#more than 80 to maintain genetic diversity

[xtruss]

Bats Are In Trouble. That’s Not good For Anyone Who Likes Mezcal, Rice or Avocado

Some of Our Favorite Foods and Drinks Rely on These Oft-Misunderstood Mammals, Which are Facing Multiple Threats

— By Whitney Bauck | Thursday 21 March 2024

A Mexican long-tongued bat approaches an agave blossom in Tucson, Arizona, in 2006. Photograph: Rolf Nussbaumer/Alamy

If You’ve Ever Enjoyed Coffee ☕️, Tomatoes 🍅, Corn 🌽, Bananas 🍌, Mangoes 🥭, Walnuts, Chocolate 🍫, Tequila 🍺 or Mezcal, You May Just Owe Bats a Thank-You.

While bats are often the subject of fear and scorn – they’re fixtures in Halloween decor and haunted-house imagery, and are frequently portrayed as harbingers of doom – their presence is often a sign of a thriving ecosystem. Some of our favorite food and drinks would be much less plentiful, or even nonexistent, without them.

Bats play a few significant roles in human food systems. Some serve as a form of natural pest control by feeding on insects that can destroy crops like corn and pecans. Others pollinate species like bananas, coconuts, avocados and agave, a role many people associate with bees and butterflies. And some fruit-eating bats help maintain wild plant populations through seed dispersal – think mangoes, cashews, figs and almonds.

Bats fly out of a cave at sunset to feed in Ratchaburi, Thailand, on 12 September 2020. Photograph: Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images

Despite all the ways that bats help ecosystems thrive, “they often get forgotten” in conservation conversations, and in people’s estimations of what it takes to maintain sustainable food systems, said Kristen Lear, who works at Bat Conservation International. Whether it’s because we just don’t notice bats (as nocturnal animals, they’re certainly not easy to observe) or because we tend to associate them with dark and spooky things, bats are rarely championed. But as threats from habitat destruction, disease and climate change mount, it’s time that changed.

No Bats, No Tequila

Most of the time when you order a margarita, you probably aren’t thinking about bats – but maybe you should be. Tequila is made from agave, and agave plants have long relied on bats for both pollination and seed dispersal.

The Mexican long-nosed bat, which has co-evolved with agave for millions of years, is a fuzzy little gray-brown creature that uses its 3in-long tongue to slurp nectar from agave flowers that bloom at night. This migratory species travels from west Texas and south-western New Mexico down into Mexico each year, keeping pace with the blooming periods of agave and flowering cacti.

But as demand for tequila and mezcal – another spirit made from agave – has grown, the plant is increasingly being harvested at scales that put these migratory bats at risk. After having been appreciated in Mexico for hundreds of years, agave-based spirits are becoming increasingly popular abroad, and nowhere are they more sought-after than in the US, where about 80% of the world’s tequila is sold.

“Agave spirits from Mexico are very trendy now. Probably that trend started 10 years ago, but in the last four or five years, it has been intense,” said Diana Pinzón, a forestry engineer who works with small-scale mezcal producers. “It’s a big problem for agaves endemic to Mexico, and for the bats and all the biodiversity around the ecosystems where the agaves grow.”

A bat feeds on agave blooms in Green Valley, Arizona, in 2012. Photograph: Michelle Gilders/Alamy

US thirst for agave-based spirits, and the money that can be made from selling them, is driving growers to harvest at a scale and in a manner that’s not sustainable long-term, according to Pinzón. In many places, agave plants are chopped down before they’ve had time to bloom, leaving bats that rely on the flowers’ nectar with one less food source.

Producers can grow new agave by working with “baby” shoots sent out by parent plants, but without bats cross-pollinating them, the new plants are all clones and lose genetic diversity over time. Pinzón fears this will make the plants less resilient in the face of climate threats and extreme weather.

“These two species evolved together for the last 10m years. If you lose one, you lose the other,” she said.

Pinzón is building a small-label brand called Zinacantán Mezcal with a fourth-generation agave grower who leaves 20% of the crop in the field for the bats, and believes that limiting the amount of production of agave-based spirits is the only path forward for any legitimate claim to sustainability.

“The demand is like cars in the city. If you build a new freeway [to fix traffic], more cars will just end up on the road,” she said. “So the [agave] projects need to put limits and say: ‘OK, we can make that quantity [of spirits] every year and no more.’ We need to recognize and take action to mitigate our ecological impact.”

The Bug-Eaters

Troy Swift has been farming pecans in Texas since 1998, but hadn’t thought about building bat houses near his orchards until recently. He was first inspired when Merlin Tuttle, a legendary bat conservationist, visited his farm and suggested it. “He said: ‘Troy, with the biodiversity you have here, you really might want to consider using bats as part of your pest-control program,’” Swift recalled.

It wasn’t long before Swift started building his own bat houses. Within six months, bats had moved in. He now has 17 bat houses on his property, and is working with Tuttle’s organization to quantify the impact that the bats have on his crop. Together, they’ve used echolocation technology and guano (bat dropping) DNA sampling to learn that there are at least seven species of bats living on Swift’s farm. They also found that over the course of six weeks, the bats had eaten more than 100 species of insects.

A bat flies over water in 2022. Photograph: Paul Colley/Getty Images/iStockphoto

They’re still trying to gather enough data to prove whether or not the bats are helping control the specific pest insects that eat pecans, but having found that the bats eat mosquitoes, flies and pests that bother livestock is already enough to convince Swift that bats have a role to play on farms.

“What we’re trying to do is leverage the use of bats into all agriculture and teach farmers that these bats are really your friends,” Swift said.

Other studies have already concluded that bats are providing farmers free pest-control services, whether they know it or not. Bats save more than $1bn a year in crop damage and pesticide use in the US corn industry, and more than $3bn a year across all agricultural production, according to Jade Florence, a biologist at the US Fish and Wildlife Service, who has worked on bat conservation efforts.

Simply having bats around, even when they’re not feeding, helps keep pests under control, according to Lear of Bat Conservation International. “The mere presence of bats in agricultural fields can actually suppress the activity of those insects,” she said.

How To Help Bats Under Threat

For all the good they do for food systems, bats face numerous threats. “Many species around the world, including here in the US, are undergoing some sort of habitat loss, whether that’s disturbance to their roost sites in caves or mines or trees, or loss of foraging habitat – loss of forests or agricultural areas that have healthy insect populations,” said Lear. Other threats include the extreme weather caused by the climate crisis and diseases like white-nose syndrome, a fungal disease that has decimated North American bat populations.

Bats hang from the ceiling of a tunnel in Tirana, Albania, on 15 March 2023. Photograph: Franc Zhurda/AP

So what can be done? Lear has been working on a project with 60 partners across the US and Mexico to plant 115,000 agave plants in the Mexican long-nosed bats’ migratory path. Her organization recommends exploring nature responsibly (for example, respecting cave closures in order to not expose bat populations to new pathogens), protecting old trees that can serve as bat roosts, keeping cats indoors where they can’t harm bats and providing a water source in arid environments.

People who want to go one step further can build or buy a bat house and plant a bat-friendly garden with some native night-blooming flowers to attract nocturnal insects that bats can feed on. (Besides having a positive ecological benefit, “it’s just fun” having bats around, said Swift, who loves watching them emerge at dusk to hunt insects.)

But Lear said you can also help by doing something even simpler: talking about bats and why we need them. “The more we have people doing that to their friends and families, the more it will take root in their brains,” she said. “Over time, that will help gain public support for bat conservation.”

[turtlesandfrogs]

Are Heirloom varieties inbred?

I got this question recently on one of the gardening forums I frequent, and I thought it was a really interesting question, so I thought I'd post it, and my response here.

"... I wanted to ask you specifically, what do you think of "heirloom" plants? I was excited to collect a few different varieties through plant swaps and seed organizations. However, I've become slightly concerned when I realized that heirloom plants are, by default, highly inbred. Should this be considered a problem in plants? If I grow them, should I keep them separate or allow them to cross-pollinate?"

And my response, expanded a bit:

Well, here's the thing, they shouldn't be highly inbred, which is one reason to get them from a reputable source. When you're saving seeds from heirlooms or open pollinated varieties, you should be selecting from enough plants to maintain a good amount of genetic diversity. I think this is sometimes overlooked when people first start saving seeds, but you should be planting and growing out enough plants that you can select for the characteristics that matter most to you, and among that population still have more than enough to carry on genetic diversity. Of course sometimes bottlenecks will happen, and more than one variety has been saved from extinction by a singular plant, but that's far from ideal.

That genetic diversity is why heirloom and open pollinated plants have more variability than hybrid plants, and it's part of why they are adaptable- they have enough variability in their genetics that each strain is going to be slightly different because of the conditions in which they were grown. Combine that with plant's awesome use of inheritable epigenetic, and if you save seeds, plants will adapt incredibly quickly to your own gardening conditions.

Further, when you're selecting plants to save seed from, you should be selecting for health and vigor along with other variety-specific traits. Keep in mind that each heirloom or open pollinated variety is under going evolution- your job as a seed saver is to select for plants that meet the description of the variety while being as healthy (and productive) as possible.

If you cross heirloom varieties, you are just making your own hybridization, but since the varieties you're crossing aren't highly inbred (unlike how they do it commercially to make hybrids), you're going to have a wild mix of outcomes- which isn't necessarily a bad thing! That's how new varieties are created. You cross two or more types that have traits that you like, and try to select plants that have the best combination of traits, and you repeat that for several generations. You could make your own landrace variety by allowing all your heirloom/op varieties to interbreed, and then selecting the best plants down over the generations.

And of course, some plants are inbreeders and don't really suffer from inbreeding depression the way corn- or the Spanish royal family-might. Peas are a good example of what plant breeders call an inbreeder. They pollinate themselves, and you have to interfere if you want to get a pea plant to pollinate with another one. You could save seed from 5 to 10 plants every year for generations, and you wouldn't see much inbreeding depression. If you tried that with corn, well, you'd see the (negative) results very quickly.

A great book on this topic is 'Breeding your own Vegetable Varieties' by Carole Deppe, highly recommend checking it out. Also, here's a link to a seed saving chart with population sizes for different varieties: https://www.communityseednetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/SS-Seed-Saving-Chart-English.pdf And this is another very informative pdf: https://seedalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/seed_saving_guide.pdf

[rpgsandbox]

Blue Planet is a compelling RPG journey into humanity’s precarious future on a distant waterworld where political unrest and a hungry alien ecology threaten the nascent colony effort. A planet where GEO marshals struggle to maintain peace, Incorporate mercenaries wage amphibious proxy wars, and native insurgents fight for their adopted world. A frontier where human desperation and corporate greed ravage an uncanny ecology, threatening to plunge humanity into a war of survival with an ancient, alien legacy.

Though the original Blue Planet predates many of these titles, the setting is evoked by the movies Avatar, Blade Runner and Outland, the television series The Expanse, Firefly and Earth II and the books Legacy of Heorot, Songs of Distant Earth and the Mars Trilogy. A reviewer once gave a glib but accurate elevator pitch for Blue Planet as "Space marshal Cowboy and his cybernetic dolphin sidekick fight eco-crimes in alien Hawaii."

The Full Premise

Blue Planet's uniqueness and enduring appeal are in its deep, realistic, hard science fiction setting, and to really describe it requires more than a few sentences. For those new to the waterworld, we recommend exploring the more detailed premise here.

