Mind Control and why I dislike cats.

[grimmjohn]

Many people may have heard of this but anyway...

Lets start with a well known and accepted model.

Leucochloridium varidae
"is a parasitic worm of birds and snails with an ingenious and disturbing means of passing from one host to another. In the body of a snail, it sprouts several tubes that it sends into the snail's two eye-tipped tentacles. These tubes change bright colors, pulsate, and swell until the tentacles resemble a pair of fat, wriggling caterpillars. This acts as a tempting beacon for predatory birds, and prevents the snail from retreating into its shell. The snail's behavior also changes, causing it to crawl in the open instead of seeking shade. When a bird spots the colorful tentacles, it rips them off, contracts the parasite and will scatter its eggs in its droppings to be eaten by more snails."

Another
"The life cycle of the lancet fluke (Dicrocoelium dendriticum) goes as follows: adults inhabit cows or other grazers, releasing eggs that are spread in manure. When swallowed by scavenging snails, the eggs hatch and the parasites are eventually coughed up by the snail in balls of slime, which are then consumed by ants. Late in the evening as the temperature drops, infected ants experience an uncontrollable urge to wander from their colony, climb a blade of grass and attach to the tip by their jaws. The ants will remain in this position until accidentally eaten by a large, grazing mammal...beginning the cycle again."


Now to the meat:
Toxoplasma gondii
This intracellular protozoan parasite infects rats. Lots of rats. These rats experence"Fatal Attraction Syndrome". These rats are attracted to cat urine and also have slower reaction times and reduced fear response...making them meals on wheels for cats.
Now here's where it gets fun...
Ten years ago 72.5% of stray cats and 40% of domestic cats were infected...many think the numbers are probably higher.
And guess what..if your cat has T gondii...then YOU probably do too! Over half the world's population (80% in some countrys) has a brain parasite from Snowball...thanks. Thats right...your cat has given you a brain parasite that is known (for sure in rats) to alter behaviour. Now most people never even now they have it..though if pregnant women get it then their kids can be seriously messed up...google it.

Well if this thing does some mind control with rats..why not people? There has been at least one study that may show that they do.
Little slide show here: http://www.natur.cuni.cz/~flegr/TOXO/index.html

Some quotes:
Professor Jaroslav Flegr of Charles University in Prague has discovered evidence that infection by intracellular protozoan parasite toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) causes changes in human personalities.

He found the women infected with toxoplasma spent more money on clothes and were consistently rated as more attractive. “We found they were more easy-going, more warm-hearted, had more friends and cared more about how they looked,� he said. “However, they were also less trustworthy and had more relationships with men.�

By contrast, the infected men appeared to suffer from the “alley cat� effect: becoming less well groomed undesirable loners who were more willing to fight. They were more likely to be suspicious and jealous. “They tended to dislike following rules,� Flegr said

Read more here

http://signalplusnoise.blogspot.com/...37827306221432

and here

http://www.futurepundit.com/archives/001675.html

Do these articles and study prove anything?...well Evolution hasn't been "proved" yet so I'll wait and see....In the mean time I'm gonna keep my parasite infection rate as low as possable.

Have a nice day () : )

Cheers,

grimmjohn

[Nina51]

eww. that is grim john. very very grim.

[Steve Richardson]

comparing the standing of evolution as a 'theory' to "more warm-hearted" women because of T.gondii? Yikes.

"...well Evolution hasn't been "proved" yet so I'll wait and see...."

...dont even get me started on this one... ;-)

[grimmjohn]

Originally posted by Steve Richardson
comparing the standing of evolution as a 'theory' to "more warm-hearted" women because of T.gondii? Yikes.

"...well Evolution hasn't been "proved" yet so I'll wait and see...."

...dont even get me started on this one... ;-)

If you ask me Evolution is a Fact....a study may or may not prove a fact...but many people don't feel Evolution is a fact (might I direct you to http://www.answersingenesis.org ). I was just heading off the statment "Well none of this is proven and doesn't show anything...I love Fluffy." Regardless of what You or I think it is still the "THEORY of Evolution," as opposed to the "LAW of gravity"

If you want to go rounds on Evo then let me know () : )

Cheers,

grimmjohn

[Steve Richardson]

Ahhh... I see your interests are, among other things, biology and literature. A person of letters, how nice.

Then I dont, in any way, have to remind you friend, of the difference between the colloquial usage of the term 'theory' (as, I expect would be applied to the phrase 'the moon is made of cheese') and the scientific usage of the term 'theory' as applied to evolution, correct?

lets not start confusing random and quaint hypotheses, with the mountains of peer-reviewed general evidence and widespread scientific acceptance of a real theory.

nope, I wont do it. I will not go on and on and ad nauseum about this. Ya cant make me. I would, but I have a cat, and it has addled my brain, so I dont trust me anymore. Perhaps it it why I am becoming more of a 'suspicious loner' in my old age, and apt to jump down the throat of anyone suggesting otherwise. :-)

--------------

OK.. I'm willing to entertain the concept of that so called claim. But please dont put this on the same footing as Evo. That just aint right, as they say. Whoever 'they' are. :-D

cheers!

