Women’s prayers have finally been answered: Scientists have developed a spray which can make men sensitive and affectionate using a ''cuddle hormone''.
Forty eight healthy males participated in the experiment. Half received an oxytocin nose spray at the start of the experiment, the other half a placebo. The researchers then showed their test subjects photos of emotionally charged situations in the form of a crying child, a girl hugging her cat, and a grieving man. The test subjects were then invited to express the depth of feeling they experienced for the persons shown.
In summary, Dr. René Hurlemann of Bonn University ´ s Clinic for Psychiatry was able to state that "significantly higher emotional empathy levels were recorded for the oxytocin group than for the placebo group", despite the fact that the participants in the placebo group were perfectly able to provide rational interpretations of the facial expressions displayed. The administration of oxytocin simply had the effect of enhancing the ability to experience fellow-feeling. The males under test achieved levels which would normally only be expected in women. Under normal circumstances, the "weak" sex enjoys a clear advantage when it comes to the subject of "empathy".
In a second experiment, the participants had to use their computers to complete a simple observation test. Correct answers produced an approving face on the screen, wrong ones a disapproving one. Alternatively, the feedback appeared as green (correct) or red (false) circles. "In general, learning was better when the feedback was shown in the form of faces", states Dr. Keith Kendrick of the Cambridge Babraham Institute in England. "But, once again, the oxytocin group responded clearly better to the feedback in the form of facial expression than did the placebo group".
In this connection, the so-called amygdaloid nucleus appears to play an important role. This cerebral stucture, known generally to doctors as the amygdala, is involved in the emotional evaluation of situations. Certain people suffer from an extremely rare hereditary disease which progressively affects the amygdala. "We were lucky to be able to include two femals patients in our study group who were suffering this defect of the amygdala", says Hurlemann. "Both women reacted markedly worse to approving or disapproving faces in the observation test than did other women in a control group. Moreover, their emotional empathy was also affected". Hence, the researchers suspect that the amygdala could bear some form of co-responsibility for the effect of the oxytin.
One of the effects of the hormone oxytocin, also called as cuddle hormone, is that it triggers labour pains. It also strengthens the emotional bond between a mother and her new-born child. Oxytocin is released on a large scale during an orgasm, too. This neuropeptide is also associated with feelings such as love and trust. Our study has revealed for the first time that emotional empathy is modulated by oxytocin, and that this applies similarly to learning processes with social multipliers, says Hurlemann.
Source: Times of India
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Insects that make own nutrients found
Scientists claim to have identified for the first time an insect, known as aphids, that can make their own essential nutrients called carotenoids.
No other animals are known to make the potent antioxidants. Until now researchers thought that the only way animals could obtain the orangey-red compounds was from their diet. But, an Arizona University team has found otherwise.
In their research, the scientists have also figured out how the aphids they studied, known as pea aphids, acquired the ability to make carotenoids which are building blocks for molecules crucial for vision, healthy skin, bone growth and other key physiological functions.
"What happened is a fungal gene got into an aphid and was copied. Although gene transfers between microorganisms are common, finding a functional fungus gene as part of an animal's DNA is a first.
"Animals have a lot of requirements that reflect ancestral gene loss. This is why we require so many amino acids and vitamins in the diet.
"Until now it has been thought that there is simply no way to regain these lost capabilities. But this case in aphids shows that it is indeed possible to acquire the capacity to make needed compounds.
"Possibly this will be an extraordinarily rare case. But so far in genomic studies, a single initial case usually turns out to be only an example of something more widespread," Nancy Moran, who led the team, said.
In fact, an accident in the laboratory plus the recent sequencing of the pea aphid genome made their latest discovery possible, the scientists say.
Pea aphids, known to scientists as Acyrthosiphon pisum, are either red or green. Aphids are clonal -- the mothers give birth to daughters that are genetically identical to their mothers.
So when an aphid in the lab's red 5A strain began giving birth to yellowish-green babies, the scientists knew they were looking at the results of a mutation.
"We named it 5AY for yellowish. That yellowish mutant happened in 2007. We just kept the strain as a sort of pet in the lab. I figured that one day we'd figure out how that happened," she said.
Symbiotic bacteria live within aphids in specialised cells. The bacteria, which are passed from mother to babies, supply the insects with crucial nutrition. If their bacteria die, the aphids die.
The scientists, who have been studying the pea aphid-bacteria system for decades, already knew the three main species of symbiotic bacteria did not make carotenoids. They also were pretty sure the aphids didn't get their carotenoids from their diet.
Aphids eat by sucking the phloem sap from plants, but the sap is carotenoid-poor. In addition, the carotenoids in the aphids were different from those usually found in plants, the scientists say.
No other animals are known to make the potent antioxidants. Until now researchers thought that the only way animals could obtain the orangey-red compounds was from their diet. But, an Arizona University team has found otherwise.
In their research, the scientists have also figured out how the aphids they studied, known as pea aphids, acquired the ability to make carotenoids which are building blocks for molecules crucial for vision, healthy skin, bone growth and other key physiological functions.
"What happened is a fungal gene got into an aphid and was copied. Although gene transfers between microorganisms are common, finding a functional fungus gene as part of an animal's DNA is a first.
"Animals have a lot of requirements that reflect ancestral gene loss. This is why we require so many amino acids and vitamins in the diet.
"Until now it has been thought that there is simply no way to regain these lost capabilities. But this case in aphids shows that it is indeed possible to acquire the capacity to make needed compounds.
"Possibly this will be an extraordinarily rare case. But so far in genomic studies, a single initial case usually turns out to be only an example of something more widespread," Nancy Moran, who led the team, said.
In fact, an accident in the laboratory plus the recent sequencing of the pea aphid genome made their latest discovery possible, the scientists say.
Pea aphids, known to scientists as Acyrthosiphon pisum, are either red or green. Aphids are clonal -- the mothers give birth to daughters that are genetically identical to their mothers.
So when an aphid in the lab's red 5A strain began giving birth to yellowish-green babies, the scientists knew they were looking at the results of a mutation.
"We named it 5AY for yellowish. That yellowish mutant happened in 2007. We just kept the strain as a sort of pet in the lab. I figured that one day we'd figure out how that happened," she said.
Symbiotic bacteria live within aphids in specialised cells. The bacteria, which are passed from mother to babies, supply the insects with crucial nutrition. If their bacteria die, the aphids die.
The scientists, who have been studying the pea aphid-bacteria system for decades, already knew the three main species of symbiotic bacteria did not make carotenoids. They also were pretty sure the aphids didn't get their carotenoids from their diet.
Aphids eat by sucking the phloem sap from plants, but the sap is carotenoid-poor. In addition, the carotenoids in the aphids were different from those usually found in plants, the scientists say.
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