This campaign will fund the production of a new third edition of the critically acclaimed Blue Planet roleplaying game. We’ve brought Blue Planet to Kickstarter because we're excited to make the definitive edition of the game, but we need your help to do that.

We want to design a uniquely beautiful, full-color, two-volume, 600-page masterpiece, overflowing with evocative art, captivating text, and exceptional production values. We want to make the books themselves works of art with UV cover highlights, endpaper maps and page-marking ribbons. We want to fill them with a new rules set, stunning art, expansive color maps and compelling new locations, social structures, future technologies and alien secrets.

These features and content exceed our capacity to resource on our own, so we are here asking you to join the Blue Planet team and help us make the new version of this classic game truly exceptional.

Download the Blue Planet: Recontact Quickstart Guide here. This 80+ page, full color primer is free and contains the new version of the rules, a setting sampler and a demo scenario called "Trouble in Paradise," complete with ready-to-play characters.

The Recontact project includes

• An extensive evolution of the core mechanics, taking advantage of two decades of RPG development. The new system can be found here in our free, 80+ page Recontact primer.

• All new, full-color artwork bringing the waterworld to life in stunning, evocative imagery.

• Full-color world and regional maps, including submarine geography, redesigned and rendered by professional cartographer and game designer Mark Richardson (Green Hat Design).

• A series of campaign archetypes to help moderators jumpstart their games in the vast adventure space of Poseidon (see below).

• Updated speculative technologies.

• New sociopolitical systems, organizations, institutions and conflicts.

• New locations, settlements and facilities.

The Recontact project does not include

• Fundamental changes to the core sociopolitical tensions - the themes will remain staunchly pro-environmental and anti-colonial.

• Timeline advancements - the setting was originally - and intentionally - poised on a sociopolitical precipice, rife with plot and storytelling potential, and we want to maintain that same narrative tension.

• Global rewrites of the setting material - though updates, sensitivity edits and additions are being made throughout, we believe Blue Planet’s deep setting is why the game has endured, and so we are not making major alterations to that essential content.

A word about the delivery date

We know a reward delivery date of October 2022 seems unexpectedly far away. Though we intend to deliver Blue Planet sooner, our experience, and the last year in particular, have proven an essential truth about Kickstarter management - set a generous delivery date, then add six months. We hope this date does not discourage folks from becoming backers, but instead demonstrates our commitment to realistic planning and transparent communication.

All reward tiers (digital and physical) will receive PDFs of the out-of-print Blue Planet books the day after the campaign ends. Single book pledges will receive the corresponding v2 PDF, and book set pledges will receive copies of everything ever published for the line. All 10 past Blue Planet titles - over 1700 pages of waterworld adventure - as immediate rewards!

First edition Blue Planet, Archipelago, Access Denied, v2 Blue Planet Player's and Moderator's Guides, Fluid Mechanics, First Colony, Frontier Justice, Natural Selection and Ancient Echoes.

Blue Planet has received broad acclaim, particularly for its deep, detailed, and realistic setting, and has remained well regarded since its original publication. However, that publication was almost 25 years ago, and in the intervening decades, all versions have gone out of print and game design has evolved dramatically. We are therefore excited at the prospect of giving the game system an overdue overhaul and the opportunity to share Blue Planet with a new generation of players.  

More personally, Blue Planet features critical environmental themes, presenting a precarious future threatened by the dire consequences of ecological collapse. If issues like biodiversity loss, ocean acidification and climate change were only obscure concerns within the scientific community 25 years ago, they are now clear and present existential threats to the human species. This new edition will let us add our own small voice to those demanding true stewardship of our original blue planet.

Compelled by these reasons, the original creators at Biohazard Games have teamed up with publisher Gallant Knight Games to produce a modern edition of this classic RPG.

Recontact is the in-game term for the fateful day in 2165 when the UNSS Admiral Robert Perry entered orbit around Poseidon, “reestablishing contact” with Earth 69 years after the original colonists were abandoned. Given that more than two decades have passed since the publication of the first edition of Blue Planet, RECONTACT seemed a fitting subtitle for this new version of the game.

Anyone familiar with Blue Planet v2’s Synergy rules will recognize the new system as a modern evolution of those mechanics, sharing a little of that design's genetics and the same intent to support the hard science realism of the setting. Players will also find the new system is simultaneously simpler and more robust, while supporting richer, more evocative character creation that's focused as much on who characters are as what characters can do.

Characters have 4 attributes with optional foci and up to 8 skill sets - areas of expertise based on player-generated descriptors that evoke a character’s origins, training, occupation and experiences. The core mechanic is roll ≤ (attribute rank)+(skill set rank). The roll is made with either 1, 2 or 3 d10, depending upon whether the general, core or specialty in a given skill set is being used. For those who know v2, these elements should seem familiar. There are fewer attributes, but they work similarly, and the variable dice pool is a streamlined take on the aptitude mechanic. The skill sets are simultaneously simpler and more robust than the long list of specific aptitudes and skills in the 2nd edition.

Blue Planet does remain a realistically dangerous game, keeping the  wound levels and trauma tests from the 2nd edition. Weapons and sea monsters are therefore quite deadly, so characters should try to avoid getting shot. Or eaten.

The new mechanics also lean in to the qualitative roleplaying aspects of modern character design, providing Tags, Tracks and Ties unique to each player's character concept and each moderator's campaign. The emphasis is as much on who a character is as what they can do.

Tags are specific consequences, benefits, convictions, motivations or other active descriptors that a character incurs during their adventures - generally the result of narrative events, important tests, fallout from interactions with other characters and injuries.

Tracks model the range of specific character emotions, attitudes and mental states. They are usually campaign or party specific and can be offered by the moderator or created by the players for their party or their individual characters.

Ties describe a character’s primary relationships, identifying the people and organizations to whom the character is connected, as well as the nature of the obligations they must meet to maintain those relationships.

The only consistent criticism Blue Planet has received over the years is that the setting is so vast and wide open, it’s often challenging for game moderators to know where to start. They struggle to choose a single campaign current from among the sea of ideas in the setting. Blue Planet: Recontact will therefore provide a diverse set of campaign archetypes to provide ready-made options for GMs new to the game.

It’s common practice for RPG books to present a range of character archetypes, providing players with detailed examples of the kinds of PCs available to play. These campaign archetypes are similar in that they offer guidance for a variety of different adventure types that can be run in the world of Blue Planet, providing GMs with starting points, directions and enough details to get a variety of different campaigns underway. Each archetype outlines a premise, PC suggestions, unique NPCs, key locations, resources, themes, and plot threads from which a GM can build their perfect Blue Planet campaign.

Read the full first example - Red Sky Charters - in the Recontact Primer here.

Kickstarter campaign ends: Wed, May 5 2021 3:00 AM BST

Website: [Biohazard Games] [Biohazard twitter] [Gallant Knight Games] [Gallant Knight twitter]

[davidmann95]

Powers of X #1, aka Hickman's Attempt to Get You to Care about X-Men #2

Anonymous said: For your money, which was the better first issue: HoX or PoX?

Anonymous said: PoX thoughts? It’s a lot more of a normal X-Men issue than HoX.

My critical thoughts on Powers of X #1 are actually relatively minimal: this is still incredibly good and just as important a thesis statement of the scope being tackled here as House of X #1 was, though on the whole what that was presenting was more up my alley; Silva proves as much a powerhouse as Larraz, and while I enjoy Lenil Yu’s work I’m honestly not confident him being the regular artist on the main X-Men book after this won’t induce a painful case of visual whiplash; I really need to catch up on East of West.

Okay, now for what we really all care about, RANDOM OBSERVATIONS AND SPECULATIVE BULLSHIT:

* Charles was definitely at that circus looking for mutants among the freakshow, right?

* Major echoes of the, well, echoes through time in New X-Men with Percival’s demise. And the handling and framing of Cardinal makes me very curious if and how Hickman’s going to use Nightcrawler proper.

* I know juuuuuust enough about X-Men continuity bullshit to recognize the significance of certain recurring imagery and ideas, such as the Hounds in a dystopian mutant future, but since I’m thankfully divorced from all that for the most part I can skip past any “another bad future?” burnout and appreciate that this time it’s actually a good one.

* Right here at the beginning: the traditional X-Men narrative cycle is going to be the death of them all.

* The Sinister breeding pits begin after the fall of the existing mutant leadership, but that sure seems to reflect what was going on in the first two HOX pages. Perhaps there was an unofficial generation zero? Or, for that matter…how sure are we, exactly, that the first two pages of HOX in fact occur prior to the rest of the issue?

* It’s a stroke of cruel genius on Hickman’s part that the title of this directly homages the big twist of the Weapon X program, when the plot is largely about future generations of living mutant weapons this time created BY mutants. Of COURSE there’s a Wolverine’s DNA is in the mix even if her powers aren’t visibly manifested.

* Does the Man-Machine Supremacy only pursue the 8 remaining Sol System mutants, or are they also targeting the Shi’Ar population? If it’s the former, why are they clearly still a priority target?

* The hierarchy between Nimrod and Omega seems ambiguous, to say the least. And Nimrod’s immediate real-world fandom is both utterly understandable and absolutely fucking horrifying.

* I hadn’t known that a version of Nimrod was a preexisting part of the franchise, but Silva’s design here is absolutely killer.

* I don’t know whether “for one of mine to flourish, many of yours must perish” is deliberately referencing this, but given mutant birthrates were supposed to reach a critical mass within 20 years and this is 80 after that, but humankind (albeit having apparently willingly given up any meaningful actual humanity in merging with the Sentinels to maintain dominance) still makes up all but 8 of the humanoid population of the Sol System? That line absolutely reads to me as, at best, the X-Gene being screened for and either somehow removed in utero or the pregnancies being terminated, but more likely - given A. The phrasing, and B. Hickman being mean as shit - a whole lot of dead mutant babies.

* Is SalCen meant to spark recognition among aficionados? Is it a mashup of real-world locations? Or is it a new term, and if so will it have any meaning?

* It feels notable to me that the Shi’Ar have split up the remains of mutantkind rather than letting them remain together at their full number of approximately 10000, since I recall that’s a number occasionally cited as the minimum viable population for humanity. Are they subtly trying to make sure they can’t repopulate? That one of the primary concerns of a minimum viable population is the lowering of genetic diversity particularly leaps out, given the remaining generation of at least semi-Earthbound mutants seem to have been engineered specifically to repeat the mutations of the past.

* As I’ve seen noted elsewhere, Asteroid K appears to be where Franklin Richards was hanging out in Hickman’s Avengers #32 five thousand years further down the road.

* Are we meant to be sure whether it’s Homo Sapiens or Homo Superior being kept in The Preserve at the end?

EDIT: secretlyasummers said: SalCen = “Salem Center.” The town where the Xavier School is.

Thanks!

[tinkeringwithcannabis]

Tinkering with Cannabis: The First 90 Minutes Episode 56

Strain: Pineapple Mimosa EHO 500 mg Terp Cartridge

Company: Sira Naturals

Locations: Somerville, Ma

Cannabis Connoisseur: Anthony K.

