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[stocks]

This is fascinating.

Some scientists believe that Toxoplasma changes the personality of its human hosts, bringing different shifts to men and women. Parasitologist Jaroslav Flegr of Charles University in Prague administered psychological questionnaires to people infected with Toxoplasma and controls. Those infected, he found, show a small, but statistically significant, tendency to be more self-reproaching and insecure. Paradoxically, infected women, on average, tend to be more outgoing and warmhearted than controls, while infected men tend to be more jealous and suspicious.

http://www.corante.c...pet_masters.php

[muppet]

Hi Stocks, That article on parasites IS interesting. I used to think that alternative health advocates were a bit flakey when they talked about all the disorders caused by "parasites" ... it sounded too sensationalist. But I'm now more interested in the links between several human health disorders and parasitic infection. The challenge is always in maintaining some sort of reasonable balance between the favorable and unfavorable bugs. As well, Jeffrey Gordon and his team of researchers at Washington University recently found that specific "bugs" living in the human gut are linked to obesity (published in the journal "Nature"). Thin people have distinctively different gut flora (bugs) than do people who are overweight. It's clear that humans are not just a mass of cells, but have constant symbiotic and parasitic relationships with many different microbes. Again, the goal is maintaining a healthy balance. So what is living in our guts? .... and what affect are these critters having on our behaviour? And if we alter our gut flora ... what will occur? I've done some personal experimenting with good results. The whole field of study is fascinating. Thanks for the link. M.

Edited by muppet, 20 March 2007 - 12:40 PM.