-S

"superego strength increased in the infected women with duration of toxoplasmosis" ...catchy though, isnt it?

I left my superego in my other pants. dang!

---------

answersingenesis.org? Oh no.. please stop! do you really, really want to review some of the fact in, for example, Genesis? Ow. my head hurts now.

[MadTownMax]

how long does it stay in your body?

What is the transfer mechanism from cats to humans.


- just wondering as the large amount of people that have cats - and the close contact that most people have with them, it would be surprising the infection rate wasn't higher.

(no, I don't have a cat, but I've lived w/ people who do)

[MadTownMax]

Hmmm....

The disease toxoplasmosis can be transmitted by ingestion of oocysts (in cat feces) or bradyzoites (in raw or undercooked meat) (view a diagram of the life cycle). Several of these life cycle stages are shown below.

http://www.biosci.ohio-state.edu/~pa...oxoplasma.html

Doesn't sound too probable until you think how many times snowball has jumped up on your kitchen counter after laying an egg back in the corner.

[grimmjohn]

Originally posted by Steve Richardson
lets not start confusing random and quaint hypotheses, with the mountains of peer-reviewed general evidence and widespread scientific acceptance of a real threory.....

But please dont put this on the same footing as Evo. That just aint right, as they say.

I agree, but I've learned that when I'm not on campus or in grad seminar to watch my words. Notice I said "may show." I agree that this is one study...a personality test no less, inherently weak in the eyes of "hard" science. It's not Na+Cl-->NaCl. I admit that it's weak and far fetched...but that doesn't mean that tomorrow the NEJM isn't going to have an article about how T.gondii infectees are 500% more likely to pick their nose or something...and then year after that someone discribes a pathway by which T.gondii modulates serotonin receptors or something like that. I hoped that my caution about the article would shine through my statements but apparently I was wrong.

My sentance construction also doesn't change the FACT that many people in the world have a parasite becuase of a cat. If only it wasn't too late to edit my post to change "Evolution" to some more obscure but moderatly accepted finding with only one or two journal articles supporting it. Then we could all be happy.


Cheers,

grimmjohn

[grimmjohn]

Originally posted by MadTownMax
Hmmm....
Doesn't sound too probable until you think how many times snowball has jumped up on your kitchen counter after laying an egg back in the corner.

Or "laying an egg" in the nice dissicating, dust creating environment of a litter box and then then you coming around and stirring it up and filtering out all the feces. Or rubbing their butts on the sofa where you took your nap....etc. () : )

Steve, you have a PM.

[Steve Richardson]

Hey, we are all on the same team here. :-) I get your drift, im just not sure I buy into the 'risk'. Its all good.

You can find all sorts of 'alarmist' (not in any way saying that you an alarmist, kind sir.) info on the net if you like. I suppose you can find just as much refutation of the same material.

"In the United States, people are much more likely to become infected (by T. gondii) through eating raw meat than from handling cat feces. People also become infected by eating unwashed fruits and vegetables."
http://www.peteducation.com/article....&articleid=770

"Current data suggests that ownership of pet cats does not increase the risk of toxoplasmosis."
http://www.tdh.state.tx.us/zoonosis/...XO/default.asp

Then again perhaps "Recent epidemiologic studies indicate that infectious agents may contribute to some cases of schizophrenia. "
http://www.schizophrenia.com/prevention/catpreg.html



You can also catch Listeria from eating cheese. How about Trichinella from a pork chop? Anisakiasis from some of the raw oysters I had the other night?
nah. I'll keep the cat, eat brie and cherrystones on the halfshell, and take my 'chances' in the face of Mr. Flegr's suggestions, that I will have a long and happy life, and not become "less well groomed." Heck, I may really throw caution to the wind and not wear rubber gloves while working in the garden.

all in fun,

[grimmjohn]

Nowhere did I say that the study was true, and if that and my word choice is all you have to argue about then I can't help that.

It is also wrong for you to assume that I stumbled across this on the internet yesturday and thought "OMG" and decided to share my revelation with RC...This has been mentioned in no less than 4 of my undergrad and grad classes, and Monday is just a slow say.

It is estimated that 30-40% of all Americans have been infected with the parasite.
http://www.tdh.state.tx.us/zoonosis/...XO/default.asp

In addition to schizophrenia...
"The subjects with latent toxoplasmosis have significantly increased risk of traffic accidents than the noninfected subjects. Relative risk of traffic accidents decreases with the duration of infection"
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/art...i?artid=117239

From a cat or uncooked meat...I don't want internal parasites. I realize that most people already have some, including You and I, but since I wash all my fruits and veggies and cook my meat very well that leaves only one main T. gondii X-factor.

If current data suggests that cats are not the main vector then I can live with that.

I also don't think I would be "alarmist" if I didn't feed my pregant wife soft cheeses and lunch meats, or cooked my bacon cripsy, or didn't eat oysters 8 months out of the year. Though someone who wasn't "alarmist" in this fashion would be rather "foolhardy."

Cheers,

grimmjohn