THC: 61%

Website: www.siranaturals.org

 

Hello again to all my cannabis loving and canna-curious friends, and welcome back to another episode of The First 90 Minutes! Today we will be toking and talking about the Pineapple Mimosa EHO 500 mg Terp Cartridge, which I picked up from my friend Anthony K. over at Sira Naturals in Somerville, Ma. To dive in a bit, Sira describes this strain as providing “a pleasurable, uplifting experience, marked with focus and ample body relaxation.” The have also linked Mimosa on Leafly to provide an idea as to what to expect with this product. Created by Symbiotic Genetics, Mimosa has been found to have a citrus, orange, sweet flavor, leaving patients feeling relaxed, happy, uplifted, energetic, and focused. It has been found effective in treating depression, stress, fatigue, pain, and lack of appetite, with potential negatives of dry mouth, dry eyes, anxiety, dizziness, and paranoia.

When further researching Mimosa on Leafly, it also lists Mimosa’s profiles as herbal, pine, and citrus with myrcene, pinene, and limonene as the top three terpenes. Myrcene has been found to emit an earthy scent and has been found effective in easing patients into a relaxed state. It has also been found to be an effective sleep aid, anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal, and pain-reliever. Pinene, which you may have guessed is found in pine, has been used for its anti-tumor, antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, and bronchodilator affects. It is also found in other herbs, such as rosemary. Finally, limonene, which has a citrus aroma, has been found to aid in combatting anxiety, depression, and stress. As I continued to look more deeply into this strain, I was able to determine that the “pineapple” aspect of Pineapple Mimosa’s name comes from its other parent strain Pineapple Chunk.

Pineapple Chunk is described as having an herbal, citrus, and peppery profile leaving the patient feeling happy, relaxed, euphoric, uplifted, and energetic. This strain also contains myrcene and limonene; however its third main terpene is caryophyllene. This terpene is spicy and tends to have a peppery flavor, and has been found beneficial in relieving pain, inflammation, and insomnia. Ultimately, it is the strong myrcene and limonene profiles that seem to dominate Pineapple Mimosa’s flavor and affects, although there does seem to be some potential benefits from the caryphyllene and pinene as far as inflammatory, pain, and energy management. The energy management is especially true in the case of pinene, as the bronchodilator aspect helps to increase oxygenation to the brain, therefore increasing alertness and focus. Ok, so now that we have run through our background portion of this product, it is time for the testing portion. So without further ado, let’s light up, sit back, and relax as we talk about the first 90 minutes!

Today I will be using Pineapple Mimosa for my medication session to help combat anxiety and a very low mood with severe agitation. Where this is a vape pen, I will be using a temperature controlled battery on low, taking two hits for this test. Starting this session off at 1:22 p.m., the flavor of the vape is sweet and tangy with notes of citrus. There is also the faint scent of tropical, citrus, and earth. By 1:25 p.m., I can feel my mood begin to shift and my body starts to feel a bit floaty as the relaxation sets in. Currently, I am in a social setting, which may become a little too much for me with this strain, so I will work to closely monitor my reaction in this environment as the affects continue on. At 1:32 p.m., my body is really beginning to experience some high levels of relaxation. It is not a couchlock feeling, as I am not experiencing any dizziness or inability to function, but my body does feel as if it is floating. I feel like a balloon being filled with helium and beginning to float away. Mood-wise, the severe agitation and low mood has now elevated beyond a point of merely feeling level. I am more in a state of quiet happiness. In an attempt to further elevate myself, I have thrown on some very mellow, yet upbeat music. The affects are vibing quite nicely with the music, and my anxiety has already shown a significant decrease as it has dropped by about 80%. As my bodily relaxation continues, I am finding that the cognitive relaxation seems to be having an effect on my level of focus. Although my focus is not terrible, it is not great either. I can direct my attention toward one specific thing at a time, but multitasking is next to impossible and I am easily distracted. As a negative, I am experiencing a minor case of dry eye, but that is the only issue thus far.

At 1:52 p.m., my body continues to experience the “helium” sensation, as my relaxation deepens and my body continues to proceed on its journey toward achieving full tranquility. It is as if I can breathe easier, similar to a sensation of having the weight of the world lifted off of my shoulders and I can finally relax. My anxiety has officially subsided, and the agitation and low mood have completely dissipated, leaving me in a happy and upbeat place.  In an unexpected moment, this product was put to the test when an anxiety-provoking interaction presented itself. I was forced to have a short interaction with an extremely difficult individual, which would normally have sent me over the edge and really increased my level of agitation, anxiety, and I would not have been able to hold my tongue. In this particular communication, I was unphased by the individual’s level of rudeness, and I remained calm, relaxed, and carefree, rather than letting this interaction ruin the remainder of my day. My focus has also shifted from a complete lack of ability to continuously direct my attention without being susceptible to distraction, to a more controlled state, allowing me to maintain full concentration with minimal potential for diversion. Presently, the dry eye has subsided, and I am finding myself in a pleasurable and easy going place both mentally and physically.

At 2:22 p.m., the intense sensation of relaxation persists as my focus continues to improve. Despite the fact that I do not feel exceptionally social, I am discovering that it is possible for me to use this strain in hail-fellow-well-met scenarios while remaining in a calm, relaxed, and upbeat state. From my experience thus far, Pineapple Mimosa has not only been effective in allowing me to partake in social events, but it has also proven to be effective in regard to productivity. Despite the difficulty focusing earlier on, as the affects have adjusted, I have found myself left in a calm and clear minded space, which has allowed me to sit down and direct my attention toward some important tasks I have been procrastinating on completing. Seeing this level of productivity has also provided me with an added boost in my mood, as the mountain of work on my to-do list is starting do noticeably decrease. On a physical level, the stress and tension feel as though they have been drained from my body. Each muscle still feels as though it is filled with helium, which has also extended into my head leaving me with a physical and cerebral sense of floating. I wouldn’t describe this as dizziness, and there is no impairment to my level of functionality and focus, but everything just feels lighter.

Rounding the corner to our 90-minute mark at 2:52 p.m., there is a definite change in the affects. The bodily relaxation, although still present, has shown a significant decrease. There has also been a decline in the cerebral and physical sensations of floating. My body feels more rigid, and although I am still experiencing a strong sense of calm and happiness, there has been a significant downshift in these sensations, as also noted with the level of euphoria I exhibited throughout this testing period. Despite the strong level of focus experienced, there is a certain level of clarity that is returning as the affects taper down. This could be mostly related to the decrease in the cerebral floating sensation. There has been no return of my anxiety, agitation, or low mood. I continued to track the affects through 3:15 p.m., when the anxiety began to return and the bodily tension intensified. Leaving me in an agitated, anxiety-ridden, depressed state, I decided this would be the best time to remedicate with this strain to address these symptoms before they return.

Overall, this strain hit the nail on the head. My goal was to combat anxiety, depression, and agitation, and this product succeed in my ability to achieve it. I was rapidly boosted to a state of physical and mental happiness and contentment, while experiencing an overwhelming sense of relaxation, both on a physical as well as a mental level. The sensations I experienced during this test lead me to conclude that this strain would not only be a good fit for those who suffer with mental health issues, such as anxiety and depression, but also for those with underlying pain issues. The level of physical relaxation I felt while under the effects of Pineapple Mimosa left my body feeling completely numb and light as a feather. This strain will be one that I utilize after a hard workout at the gym, when my body is extremely sore. This product is not only something I would recommend, but it is something I would purchase again. That being said, I have to give the Pineapple Mimosa 500 mg EHO Terp Cartridge 5 stars. Great job Sira, keep up the amazing work!

If you are a patient, or adult above the age of 21 in Massachusetts, check out the following link for where you can purchase this product:

https://www.siranaturals.org/where-to-buy-cannabis-massachusetts

Well my friends, we have reached the end of this review. Thank you for joining me and stay tuned for more product reviews!

 

Disclaimer:

*****Please remember, this blog is an account of my personal experience with this product. Not everyone has the same experience with every product and that is okay. I always recommend starting out with one or two hits to see if that is enough , and you can always increase your dose from there.*****

[sandovalenst1000]

The phone’s ringing... it’s Earth!

The environmental studies program at Fordham is not only interdisciplinary, but allows students to have a concentration in one of various fields of study, from sustainable business to food security and organic farming. The major and minor programs’ course selections are built from the pressing changes to our earth and the need to address the Earth’s environmental problems that society has caused. The environmental studies program allows students to understand the causes and effects of current and developing environmental problems through studying the humanities and physical & social sciences, in addition to exploring solutions for societal and physical impacts on the Earth through various disciplines. While scientists have been trying to make society more aware of our environmental impacts, it has not proved to be enough to motivate most people, creating a need for an interdisciplinary environmental studies program to educate the current generation and aligning with the current surge for environmental activism.

Without scientific fields of study such as biology and chemistry, we would not even begin to understand the environment, allowing environmental science to be the foundation for environmental studies. Environmental science is the study of “how the earth works…, how humans interact with the environment, and how we can live more sustainably” (Miller, 2018, p. 5), allowing individuals to answer the call to understand environmental problems. The physical science aspect of environmental studies provides the background to understand sustainability, “the capacity of the earth’s natural systems...to survive or adapt to changing environmental conditions” (Miller, 2018, p. 4). The six main principles of sustainability applying to the environment, which allow humans to understand and attempt to create a more sustainable future, include the following: dependence on solar energy, biodiversity, nutrient cycling, full cost pricing, win-win solutions, and responsibility to future generations.

All energy comes from the sun and provides continuous energy to cycle nutrients throughout an ecosystem. The sun additionally provides the energy for biodiversity, which is “the variety of genes, species, ecosystems, and ecosystem processes” (Miller, 2018, p. 5). Full-cost pricing, rooted in economic principles, is encouraged by environmentally-conscious economists, who propose to include the health and environmental costs of production and usage of products in the market pricing of services and goods rather than companies taking advantage of the environment for larger profit margins. Win-win solutions, rooted in political science, incorporate compromise and collaboration to find the greatest benefit for both the environment and people. Lastly, the responsibility to future generations to preserve the environment incorporates ethics to provide morality towards what humans do to affect the Earth. A comprehensive assessment on the environmental cost of animal source foods by the Ecological Society of America notes unbalanced regulation when comparing marine and terrestrial sources and suggests policy action to avoid high-impact farming, aquaculture, and fisheries (Banobi, 2018), exhibiting the interdisciplinary suggestions necessary to help the environment and limit society’s impacts.

With various facets of the environment suffering due to exploitation of nature, such as ozone depletion and toxic coastal soil from farming, scientists continue to reach out to society to strike the feeling of responsibility to future generations and the Earth, using the ethical approach. In the 1992 Warning to Humanity letter by the Union of Concerned Scientists, it cites irreversible damage to the Earth as of almost three decades ago, which is considerably worse in 2020 with little change to policy. The letter recommends collaboration, policy change for better management of resources, and population stabilization to help halt the degradation of resources and the overall health of the Earth. Most recently in the 2017 Warning of Climate Emergency from the Alliance of World Scientists, scientists still use the ethical and moral approach to try and motivate others to help save the Earth. Both the 1992 and 2017 letters from scientists have similar messages, with each urging people to contribute to helping the environment. The Alliance of World Scientists urges leaders to adapt approaches to governing and policy making in relation to environmental management, and the materials used to manufacture products. Both letters identify developed nations, such as the United States, as the largest contributors to environmental decline and also as the most influential in saving the environment.

