store Near You

Readers of this blog are already aware that their vaginas are at their best when they are on the acidic side. Vaginal flora is healthy, bacterial overgrowth is at a minimum, and any foreign bodies that want to pass through are firmly discouraged. Semen and douching can increase pH, douching especially so since the liquid used to douche not only has a relatively high pH but flushes out normal, good bacteria.

If there are substances that increase vaginal pH, might other substances decrease vaginal pH and thus encourage the growth of normal flora?

RepHresh thinks so. RepHresh is a company that makes pH-balancing gels and cleansers for your ladyparts. Recently, they started carrying a new product,RepHresh Brilliant, which is a pH-balancing tampon (hat tip to my undergraduate Sophia Bodnar for being the first to tell me about it). They claim…[click here for the entire essay]

Relationship: Beer Belly and Beer

"Beer Consumption and the 'Beer Belly': Scientific Basis or Common Belief?" M. Schutze, M. Schulz, A. Steffen, M.M. Bergmann, A. Kroke, L. Lissner, and H. Boeing, European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, vol. 63, no. 9, September 2009, pp. 1143–9. (Thanks to Tim Reese for bringing this to our attention.) The authors, at the German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke in Nuthetal, Germany, at Fulda University of Applied Sciences, Fulda, Germany, and at University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden. report [AIR 16:2]:

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The term "beer belly" expresses the common belief that beer consumption is a major determinant of waist circumference. CONCLUSIONS: This study does not support the common belief of a site-specific effect of beer on the abdomen, the beer belly.

More about 'The Slimeball'

Here's more about The Slimeball:

Shaving foam and baby diapers might not be the first key components to spring to mind if you were tasked with developing a gargantuan Non Lethal Weapon (NLW) for use against enemy warships.

But spring they did, however, to the mind of Lieutenant Commander Daniel L. Whitehurst of the United States Navy –  for he describes just such a weapon in a 2009 research report originating from the Air Command And Staff College, Air University, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama. ("The Intellectual and Leadership Center of the Air Force.")

That weapon is 'The Slimeball'

"In terms of feasibility, advisability, deliverability, and applicability, the Slimeball can offer new and possibly vital options to decision makers in pursuit of our national interests."

– explains the author, and goes on to outline how it works.

"'The Slimeball,' consists of a sticky foam-based floating surface barrier that resists efforts to remove it, paired with a chemical gel that restricts movement below the surface."

First, here are the details of the foamy part :

"The primary component of such a material would contain properties commonly found in shaving cream, due to its deliverability in a compressed state and high expansive capacity, estimated to be up to 850 percent of its compressed volume."

But, readers may be wondering, how could such an ephemeral bubbly material persist for any substantial time in seawater? For, as the author himself notes:

"As commercially formulated, shaving cream is too insubstantial to create more than a nuisance to vessels."

The solution to this puzzle was elusive until inspiration arrived from an unlikely source:

"When in doubt, consult a doctor. Doctor Seuss, that is. In his book 'Bartholomew and the Oobleck' a kingdom finds itself swamped and unable to function after it is inundated with a green, persistent, sticky slime."

"Oobleck's primary characteristic, of getting thicker and more viscous when stressed, falls into the non-Newtonian category of rheopectic fluids, and this seemed to be a step towards solving the problem."

And, moving on, to implement the underwater component of The Slimeball – the author suggests a material called (PAM), a commercially-available flocculating agent that forms a semi-solid gel in the presence of water.

"This material is widely available for numerous commercial applications from waste management to horticulture to baby diapers."

Thus The Slimeball takes shape – but when, where and under what circumstances could The Slimeball be successfully deployed? Unusually perhaps for an unclassified document, the author names three 'proposed targets' for Slimeball.

Proposed Target 1: Boossaaso, Somalia

Proposed Target 2: Bandar Abbas, Iran

Proposed Target 3: Sanya, Hainan Island, China

Suggesting that the 'element of surprise' might not be a very  important factor for the deployment of  Slimeball. Either way, given ongoing global tensions, could we see the The Slimeball in action before long? –  maybe, for example' in the strait of Hormuz? The author believes it may be deemed appropriate:

"The cumulative effects of multiple 1,000 pound Slimeball warheads [] if accurately placed, could cover much if not all of the harbor entrances with between 5 and 8 weapons."

The full slimy details are available here from the Air University

: The Slimeball: The Development of Broad-Scale Maritime Non-Lethal Weaponry

Bryan Boling joins LFHCfS

Bryan Boling has joined the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists (LFHCfS). He says:

I don't own this hair, I simply coexist with it. Due to these lovely locks most of my colleagues refer to me as "the hippie". I am currently a senior graduate researcher in the Aerospace Engineering department at Georgia Tech. I work primarily in regulatory policy for civil aviation, and plan on finishing my Ph.D. soon. I've been told if I want to transition to a real job I'll need to cut this hair, but that's just convinced me that I don't need a "real job".

Bryan Boling, LFHCfS

Senior Graduate Researcher

Aerospace Systems Design Laboratory

Georgia Tech

Atlanta, Georgia, USA