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09.21.2018

under the sea on ecstasy – octopuses on MDMA

An octopus explores its surroundings. After receiving ecstasy, octopuses become more social.

Have you ever wondered what would happen to an octopus on ecstasy? If you have, then you aren’t alone. Gul Dolen, a neuroscientist a Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, had wondered the same thing.

She and Eric Edsinger, conducted a study on the effects of the drug ecstasy, also known as (+/−)-3,4-methylendioxymethamphetamine or MDMA, on the brains and behaviors of octopuses. They placed octopuses a chamber and allowed them to explore on their own. The chamber was connected to two others, one containing a hidden octopus and another containing a strange object. They then compared the time the octopus spent with either the object or the second octopus. The octopus tended to gravitate toward the other animal but only if it was a female. If the second octopus was a male, it avoided the second creature. This was true for bothe male and female octopuses placed into the chamber.

Then they gave the octopus a hit of MDMA, by dunking it into a solution containing the drug to allow it to soak in through its gills. While on the drug they spent way more time with male octopus. Describing their behavior, Dolen says”

“They mashed themselves against one wall, very slowly extended one arm, touched the [other animal], and went back to the other side. But when they had MDMA, they had this very relaxed posture. They floated around, they wrapped their arms around the chamber, and they interacted with the other octopus in a much more fluid and generous way. They even exposed their [underside], where their mouth is, which is not something octopuses usually do.”

This was very unusual behavior for octopuses, which are known to live in solitude. MDMA appeared to make the animals more social in a way that mimics its effects in humans. After studying serotonin transporter proteins in humans and octopuses, the researchers found that the sequences had a 50% match. It is especially similar in the part of the protein where MDMA binds, and that is why they believe they see similar effects in behavior.

But, some scientists remain unconvinced. The researchers always administered the drug after the control, so their more exploratory behavior could just be due to them being more comfortable in their surroundings. Other scientists suggest that ecstasy may just be interfering with the animal’s ability to detect chemical information from potential mates.

09.18.2018

sperm counts are falling

Some studies show declining sperm counts in many Western societies. Is humanity doomed?

Continuing our recent exploration of human fertility, Julia Belluz atVox reports on the continued decline in human sperm counts.

In 2017, Hagai Levine et al. published a meta-analysis in Human Reproduction Update detailing how sperm counts were halved between the 1970s and 2011 in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Since then, there has been lots of hand-wringing about what the results mean for the future of human fertility and reproduction. After talking wtih epidemiologists and men’s health professionals, Julia breaks down what these observed trends might mean.

First even though sperm counts have declined they are still within in normal range. The observed decrease was from 60 million to 30 million sperm per mL of ejaculate. To be in the normal range, counts should be above 15 million/mL.

Continuing on, she points out the limited scope of the problem. The decline only seemed apparent in Western countries:

The study authors also found the slope of the sperm count decline wasn’t as significant in the non-Western countries (in South America, Asia, and Africa), where sperm count even went up among men who were known to have fathered a child. (They thought this may be because men in non-Western countries haven’t been exposed to the same chemicals from industrial development as Western men have; more on that later.) But this raises the question of whether there’s something else that’s different about the groups or studies that might explain this variation.

And there is always the possibility of confounding variables in meta-analyses like this where experiments from over many decades and in many different countries are analyzed to discern a pattern. Male doctors that she was able to speak with have not noticed a decline that would correlate with what was observed in the publication.

Read Julia’s artcle here to get the rest of the details. And she ends with some tips for enhancing sperm quality, for if and when you are trying to conceive.

09.05.2018

airport trays are full of germs

Trays at airport security stations are loaded with microbes. A new study shows they can contain more viruses than toilets.

Air travel is a well known culprit in the spread of infectious diseases, such as the common cold and the flu. We can now add another potential mechanism for the spread of these types of infections, thanks to a new study published in BMC Infection Diseases last month.

Scientists from the University of Nottingham in England and the Finnish National Institute for Health and Welfare swabbed the trays and other airport surfaces after peak travel times, then identified traces of common respiratory viruses that were found in those samples. They looked at a variety of surfaces including toilets, pay machines, hand rails and luggage trays. Of all of the surfaces that they sampled, the luggage trays contained the most identifiable traces of respiratory viruses. Out of the 8 tray samples, 4 of them were positive for respiratory viruses like rhinovirus, which causes the common cold, and influenza, or the flu. Out of the 14 samples from the toilet flush button, zero gave positive results.

We know that objects that are frequently handled or manipulated with our hands tend to be laden with bacteria. Mobile phones, tv remotes and computer keyboards have been identified as having high bacterial counts. It now appears that the same applies to airport trays.

One caveat of the study is that although traces of viral DNA were found on various surfaces, this does not necessarily mean that they were contagious or able to infect humans. However, viruses and microbes have been known to survive for a few days on surfaces.

What can you do to minimize your risk of infection? The best advice still applies: Wash your hands!