With many calls from the United Nations to help motivate nations to contribute to saving the environment, one of the most comprehensive calls is the UN Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, collecting data from 2001 to 2005 to analyze the consequences of ecosystem changes on the Earth and on human beings and focuses on various ecosystem services. Ecosystem services include provisioning, regulating, habitat and support, and cultural services that benefit human beings and maintain the environment to a certain extent. Provisioning services include “material outputs from ecosystems” (2005), such as food and water, raw materials, and medicinal benefits. Regulating services regulate the quality of air and soil, in addition to providing flood and disease control in ecosystems. Habitat and supporting services include providing habitats for species and maintaining genetic diversity among breeds of organisms. Lastly, cultural services include the non-material benefits humans receive from nature, such as tourism and recreational experiences. With about 60% of the ecosystem services that were studied being degraded or used unsustainably, usage shifts the consequences further into the future for future generations (2005). While usage of ecosystem services benefit humans now, in the future they will not as shifts in regional climates continue, affecting not only production of goods but humans as well due to loss of assets. While developed countries continue to impact the environment the most, degradation of ecosystem services affect impoverished populations the most (2005), due to large centralized impoverished populations being in third-world countries. The Ecosystem Assessment highlights that changes require influential policy changes and without it, impacts will become permanent and compounded, such as projected future species loss to increase ten-fold to approximately 80 to 110 extinctions per 1000 species (2005).

Reflecting on the larger impacts of society on the environment, I took the Ecological Footprint quiz to see what my individual environmental impact is, considering that I live in dorm housing on campus in New York City. Unsurprisingly, the largest consumption result is my housing, considering that I live in a dorm with approximately 800 other students, with mobility coming in second, which I based off of my driving habits at home. Despite some of my less environmentally friendly habits, I still have about half of the ecological footprint of the average American. Overall solutions proposed by the Ecological Footprint results include green urban planning, considering 70-80% of the world’s population is projected to live in cities by 2050, renewable energy sources, reduced food waste, controlled population size, and actively protecting ecosystems. Solutions proposed by almost all materials read, specifically the Ecosystem Assessments and Warning letters, include interdisciplinary approaches to responding to environmental disarray, stemming from environmental science and environmental studies.

Word Count: 1132/1100 words

Question: Considering the cutthroat business market, are there any successful full-cost pricing models used by companies today? If so, how do those companies differentiate their product from cheaper models in the same market?

Bibliography

“1992 World Scientists' Warning to Humanity.” July 16, 1992. https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/1992-world-scientists-warning-humanity.

“Ecosystems and Human Well-Being: Synthesis.” Millenium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005.

“Environmental Studies.” Fordham University. Accessed January 27, 2020. https://www.fordham.edu/es.

Hilborn, Ray, Jeannette Banobi, Stephen J Hall, Teresa Pucylowski, and Timothy E Walsworth. “The Environmental Cost of Animal Source Foods.” Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, June 12, 2018. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.1822.

Ripple, William J, Christopher Wolf, Thomas M Newsome, Phoebe Barnard, and William R Moomaw. “World Scientists' Warning of a Climate Emergency.” Alliance of World Scientists, November 5, 2019. https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/70/1/8/5610806.

[drlaurynlax]

How to Cure Lupus Naturally: 5 Essentials

You can cure lupus but conventional medicine states there is no cure for Lupus. Apparently, they didn’t read this article on natural Lupus treatment. There is hope…

Lupus 101

Lupus is a chronic autoimmune disease in which one’s immune system attacks their body’s own healthy tissue and organs. 

This triggers high levels of persistent inflammation, which can negatively affect practically every part of the body such as: the heart, joints, skin, brain, kidneys, lungs and endocrine glands. And, unfortunately, according to conventional medicine, no natural Lupus treatments exist. 

There are 4 different types of Lupus including:

1. Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE)

Affects a major organ or more—such as the brain, lungs, heart or kidneys. Represents more than 70% of all Lupus cases. 

2. Cutaneous Lupus (Skin)

Affects only the skin, causing inflammation, redness, rashes, dryness and/or peeling skin. 

3. Drug-induced Lupus 

Accounts for about 10 percent of all lupus cases; caused by high doses of certain medications. The symptoms of drug induced lupus are similar to systemic lupus; however, symptoms usually subside when the medications are discontinued.

4. Neonatal Lupus 

A rare form of lupus in which the mother’s antibodies affect the fetus. At birth, the baby may have a skin rash, liver problems, or low blood cell counts, but symptoms typically disappear completely after six months with no lasting effects.

Who Gets Lupus?

More than 5 million people worldwide, and 1.5 million Americans, have some form of lupus, with women representing up to 80% of all cases. 

Lupus can easily go “under the radar” for years, and is typically diagnosed when a person is in his or her 30’s or 40’s—after other similar diseases, like hypothyroidism, eczema and skin rashes, and anemia alone, have been ruled out. 

Lupus Symptoms

Symptoms of Lupus are vast, and no two Lupus cases may be alike, but some common symptoms include:

Fatigue and low energy (despite sleeping 7-9 hours)

Shortness of breath

Skin rashes/reddening of skin

Raynaud’s syndrome (cold extremities, hands and feet that go numb or turn white/purple when cold)

Poor Fluid Production: Sjögren’s syndrome is sometimes triggered by lupus (a type of autoimmune disorder that affects the glands ability to produce tears and saliva).

Fluid retention/swelling

Brain fog

Stiff joints and swelling

Arthritis

Anemia

Asthma

Pneumonia

Hypothyroidism

Irregular periods/low libido 

Hair loss

Photosensitivity (sensitive to light; sunburn easily)

Headaches

Recurring fevers/illness

Poor immune function (get sick easily)

  Lupus Causes

The causes of Lupus, like other autoimmune conditions, are not fully understood by the conventional paradigm and text books; but as more and more research evolves, and the practice of functional medicine expands, we are able to better understand the root causes of the disease (not just recognize the symptoms).

While genetic predisposition can also play a role, genetics are only responsible for 5-10% of all diseases—autoimmune diseases included. The other 90-95% of autoimmune disease causes are lifestyle, dietary, environmental and gut-health related. In other words: even if you have the genes or “antibodies” for Lupus, your Lupus genes won’t be “flared” unless other lifestyle, dietary, environmental and gut stressors are at play.

Common lifestyle, dietary, environmental and gut-related triggers of Lupus include: 

Environmental toxic exposures (chemicals in products, tap water, mold, mercury overload)

Underlying gut pathologies (bacterial overgrowth, yeast/fungal overgrowth, parasites, intestinal permeability)

Immune dysfunction 

Reduced oxygen deliverability (anemia, low red blood cells)

Blood sugar imbalances (over-reliance on coffee, sugar)

Longterm medication or synthetic hormone use

Antibiotics

Nutrient deficiencies (including iodine, selenium, iron, zinc, B vitamins, vitamin C, vitamin A, vitamin D, Vitamin K, and magnesium)

Chronic infections (Epstein Barr Virus, Herpes, HIV/Aids, Lyme, Leukemia/Cancer, neuron infection)

Eating disorders/disordered eating habits

Overwork—without rest, breaks, fun or balance

Poor quality foods/inflammatory foods (gluten, dairy, soy, industrial seed oils, sugars)

Mitochondrial dysfunction (cell dysfunction)

HPA Axis Dysfunction (chronic stress; circadian rhythm disruption; lack of sleep; burning a candle at both ends; screen over-exposure)

Sedentary lifestyles or overtraining

One Root Cause

Although there are TONS of different stressful triggers to Lupus and other autoimmune diseases, all autoimmune diseases share one key characteristic: Inflammation in the body.

Autoimmune diseases, like Lupus, are characterized by an “inflammatory response” or “stress response”— when your body attacks itself and its own tissues in the presence of “stress.” 

In Celiac disease, the body attacks the intestines when gluten is also present. In Hashimoto’s, the body attacks the thyroid when it’s under more stress—such as from overtraining or lack of sleep. And, in Lupus, the body attacks various parts of your body, when it’s in stressed-out mode!

The root cause of all sources of stress?

Two words: Gut health. Or rather: “leaky gut.”

Believe it or not, your gut health plays a leading role in your body’s own defense system against stress and immune dysfunction by and large. If your gut is unhealthy or leaky, you are more susceptible to experiencing an autoimmune disease—particularly if you have the genetics or antibodies to back it up. 

The Gut-Lupus Connection

Your gut is the gateway to your total body health and inflammatory processes—immune function included. 

In fact, you have more than 100 trillion gut bacteria throughout your body—not just located in your GI tract, but relocated to other places too, like your mouth, skin, heart and endocrine glands (that is 10 times more gut bacteria than actual human cells!). 

Moreover 80% of your immune system (the system that defends your body against autoimmune disease) is housed inside your gut, and your gut bacteria play a crucial role in how your immune system works and functions.  

What Do Gut Bacteria Do?!

Although the word “bacteria” may sound like a bad or dirty word, the vast majority of your gut bacteria are non-pathogenic (non-disease causing)—at least when your body is healthy.  

Every person has different types and amounts of gut bacteria, and those people with “healthier strains” of gut bacteria and a “wider, more diverse variety” of gut bacteria (not just the same strains) are generally healthier as a whole—metabolism, hormones, immune function, weight, energy and lower amounts of disease (including autoimmune disease and Lupus). 

The main role of your (healthy) gut bacteria is to keep all your body’s daily essential processes “healthy” and in running smoothly including:

Nutrient absorption (making the Vitamin C in your orange actually be used by your body)

Hormone balance

Maintaining a healthy weight and metabolism  

Maintenance of your intestinal lining (preventing “leaky gut” and digestive wors)

“Feeding” ALL of your cells and neurotransmitters to function properly (including your brain health)

Fighting off inflammation and protection against “pathogens” (bad guys, toxins, pesticides, illnesses)

Keeping your immune system operating smoothly

In short: gut bacteria play an important role, not only in digestive health, but in wider aspects of health, including weight, metabolic health, hormone health, immune function and…fighting against autoimmune attacks.  

Unfortunately, if your gut bacteria are unhealthy, OR your digestive system is not healthy, then autoimmune disease is more likely.

Leaky Gut 101 

The gut barrier normally prevents the passage of bacteria—particularly pathogenic or unhealthy gut bactera— to other organs. However, in autoimmune disease, a “phenomenon” known as “leaky gut” is often at play, leading to inflammation throughout the body, like that observed in Lupus. 

Leaky gut or “intestinal permeability” is a syndrome characterized by weakening of the gut tissue lining of your intestines and the “leaking” of food and unwanted proteins and particles into your bloodstream, in turn, provoking an inflammatory response and disrupting healthy bacteria and digestion. 

Countless research has observed the break down of the gut lining in autoimmune disease, followed by the process of “autoimmunity” (self attack). For instance, in one study of lupus-prone mice, scientists discovered their gut barrier function was impaired and the mice had notable growth of bacteria in other parts of their body including veins, mesenteric lymph nodes and liver (McHugh, 2018).

Another study found that when mice were given healthy gut bacteria (Lactobacillus species, a type of bacteria commonly seen in fermented yogurt cultures), Lupus symptoms were decreased; however, when they were given Lachnospiraceae (a type of Clostridia, or unhealthy gut bacteria), their Lupus symptoms worsened (H. Zhang et al, 2014). 

How does leaky gut happen? 

Good question! Leaky gut happens when your digestive system gets stressed from environmental and lifestyle factors (i.e. overtraining, eating disorders, lack of sleep, poor diet, environmental toxins, etc.) and/or underlying gut conditions (like parasites, SIBO, and dysbiosis—imbalanced healthy and unhealthy bacteria). 

