My Dodecad identity-by-state neighbors.

Dienekes recently computed an identity-by-state (IBS is his abbreviation, although that means something very different to me) similarity matrix for all the individuals in the Dodecad Ancestry Project. The IBS score is a ratio between individuals that, to my understanding, can be read as a proxy for genetic similarity. He also posted an R object that...

Jun 2013

Links - April 20, 2011

PhysiologyOpinion: The decline of physiology. Medical schools in the UK are scaling back their basic physiology education in favor of more pathology and clinical courses which skim over the basic physiology needed to understand those situations. If you are a physiologist, the APS encourages you to participate in the comments discussion.Sucked out of...

Jun 2013

Good news for people with specific phobias: Cortisol may increase efficacy of exposure therapy.

Earlier this week I shared the story of my specific phobia of vomiting, and little did I know that an article would be published in PNAS the next day (open access!) about the efficacy of cortisol supplementation during exposure therapy for specific phobias. Cortisol, which I have blogged about before, is a major endocrine involved in the human stress...

Jun 2013

Book Review - Get Me Out

Earlier this year I received Get Me Out: A History of Childbirth from the Garden of Eden to the Sperm Bank by Dr. Randi Hutter Epstein through a Science Online 2011 giveaway contest on Twitter. It took me a while to get around to reading it, partially because I was busy churning out my thesis at the time, but also because it wasn't a topic I found entirely...

Jun 2013

Links - April 25, 2011

PhysiologyAAPA symposium on Evolution through the Life Course: Why we shouldn't prescribe hormonal contraception to twelve year olds. Can the benefits of hormonal contraceptives seen in adult women be applied to girls as young as 11-12? Can the use of hormonal contraceptives influence the development of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal endocrine pathways...

Jun 2013

Ohio State University student body reacts to Osama Bin Laden's death

Cross-posted at Brown Pundits. "Campus Parties After Bin Laden News" - NBC4 Columbus, OHWithin an hour of the announcement from President Obama that Osama Bin Laden had been killed, students and other young people began to gather at Mirror Lake on the OSU campus. The traditional place for a rally prior to the annual Ohio State-Michigan football rivalry,...

Jun 2013

Total calorie intake is most influential in regulating adiponectin

Today I have a guest post over at the LabSpaces guest blog Dangerous Experiments. In that post I discuss a recent paper that examines the relative influence of total caloric intake, relative amount of dietary fat, and existing body fat on the circulating levels of an endocrine called adiponectin. Adiponectin is involved in energy homeostasis, specifically...

Jun 2013

Links - May 5, 2011

Feliz Cinco de Mayo! Before I get to the links, here are some things that have been going on lately: - My post not too long ago on the efficacy of cortisol supplement during exposure therapy for specific phobias was picked by Jason as one of his ResearchBlogging Editor's Selections last week. - Razib and Zach have invited me to contribute at Brown Pundits....

Jun 2013

Happy Mothers' Day!

Jun 2013

Links - May 13, 2011

I'm sorry for not posting much lately. I have, as Gerty-Z joked on Twitter, reached the 'herding cats' portion of my graduate education. I'm busy wrapping up loose ends and trying to schedule and prepare for my thesis defense. Also most of my blogging energy is going to other things. I've been flexing my sociology muscles since I'm a little burnt out...

Jun 2013