Think of leaky gut like a flat tire—it is a common “malfunction” or a leak that happens when you hit a stressful speed bump or get a “nail in your tire,” such as: 

Not chewing your food thoroughly

Eating too fast or in a hurry (preventing proper food breakdown)

Frequently eating gut-irritating ingredients and chemicals your body DOESN’T recognize as “food” or can’t easily digest (conventional meat with hormones and antibiotics, Quest Bars, Halo Top, Instant Oatmeal, sugary granola bars, Diet Coke, frozen dinners, hydrogenated oils)

Long-term use of medications or antibiotics

Chronic stress (under-sleeping, overtraining, constant worry or anxiety, high alcohol or smoking exposure)

Erratic eating habits (binging, purging, restriction, etc.)

History of Infections or Illness (bacterial, virus, heavy metals, fungal overgrowth)

Lack of fermented foods and fibers (probiotics and pre-biotics)

Other digestive issues, like SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth), liver/gallbladder dysfunction, parasites, food intolerances, etc.

(The same stressful causes as Lupus itself!)

These stressors can linger and go on for years before Lupus symptoms show up—commonly diagnosed at age 30 or 40 in people—after the body has had “enough” inflammation to fight for too long. Unfortunately, conventional medicine rarely acknowledges or looks to these underlying factors, and, for that reason, resolves that Lupus has “no known cause,” nor “no known cure.”

Lupus Diagnosis

No one test can diagnose lupus. A combination of blood and urine tests, signs and symptoms, and physical examination findings leads to the diagnosis.

Blood & Urine Tests

1. Complete blood count.

This test measures the number of red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets as well as the amount of hemoglobin, a protein in red blood cells. Results may indicate you have anemia or hypothyroidism, which commonly occurs in lupus. A low white blood cell or platelet count may occur in lupus as well. 

Normal Ranges

Red blood cells: 4.40–4.90 x 106/µL 

White blood cells: 5.0–8.0 x 103/µL

Neutrophils: 40–60% 

Lymphocytes: Relative 25–40% 

Monocytes: Relative 4–7%

Eosinophils: Relative 0–3% Absolute 0.0–0.4 x103/µL 

Hemoglobin: Male: 14–15 g/dL; Female: 13.5–14.5 g/dL

2. Erythrocyte sedimentation rate.

This blood test determines the rate at which red blood cells settle to the bottom of a tube in an hour. A faster than normal rate may indicate a systemic disease, such as lupus. The sedimentation rate isn’t specific for any one disease. It may be elevated if you have lupus, an infection, another inflammatory condition or cancer.

Kidney and liver assessment.

Blood tests can assess how well your kidneys and liver are functioning. Lupus can affect these organs, specific markers include:

Normal Ranges

BUN: 13–18 mg/dL

Creatinine: Male: 0.85–1.1 mg/dL Female: 0.7 – 1.0 mg/dL

ALT (liver enzymes): Male: 0–25 IU/L Female: 0–23 IU/L 

AST (liver enzymes): Male: 0–26 IU/L Female: 0–20 IU/L

GGT: Male: 0–29 IU/L Female: 0–21 IU

Bilirubin, total: 0.1–1.2 mg/dL

3. Urinalysis.

An examination of a sample of your urine may show an increased protein level or red blood cells in the urine, which may occur if lupus has affected your kidneys.

4. Antinuclear antibody (ANA) test.

A positive test for the presence of these antibodies — produced by your immune system — indicates a stimulated immune system. However, while most people with lupus have a positive ANA test, most people with a positive ANA do NOT have lupus. If you test positive for ANA, your doctor may advise more-specific antibody testing.

Other Antibody Tests

Anti-dsDNA 

Anti-Smith 

Anti-Ro/SSA and anti-LA/SSB

Anti-U1 RNP 

Antiribosomal P protein

Anti-CCP and RF 

Imaging Tests & Studies

Chest X-ray.

An image of your chest may show abnormal shadows that suggest fluid or inflammation in your lungs.

Echocardiogram.

An in-depth look at your heart function. This test uses sound waves to produce real-time images of your beating heart. It can check for problems with your valves and other portions of your heart.

Pulmonary Function Study.

A lung-functioning study, revealing how well lungs are breathing and taking in oxygen. Since lupus can affect the lungs and immune system, shortness of breath, asthma and pneumonia can be side effects.

Biopsy.

Since Lupus can harm your organs, like your kidney and liver, in some cases, it’s necessary to test a small sample of organ tissue to determine what the best treatment might be. The sample can be obtained with a needle or through a small incision. Skin biopsy is sometimes performed to confirm a diagnosis of lupus affecting the skin. You need to cure lupus.

Lupus Prognosis

According to the Lupus Foundation, approximately 10-15% of people will die prematurely from complications related to Lupus. 

However, for those who recognize the root causes of Lupus (and other inflammatory autoimmune diseases)—namely gut health and stress—and take action to address those two things, the prognosis is very good.

Most people with the disease will go on to live a normal life span. However, it is important to cure lupus the right way.

Lupus Conventional Treatment

If Lupus is diagnosed, conventional treatment states there is NO natural Lupus treatments, and instead, typically involves medication, including:

NSAID’s ( Over-the-counter NSAIDs, such as Aleve, ibuprofen and prescriptions, may be used to treat pain, swelling and fever associated with Lupus.

Steroids. Prednisone and other types of corticosteroids can counter the inflammation of Lupus.

Antimalarial drugs. Medications commonly used to treat malaria, such as hydroxychloroquine (Plaquenil), affect the immune system and can help decrease the risk of Lupus flares.

Immunosuppressants. Drugs that suppress the immune system may be helpful in serious cases of Lupus.

Biologics. A different type of medication administered with an IV, also reduces lupus symptoms in some people.

Unfortunately, while medications may be helpful suppress the symptoms of Lupus, they do not address the underlying causes of Lupus, nor do they reverse the condition and many come with unwanted side effects including: weight gain, easy bruising, thinning bones (osteoporosis), high blood pressure, diabetes, bleeding, kidney problems, stomach pain, and increased risk of infections. This might not be enough to cure lupus.

Natural Treatment to Cure Lupus

Natural treatment to cure lupus recognizes that autoimmune disease is most often a symptom or result of a deeper underlying problem. That is what is so often missed in conventional paradigm of diagnosis and treatment. 

Holistic treatment to cure Lupus involves a 5-step approach:

Addressing underlying pathologies common in thyroid dysfunction by working with a practitioner to assess for things like: gut dysfunction (parasites, SIBO, yeast), chronic infections, environmental toxic exposure, iron overload, nutrient deficiencies.

Remove Foods & Stressors that Trigger an Immune Response (or at least 30-60 days remove gluten, dairy, grains, nuts and eggs). Do this to help cure lupus naturally.

Increase Autoimmune-friendly, nutrient-dense foods through an anti-inflammatory diet (eat wild caught, grass-fed proteins, fresh fruits and veggies and healthy fats)

Optimize your lifestyle to support healing, including: quality sleep, balanced exercise, limited screen/light exposure, pleasure, play, stress management, social connection. A healthy lifestyle is such a huge factor to cure lupus.

Use immune-boosting and gut-healing supplementation wisely: Probiotics + prebiotics + immune boosting supplements + medication (if necessary) to support healthy immunity and gut health. These supplements will help you cure lupus.

Will I Need Medication (& Will I Need it Forever?)

There is no one size fits all answer to this question, and this is a question best left to discuss with your doctor, since medication use and disease presentation is unique to each individual. Your doctor will help you cure lupus effectively.

The short answer to “forever” though is: No. 

Countless cases of Lupus and other autoimmune diseases have been “treated” with natural lifestyle  and immune boosting approaches and experienced remission of symptoms without long term drug use. This gives hope to those who are looking for ways to cure lupus.

While Lupus and other autoimmune diseases are not necessarily defined as “curable” (you may always have the antibodies genetically), they are most certainly remissible—meaning you can send them into “remission” and ward off the symptoms of the active flare of the disease. 

The bottom line: Ultimately lifestyle and nutrition are the biggest game-changers when you want to cure lupus. 

The post How to Cure Lupus Naturally: 5 Essentials appeared first on Meet Dr. Lauryn.

Source/Repost=> https://drlauryn.com/wellness-knowledge/cure-lupus-naturally-5-essentials/ ** Dr. Lauryn Lax __Nutrition. Therapy. Functional Medicine ** https://drlauryn.com/

[rjzimmerman]

Essay by Michael Brune, Executive Director of the Sierra Club

Excerpt:

The rationale for a wall along the United States–Mexico border isn't based on solving real problems; the wall is simply about pandering to, and inflaming, the ugly xenophobia of Trump's most diehard supporters. If built, the wall wouldn't stop illegal border crossings, but it would devastate the unique landscapes it divided.

The 2,000-mile frontier between the United States and Mexico encompasses wetlands, deserts, and mountains. The borderlands are home to more than 1,500 native plant and animal species, many of which are endangered or threatened, including jaguars, ocelots, antelope, bison, and wolves. This abundant biological diversity is already under pressure from industrial development and climate change—and a vast concrete barrier would only worsen the situation.

If Trump's monument to narrow-minded nationalism was ever built, the damage would start with the construction itself and all the infrastructure that came with it. Thanks to sweeping legislation passed in the wake of the September 11 attacks, construction would be exempt from the most basic environmental safeguards, including the Clean Water Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Air Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. Bulldozers tearing through wildlands is just the first environmental danger posed by border militarization. Walls and other barriers cut wildlife off from food and water sources. Border barriers also make it more difficult for struggling animal populations to increase their numbers and maintain genetic diversity; only about 100 Mexican gray wolves remain in the wild, and Texas has as few as 80 ocelots. Some species are naturally migratory; others will be forced to shift to new habitats owing to the changing climate. Either way, a wall makes movement impossible. 

[daisyri-me]

Biopreservation Market Expected to be Valued at USD 8.93 billion by 2022 With Key Players : Qiagen & Thermo Fisher Scientific In

Industry Insights

The global Biopreservation Market size is likely to reach USD 8.93 billion by 2022 which is projected to grow at a CAGR of 17.3% during the forecast period. Rapid growth can be attributed to the rise in healthcare expenditure which is expected to boost the market in the forecast period.

Moreover, increasing R&D activities by various companies as well as research organizations funded by government initiatives in the form of grant, contacts and various other funding mechanisms have led to development of novel and innovative bio-preservation services, leading to augment the revenue growth.

Growing use of bio-preservation are also supported by the rising participation of government or non-government bodies for the development of this field. For example, due to the support of the institutional and government repositories, the storage of bio-specimen has evolved to next level of advanced information from basics of patient’s phenotype, extending to genetics as well as “omics” such as proteomic information.

Enquire About This Report: https://www.millioninsights.com/industry-reports/biopreservation-market/request-sample

Product Insights

The key segments included laboratory information management systems (LIMS), media and equipment. In 2014, the equipment segment dominated the market which includes liquid nitrogen, consumables, refrigerators and freezers, having a revenue share of more than 80%. The larger share can be attributed to the high demands pertaining to bio-banks and the extensive use and importance of the aforementioned products in bio-preservation. Media segment which includes home brewed and pre-formulated media is projected to witness a healthy growth as a consequence of the increased demands of tissues, cells and other materials in bio banking and advanced products in regenerative medicines. Furthermore, the high share and preference of home brewed media in terms of bio-storage can be attributed to its cost-efficiency and effectiveness in comparison to pre-formulated media.

Application Insights

The major application analyzed in the study comprised of drug discovery, bio-banking and regenerative medicines. Moreover, the further segmentation of bio-banking includes veterinary IVF, human sperm and human eggs. Bio-banking segment held the largest share of 72.5% in 2014. Rising awareness related to preservation of stem cells, use of assisted technology for reproduction in animals and increasing number of sperm and egg banks are anticipated to drive the growth. Additionally, the expected rise in the revenue share of the segment can be attributed to advent of new techniques used for preservation of cells for a longer span of time. Regenerative medicine is considered to be the fastest growing segment owing to the high demand pertaining to efficient and specialized techniques for bio-storage. Moreover, huge amount of investments by non-government or government organizations in the field of regenerative cell therapy research is projected to boost the growth of the overall market.

Cell providers Insights

The segment of cell providers can be analyzed on basis of tumor cells, hESC, iPSC, MSC, CD19+, and CD34+. The largest market share was held by tumor cells in terms of volume in 2014 as a consequence of their wide array of application in treatment, diagnosis and R&D of the most prevalent forms of cancer. However, the fastest growing segment is predicted to be the iPSC segment throughout the forecast period because of their promising application in regenerative medicines owing to their high propagating capacity.

Regional Insights

Key market in 2014 was the North American having a revenue share of more than 45% owing to the innovative drug developments and therapies pertaining to the biomedical research. Also, continuous rise in the population base with chronic and acute disorders requiring treatment and diagnosis in the region is further drive the revenue generation. Asia Pacific region is expected to show a considerable growth rate over the forecast period owing to the rise in population base suffering from life threatening disorders. Moreover, increasing investments by government in R&D is leading to an urgent need for bio-storage, therefore providing a boost to the regional market.

Source Link @ https://www.millioninsights.com/industry-reports/biopreservation-market

Market Share Insights

The key players holding a significant share of the biopreservation market include Qiagen, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc, Panasonic Biomedical, Atlanta Biologicals, LabVantage Solutions Inc., Chart MVE Biomedical, BioLife Solutions Inc., Biomatrica and BioCision. The strategic initiatives by the company including acquisitions, mergers and new product launches are done to maintain and gain a competitive edge. For instance, ATCC and BioCision in May 2013 entered in an agreement to distribute and develop line of CoolProducts having a wide array of applications in wielding procedures and biomaterials storage.

Get in touch

At Million Insights, we work with the aim to reach the highest levels of customer satisfaction. Our representatives strive to understand diverse client requirements and cater to the same with the most innovative and functional solutions.

Contact Person:

Ryan Manuel

Research Support Specialist, USA

Email:

ryan@millioninsights.com

[remotecareers]

Recruiting Coordinator (Remote/Contract)

ABOUT USAt Vida, we empower individuals to overcome chronic mental and physical health conditions, once and for all.

The impact of chronic conditions on healthcare is immense: in the US alone, chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease drive 80% of the $3 trillion healthcare spending, which is at 18% of GDP.

One in 3 individuals has a chronic health condition, and 1 in 4 struggles with mental health.Vida provides expert, personalized, on-demand health coaching and programs from a network of experienced health care providers and leading medical institutions.

Vida is a next generation continuous care platform for both consumers and businesses, combining a consumer mobile app, an enterprise care platform offering on demand 24/7 solutions for chronic conditions.

Vida platform runs in the cloud, captures real-time data from 100+ devices and apps, and integrates back to the employer, payer, and provider.

We are trusted by Fortune 1000 companies, major national payers and large providers to enable their employees live their healthiest lives.**Vida is authorized to do business in many, but not all, states.

If you are not located in or able to work from a state where Vida is registered, you will not be eligible for employment.

Please speak with your recruiter to learn more about where Vida is registered.ABOUT THE JOBAs our Talent Acquisition Coordinator, you will be responsible for supporting Vida’s ongoing talent needs by managing all aspects of the candidate interview experience.

You will support the Talent & People Team by coordinating and executing seamless and efficient processes, predominantly related to the coordination of the interview cycle from beginning to end to ensure a positive and consistent candidate experience.

You’ll serve as a point of contact for candidates throughout the entire interview experience process ensuring the highest quality of service.

In addition, you’ll also assist the team with other administrative duties as assigned.

RESPONSIBILITIESScheduling interviews and phone screens working directly with candidates and hiring managersMaintain Applicant Tracking System (Lever) updating candidate records, job postings and confirming new hiresTracking recruiting activities and providing candidate status in a weekly reportIdentifying opportunities for improving candidate experience and scheduling efficiencyCommunicate professionally and maintain a high level of confidentiality at all times both internally and externally with our candidatesIdentifying opportunities for improving candidate experience and scheduling efficiencyAssisting in the coordination of other recruiting activities as neededQUALIFICATIONS1-3 years of Talent Coordination experienceBasic understanding of Recruiting and HR concepts, policies and proceduresExcellent interpersonal and communication skills and attention to detailDemonstrated ability to provide the highest level of customer service to internal and external customersDemonstrated analytical skills with the ability to learn new systems or applicationsProficient in Google SuiteExperience of hiring across a breadth of roles in the health and wellness area is a plusVida is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action employer.Diversity is more than a commitment at Vida-it is the foundation of what we do.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, ancestry, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or Veteran status.

We also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law.We seek to recruit, develop and retain the most talented people from a diverse candidate pool.

We don’t just accept differences – we celebrate them, we support them, and we thrive on them for the benefit of our employees, our platform and those we serve.

Vida is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans in our job application procedures.We do not accept unsolicited assistance from any headhunters or recruitment firms for any of our job openings.

All resumes or profiles submitted by search firms to any employee at Vida in any form without a valid, signed search agreement in place for the specific position will be deemed the sole property of Vida.

No fee will be paid in the event the candidate is hired by Vida as a result of the unsolicited referral.

The post Recruiting Coordinator (Remote/Contract) first appeared on Remote Careers.

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[carla-theanthropologist]

Infant Rearing/Postpartum Practices Cross-Culturally

vaIn researching this for baby anon, I found that while individual cultures have different practices, beliefs and views on infanthood, postpartum healing and childrearing practices, the goal remains the same. Parents (and sometimes, whole communities) are working to ensure health for the child and to raise it to be a well-developed adult. 

I think one of the largest differences between Western cultures and most others is the reliance on an entire group/family to help with infant care in comparison with the Western norm where all the responsibility lies on the parents.

However, here are some facts I pulled out from the websites and articles I found on the topic:

On the development of children cross-culturally:

“These studies showed that babies from different cultures deviated from the accepted "norms" for American middle-class society with respect to both the stages and the timing of motor development in the first years. Hopi infants, from the American Indian tribe from the Southwest, begin to walk alone late; Balinese infants follow a different series of stages on their way to walking; and Ghanda and Wolof infants from Africa tend to be more advanced in motor development than U.S. age norms would predict. In the absence of a "generalized precocity" among infants, another investigator was led to study Kipsigis mothers in Africa and their parenting practices: He found that over 80% deliberately taught their infants to sit, stand, and walk. Another study found that Dutch infants, who are stimulated less than American infants, scored lower than Americans infants on scales of psychomotor development. Other studies found that African infants (Ghanda and Kipsigis, respectively) reared in the manner of European babies lose the advantage that their traditionally reared, genetically similar compatriots maintained.”

https://science.nichd.nih.gov/confluence/display/cfr/Mothers+and+Infants+around+the+World%3A+A+Report+of+the+Cross-Cultural+Data+Collection+at+Five+Months

On the effect of cultural values on infant behavior:

The researchers largely chalk these differences up to variations in parents’ cultural values. In South American cultures, for instance, parents are typically very animated with their children, which may contribute to babies being more active and having more trouble focusing. In Poland, on the other hand, the common cultural value of being open about emotions may lead infants to feel comfortable showing sadness. In South Korea, an emphasis on behavioral and attentional control likely causes babies there to reflect these traits.

(this one is a good, easy read) https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/child-psychology-babies-around-world_us_585c0055e4b0d9a5945756d1  

On cross-cultural parenting styles (also an easy, good read with a lot of resources cited)

Basic care regimes are also influenced by culture and cultural customs. Sleeping arrangements, for example, such as whether parents or siblings share their bed with the child or not (DeLoache & Gottlieb, 2000), as well as the time parents spend in close physical contact with their child by carrying/holding them, and soothing them with close physical contact, are both likely to reflect the habits and customs of the parents' culture (Webb, 2001). Cross-cultural differences are also recognised in a number of different aspects of feeding practices, with some parents encouraging independent feeding and others preferring to directly feed their children (see, for example, Harwood, Scoelmerich, Schulze, & Gonzalez, 1999).

https://aifs.gov.au/publications/differential-parenting-children-diverse-cultural-bac/introduction 

On cross-cultral postpartum practices (this is more about the mother, but still interesting)

“One common belief in many non-Western cultures is the necessity of maintaining a “hot-cold balance” within the body and with the environment after the birth of a baby. Hot-cold concepts of healthcare (also called humoral theories) are centuries old in the traditional cultures of Latin America, Asia, and Africa. In many non-Western cultures, blood is considered “hot.” Therefore, after giving birth, when the woman has lost blood she is considered to be in a cold state. Accordingly, postpartum care in these cultures is aimed at keeping the new mother warm; it is believed that this will restore her humoral balance.”

http://www.tyckledtales.com/2012/12/03/postpartum-recovery-care-new-mom/

This is an article on the health of indigenous Latin American women, which only has some information on birth/infant care, but as baby anon asked for info on indigenous South American cultures I thought I’d include the link

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4861319/

There is a lot of information out there. I used keywords/phrases like “infant care,” “postpartum,” “cross-cultural postpartum practices,” “cross-cultural child-rearing beliefs” and those seemed to work well. I hope this helps anyone looking into this topic. Good luck!

[turtlesandfrogs]

Planning for seed saving

I find that there’s not a lot of talk about how large a population you need when people do talk about seed saving. I think it’s a lot bigger than most people expect, especially for out-crossers like broccoli and corn. On top of that, if you want to be growing something different than your neighbors (or say, want to save broccoli seed when a lot of people let kale go to seed around you), you need to consider isolation distances. Let’s look at population size first.

Did you know that if you want to maintain the health and vigor of a particular kale variety, you need to grow out 20 to 50 plants? For long term genetic preservation, you need more than 80. For most suburban gardeners, that’s a lot! Not all plants need this many- but a lot of plants that are pollenated by the wind or insects do. On the other end, we have self-pollinating species, like lettuce, peas, and beans. For them, you only need to save seed from 5 to 10 plants to maintain a variety- which is much more manageable in a suburban garden.

Then, you have to consider isolation distance- and whether it’s even possible where you live. Isolation distance is basically how far apart two varieties need to be to prevent cross pollination. For example, if you had two different varieties of broccoli that you wanted to save seed from, they’d need to be separated by 800 feet to half a mile- which is pretty difficult in the suburbs. Especially once you consider that if someone else’s broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, or non-Siberian kale is flowering at the same time as your crop, there will be cross pollination if they’re within that distance (Siberian kale is actually a different species- same genus though).

Now, I want to save some Siberian kale seed, and I know that someone, who is less than half a mile from me always has a patch of Red Russian (a type of Siberian kale) that goes to seed. This has an upside, and a downside. The upside is a larger population and more genetic diversity- which, since kale is an outcrossed, should yield more vigorous plants. The downside is that I don’t know what, if any, intentional selection is going on with that patch of kale. I’ll be selecting for winter hardiness, tastiness, vigor, and pest resistance, but maybe they’re selecting for the ability to grow in crowded conditions, or being able to survive in a chicken run for 3 months. If I were growing a fussier plant, like Brussels sprouts, this might be enough to dissuade me from saving seeds, but since kale is such a hardy, unrefined plant anyway, I don’t think it will be a problem.

Where it becomes more of an issue is with pumpkins and squash. And that’s because there’s three (or four) different species that all have varieties called ‘pumpkin’ or ‘squash’. Did you know that zucchini and Delicata are the same species as the New England Sugar Pie pumpkin? Or that Kabocha, Banana, and Hubbard are all the same species? Fortunately, though they have a large isolation distance (because bumble bees love them), their population size is small (5 to 10 to maintain a variety), and it’s easy to tape close blossoms before they open and then hand pollinate.

If I were growing corn, it would be again, another consideration, because they are a) wind pollenated, b) need a very big population size, and c) if sweet corn pollenates popcorn, there'll be some issues. I'll probably keep buying corn seed.

I’m not trying to scare you off of saving your own seeds, I just want you to think about what you’ll need to do to maintain varieties. Here are a few resources that will help you do that:

https://www.communityseednetwork.org/resources/

Click to access SS-Seed-Saving-Chart-English.pdf

https://www.llojibwe.org/drm/greenteam/seedsaving.html

I also think people who maintain or develop new varieties are awesome, and here's some of my favorite seed sources:

Uprising Organics

Fedco Seeds

Territorial

West Coast Seeds

Johnny's

[shirlleycoyle]

Scientists Transport Shark Sperm Across U.S. in Unprecedented Study

Sharks are frequently depicted in movies as fearsome predators with a thirst for human blood. In reality, people are exponentially more harmful to sharks than they are to us: Human pressures kill tens of millions of sharks per year, pushing many species to the brink of extinction and spurring scientists to come up with innovative new ways to conserve these vital ocean animals.

Case in point: Researchers led by Jennifer Wyffels, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Delaware, have completed the largest effort to artificially inseminate sharks—an experiment that produced the first shark hatchlings ever fertilized by cold-stored semen. 

The unprecedented project yielded 97 baby sharks, with parents that were located thousands of miles apart in some cases, demonstrating that genetic material could be moved between institutions “to maintain gene diversity in a population without the need to transport an animal,” according to a study published on Thursday in Scientific Reports.

As you might imagine, transporting sharks across continents so that they can breed with ideal mates is an expensive and difficult task. While previous experiments have shown that shark eggs can be artificially fertilized by freshly collected semen, Wyffels and her colleagues set out to see if it was possible to pull off the same feat with semen that had been cold-stored at temperatures of 1 to 4 °Celsius for up to 48 hours, enabling it to be transported across huge distances.

“It was never a goal to become the largest shark insemination effort but rather we wanted to investigate several semen parameters or conditions for artificial insemination including using cold-stored or fresh semen,” Wyffels said in an email. “Those different treatments required including more females than had been included in previous reports of shark artificial insemination.”

While the most iconic sharks tend to be the gigantic great whites or the distinctive hammerheads, Wyffels’ team worked with a much more manageable species, called the whitespotted bamboo shark. With an adult length of about three feet, these sharks are common in zoos, and even home aquariums, because they are relatively easy to feed and breed in captivity.

“Bamboo sharks were chosen as a model for this research for several reasons,” Wyffels said. “They are a smaller shark species and easier to handle for reproductive procedures. Many aquariums have bamboo sharks and that was important so that we could exchange semen between institutions.” 

“Another consideration was reproductive mode, live-bearing versus egg-laying,” she continued. “It is much easier to monitor eggs for embryo development than it is to examine a pregnant female shark. It is always nice to start with a model that is ‘easier’ and work up to more challenging species.”

Whitespotted bamboo sharks are also interesting to researchers because females can reproduce without any help from males through a process called parthenogenesis, resulting in full clones of the mother, known as parthenotes, derived from only an egg and no sperm.      

For this experiment, Wyffels and her colleagues collected sperm samples from 19 male sharks and artificially inseminated 20 females. The sperm was primarily gathered using a technique called manual expression, in which were pushed from their sexual organ, the cloaca, by applying pressure to their pelvic area. 

Since female whitespotted bamboo sharks can store sperm from multiple males in their reproductive tracts over long durations, the team examined the eggs of their prospective mothers for six weeks to ensure that they were not hoarding any sperm from previous sexual encounters. Once the females cleared that test, they were sedated and inseminated during a 10-minute procedure.

Months later, the incubated eggs hatched, producing dozens of artificially bred baby sharks. Freshly collected semen samples fertilized eggs in 27.6 percent of cases, producing 80 hatchlings. 

Meanwhile, semen that was cold-stored for 24 or 48 hours had respective success rates of 28.1 percent and 7.1 percent, producing a total of 17 hatchlings. The results showed, for the first time, that cold-stored samples could not only produce viable offspring, but that they had about the same success rate as fresh samples within a 24-hour period.

“Our Australian colleagues transported semen between institutions and used it later on the same day for artificial insemination,” Wyffels said. “We built upon their success and extended the time between collection and insemination up to two days. I believe longer storage is possible but we did not test it in this study because two days is enough time to transport semen most places in the world.”

A baby bamboo shark born via artificial insemination. Image: Jay Harvey, Aquarium of the Pacific

In one case, cold-stored semen from a male at Tampa’s Florida Aquarium was shipped overnight to Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies in Gatlinburg, TN, where the sample was used to fertilize the eggs of three females. The biggest distance traveled by these cold-stored samples was nearly 2,500 miles, as the crow flies, between a male at the Adventure Aquarium in Camden, NJ, to a female at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, California, resulting in two fertilized eggs that successfully hatched.

The study also revealed another fascinating twist: Two of the inseminated females produced clutches that included parthenotes, suggesting that the mothers didn’t use all of the sperm that they were given to reproduce.

“One of the most surprising findings was that three hatchlings developed from parthenogenesis, after females were artificially inseminated,” Wyffels said. “We know almost nothing about the basic reproductive mechanisms that control sperm storage and release, sperm competition, gamete compatibility and parthenogenesis in sharks. What determines the fate of an egg and if it will develop via parthenogenesis or be sexually fertilized? These are just a few of the questions this study brings to mind for future work.”

Now that Wyffels and her colleagues have shown that it’s possible to push the limits of artificial insemination in sharks, they hope to build on their findings to help vulnerable populations recover and thrive, both in captivity and in the oceans. For instance, the team is currently working to apply lessons from their new study to aid reproduction in sand tiger sharks, which are critically endangered in some parts of their range and infrequently reproduce in aquariums.

“We hope artificial insemination will be one of many tools used to support reproduction for sharks in aquariums and eventually even wild populations,” Wyffels said, adding that it will be especially important for species with “fragmented and small populations and those with a high risk of extinction.” 

“There is a lot of potential for exchange of genes via semen between aquaria and even between wild populations and aquariums,” she concluded.

  Scientists Transport Shark Sperm Across U.S. in Unprecedented Study syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/

[esglatestmarketnews]

Biopreservation Market Scenario, Outlook and Forecast till 2022

January 20, 2021:  The global Biopreservation Market size is likely to reach USD 8.93 billion by 2022 which is projected to grow at a CAGR of 17.3% during the forecast period. Rapid growth can be attributed to the rise in healthcare expenditure which is expected to boost the market in the forecast period. Moreover, increasing R&D activities by various companies as well as research organizations funded by government initiatives in the form of grant, contacts and various other funding mechanisms have led to development of novel and innovative bio-preservation services, leading to augment the revenue growth. Growing use of bio-preservation are also supported by the rising participation of government or non-government bodies for the development of this field. For example, due to the support of the institutional and government repositories, the storage of bio-specimen has evolved to next level of advanced information from basics of patient’s phenotype, extending to genetics as well as “omics” such as proteomic information.

Product Insights The key segments included laboratory information management systems (LIMS), media and equipment. In 2014, the equipment segment dominated the market which includes liquid nitrogen, consumables, refrigerators and freezers, having a revenue share of more than 80%. The larger share can be attributed to the high demands pertaining to bio-banks and the extensive use and importance of the aforementioned products in bio-preservation. Media segment which includes home brewed and pre-formulated media is projected to witness a healthy growth as a consequence of the increased demands of tissues, cells and other materials in bio banking and advanced products in regenerative medicines. Furthermore, the high share and preference of home brewed media in terms of bio-storage can be attributed to its cost-efficiency and effectiveness in comparison to pre-formulated media. Request a Free Sample Copy of this Report @ https://www.millioninsights.com/industry-reports/biopreservation-market/request-sample Application Insights The major application analyzed in the study comprised of drug discovery, bio-banking and regenerative medicines. Moreover, the further segmentation of bio-banking includes veterinary IVF, human sperm and human eggs. Bio-banking segment held the largest share of 72.5% in 2014. Rising awareness related to preservation of stem cells, use of assisted technology for reproduction in animals and increasing number of sperm and egg banks are anticipated to drive the growth. Additionally, the expected rise in the revenue share of the segment can be attributed to advent of new techniques used for preservation of cells for a longer span of time. Regenerative medicine is considered to be the fastest growing segment owing to the high demand pertaining to efficient and specialized techniques for bio-storage. Moreover, huge amount of investments by non-government or government organizations in the field of regenerative cell therapy research is projected to boost the growth of the overall market.

Cell providers Insights The segment of cell providers can be analyzed on basis of tumor cells, hESC, iPSC, MSC, CD19+, and CD34+. The largest market share was held by tumor cells in terms of volume in 2014 as a consequence of their wide array of application in treatment, diagnosis and R&D of the most prevalent forms of cancer. However, the fastest growing segment is predicted to be the iPSC segment throughout the forecast period because of their promising application in regenerative medicines owing to their high propagating capacity. Regional Insights Key market in 2014 was the North American having a revenue share of more than 45% owing to the innovative drug developments and therapies pertaining to the biomedical research. Also, continuous rise in the population base with chronic and acute disorders requiring treatment and diagnosis in the region is further drive the revenue generation. Asia Pacific region is expected to show a considerable growth rate over the forecast period owing to the rise in population base suffering from life threatening disorders. Moreover, increasing investments by government in R&D is leading to an urgent need for bio-storage, therefore providing a boost to the regional market. Browse Full Research Report @ https://www.millioninsights.com/industry-reports/biopreservation-market Market Share Insights The key players holding a significant share of the biopreservation market include Qiagen, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc, Panasonic Biomedical, Atlanta Biologicals, LabVantage Solutions Inc., Chart MVE Biomedical, BioLife Solutions Inc., Biomatrica and BioCision. The strategic initiatives by the company including acquisitions, mergers and new product launches are done to maintain and gain a competitive edge. For instance, ATCC and BioCision in May 2013 entered in an agreement to distribute and develop line of CoolProducts having a wide array of applications in wielding procedures and biomaterials storage.

Market Segment:

Biopreservation Product Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion, 2012 - 2022)    • Equipment        • Freezers        • Refrigerators        • Consumables            • Vials            • Straws            • Microtiter Plates            • Bags        • Liquid Nitrogen    • Media        • Pre-formulated        • Home-brew    • Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) Biopreservation Application Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion, 2012 - 2022)    • Regenerative Medicine        • Cell therapy        • Gene therapy        • Others    • Bio-banking        • Human eggs        • Human sperms        • Veterinary IVF    • Drug Discovery Biopreservation Cell Providers Outlook (Volume, Number of Units, 2012 - 2022)    • CD34+    • CD19+    • MSC    • iPSC    • hESC    • Tumor Cells    • Others Biopreservation Market Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion, 2012 - 2022)    • North America        • U.S.        • Canada    • Europe        • UK        • Germany    • Asia Pacific        • Japan        • China    • Latin America        • Brazil        • Mexico    • MEA        • South Africa Get in touch At Million Insights, we work with the aim to reach the highest levels of customer satisfaction. Our representatives strive to understand diverse client requirements and cater to the same with the most innovative and functional solutions. Contact Person: Ryan Manuel Research Support Specialist, USA Email: ryan@millioninsights.com

[juniperpublishersoceanography]

Identification of Bacteria from Substrata as Metamorphosis Inhibitors for the Coral Acropora- Juniper Publishers

Abstract

Bacteria on substrata certainly influence metamorphosis and settlement of coral larvae. We isolated bacteria from substrata and screened them for the capability of inducing or inhibiting metamorphosis of Acropora. Out of 468 isolates, only eight isolates revealed metamorphosis- inducing activities, which were weak or non-reproducible. Three of those isolates were identified as Alteromonasspp. Based on by 16SrDNA.On the other hand, metamorphosis-inhibiting bacteria were obtained efficiently, two out of 20 isolates, indicating a majority in bacterial communities on substrata. One revealed quick but temporal inhibition and the other revealed slow but persistent inhibition onto the metamorphosis induction by a peptide hormone. Thus, at least two inhibition pathways are suggested. Both of the two strains turned out to belong to the genus Pseudoalteromonas. Responses of coral larvae to mixtures of exclusive cues on the substratum, inducers and inhibitors, seem important in the ecological strategy to select their destiny in natural situations.

Keywords: Acropora; Bacteria; Metamorphosis; Settlemen.

Introduction

The coral genus Acropora shares major components in many Indo-Pacific reefs, and its recruitment holds the key for maintenance and recovery of reef assemblages. Especially in the recovery from denuded reefs, efficient recruitment of propagules is important to reconstruct populations of various coral species and to keep genetic diversities as well. It would be critical to know the conditions suitable for settlement of acroporids and to control the environments if we aim to accelerate recruitment for reef restoration. It is empirically known that acroporids require chemical cues from substrata for the initiation of a sequence of metamorphosis and settlement, and that they have strict preference to the environmental signals. However, only a small number of micro-organisms have so far been identified as  natural inducers of metamorphosis and settlement for acroporids, such as particular species of calcareous coralline algae [1] and a bacterium of the genus Pseudoalteromonas [2,3]. It is also well known that conditioned tiles, which were kept in the sea for several months, act as efficient substrata on which bacteria grow and cover the surface. Biofilms on artificial substrata were observed with implications in chemical cues for induction of coral metamorphosis and settlement [4]. Considering the efficiency of the conditioned tiles, it is expected that much more bacteria species act as inducers for coral metamorphosis and settlement.

On the other hand, it is conceivable that there are microorganisms on substrata that have inhibitory activities to coral settlement. But such inhibitory bacteria have not been focused on, even though inhibitors would also be important factors for coral recruitment in natural situations. Extensive screening is needed for finding and identifying more bacteria that induce or inhibit metamorphosis and settlement of coral larvae in order to describe bacteria compositions on substrata as controllers for coral recruitment.

Materials and Methods

Isolation and culture of bacteria

Terracotta tiles (5cm*5cm) were submerged in a tank supplied with running seawater at Akajima Marine Science Laboratory, Aka Island, Okinawa, Japan (30 ºN, 123 ºE) for 1 year to allow growth of bacteria communities on the tiles. Planula larvae of Acropora digitifera were subjected to those conditioned tiles in a bowl. Small areas where larvae settled in aggregates were selected as the source of metamorphosis-inducing bacteria and another area where larvae did not settle were selected as the source of metamorphosis-inhibiting bacteria. Tile surfaces were scraped and suspended in 0.2μm-filtered seawater (FSW). The suspension was spread on ZoBell2216E agar plates after stepwise dilutions. After culture at around 26 ºC for 1-3 days, each clonal colony was spread on a new agar plate and cultured for 1-6 days to obtain a certain quantity of bacteria cells.

Metamorphosis assays

Planula larvae of Acropora tenuis and A. digitifera were prepared according to Iwao et al. [5]. Planulae were reared by daily transfer to fresh FSW, and also metamorphosis assays were done, in the laboratory kept at around 26 °C. Planula larvae of day 5-13 post fertilization were used for the assays. Metamorphosis was defined as appearance of 6 septations of the tissue, even if faintly, in rounded individuals.

The metamorphosis-inducing assay was performed by administration of each strain of bacterial cells in suspension into 1ml of FSW containing 5 planulae in a well of 24-well cell culture multiplates. Approximately 20μil volume of bacterial cells was used for each assay, and the cell numbers were confirmed as 1-4x108cfu by dilution and culture on agar plates. The number of metamorphosed animals  was counted 1 day after the initiation of treatment. Larvae of A. tenuis were used except for some initial assays using A. digitifera.

The metamorphosis-inhibition assay was achieved by combining bacteria and a metamorphosis-inducing peptide Hym-248 [5]. Approximately 20μiL volume of bacterial cells were administrated in suspension to 10 planulae in 1mL of FSW in a well of 24-well cell culture multiplate simultaneously with Hym-248 at a final concentration 2x10-6M, and the number of metamorphosed animals was counted along time up to 12hrs and compared with positive controls, which were treated with only Hym-248. Cell densities in assays were approximately 3x106cfu and 1x107cfu respectively for the two examined strains named MIP01 and MIW01.

Results and Discussion

Screening of metamorphosis-inducing bacteria

In total 468 independent strains of bacteria were screened for the metamorphosis-inducing activity, and 7 strains were found positive in the first screening (Table 1). The rest showed no activities of metamorphosis-induction and also no toxicity to planula larvae. Although the functions remain unknown, 89 strains caused discontinuation of movements and elongation of the body on planulae. These 89 strains were tested again, and one additional strain (MA505) was found to show metamorphosis- inducing activity (Table 1). The frequency of positive strains, 8 per 468, corresponded to 1.7%. Negri et al. [2] obtained a similar frequency, 1.3%; one metamorphosis-inducing strain from 80 strains screened. Note that these values reveal frequencies among bacteria culturable by conventional isolation culture methods.

*Results using larvae of A. digitifera.

Repeated tests were done for 5 out of 8 positive strains, but the rest could not be assessed due to over-aging of the planulae. Only 1-2 per 5 larvae metamorphosed in the positive cases of the 8 strains (Table 1) revealing weak activities compared with the results by Negri et al. [2], which showed 50-80% efficiency of metamorphosis induction. Reproducibility was also poor in our tests (Table 1). Some improvements may remain in experimental designs; such as bacteria densities in the assay, use of bacteria grown on substrata instead of suspension, and tests using other coral species. However, positive activities seem specific, even though the activities were low, because a large number of strains showed no effects.

The 8 positive strains were maintained by 2-weeks passages for 1 year and assessed again. None of them retained the activity (data not shown). This loss of activity might be due to alteration of physiological conditions during the isolated culture of bacteria.

Metamorphosis-inhibiting bacteria

As a pre-screening, 20 strains were checked to see whether they made planulae stop swimming and elongate their body. Out of 5 strains showing those activities, 2 strains were chosen for further testing as the inhibition assay is laborious. One strain, named MIP01, formed purple color colonies and another, named MIW01, formed white colonies. Simultaneous application of MIP01 and the peptide Hym-248 resulted in complete inhibition of metamorphosis during the observation period, whereas MIW01 reduced metamorphosis efficiency to about 43-73% (Table 2). These results were reproduced after 2-weeks passages for 1 year (data not shown). Contrary to the inducer strains, the both inhibitor strains retained their functions stably in the culture conditions. The other 3 strains showed no effects (data not shown).

When larvae were treated with MIW01 alone for 12hrs and afterwards Hym-248 was added, strong inhibition was observed (Table 2). In contrast, MIP01 pre-treatment resulted in no inhibition onto the metamorphosis induction by Hym- 248, suggesting desensitization of planulae to MIP01 stimuli. These results suggest that the inhibitory action by MIP01 is quick and temporal and that by MIW01 is slow and persistent. When the bacteria were boiled for 5 minutes, those inhibiting activities were reduced in MIP01 and enhanced in MIW01 (data not shown). Thus, at least two pathways of metamorphosis inhibition in planlae responding to distinct bacterial molecules were found in this study.

The frequency of getting inhibitor bacteria was much higher than that of obtaining inducer bacteria. If these differences in frequency reflect abundance of those bacteria on the substrata, coral larvae would find their places for settlement after passing through lots of negative patches. Only metamorphosis induction has been focused in corals based on interests in propagation of corals from larvae, however, metamorphosis inhibition should be considered to understand mechanisms of recruitment in corals.

Molecular identification of the bacteria

Using conventional methods, 16SrDNA sequences were determined for the isolated strains. Among the metamorphosis- inducing bacteria, 3 strains (strain MA112, MA336 and MA505) were chosen for molecular identification, and the results of BLAST search revealed that the 3 strains are all included in the genus Alteromonas. The 2 metamorphosis-inhibiting strains (strain MIP01 and MIW01) were both included in the genus Pseudoalteromonas. Sequence data revealing high similarity to the queries were retrieved from the database, and a phylogenetic tree was constructed by the Neighbor-Joining method (Figure 1). Metamorphosis-inducing strains MA112 and MA336 are closely related to each other and MA505 falls into a separate branch within the Alteromonas clade. Metamorphosis-inhibiting strains MIP01 and MIW01 are inferred as two independent species of Pseudoalteromonas. This genus contains also a metamorphosis- inducing strain isolated by Negri et al. [2] (Figure 1, Pseudoalteromonas sp.A3). Simply, the two features are pointed out for the phylogenies; inducer bacteria are found in different genera (Alteromonas and Pseudoalteromonas), and a single genus (Pseudoalteromonas) includes both inducer and inhibitor species. The former would be a result of either production of the same compound(s) to stimulate coral metamorphosis or a broad preference of acroporids' planulae for various  chemical compounds as environmental cues for metamorphosis initiation. The latter would be due to diversity within a genus with implication in influencing coral metamorphosis, and diversity of compound production as well [6-8].

Conclusion

We screened nearly 500 isolates of bacteria to find inducers of metamorphosis of acroporid larvae. However, only several strains revealed weak or non-reproducible activities that were finally lost after passages. There would be a limitation of isolating culture as more than 99% of bacteria in environments are thought unculturable by conventional culture methods due to lack of proper culture conditions. On the other hand, metamorphosis-inhibiting bacteria were efficiently obtained from small numbers of isolates. This is the first report of isolation of bacteria that are inhibitory to metamorphosis of the coral Acropora. The 2 inhibitor strains revealed different modes of action, hence larvae should have at least 2 signal transduction pathways in suspending metamorphosis. It is conceivable that those inducing and inhibiting bacteria grow together in a small area of substrata in nature. Responses of planula larvae to mixtures of inducers and inhibitors on the substratum may be important as the ecological strategy to choose their destiny in natural situations.

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