A Brain Cyst Writhing With Toxoplasmid Parasites : DJP Feruson/University of Oxford, via Cosmos Magazine
Crazy Cat Lady
Posted on 03/09/2010 6:41:03 PM PST by JoeProBono
Toxoplasmosis, a common food- and pet-borne illness linked to hallucinations, personality alteration, and, since it's often carried by house pets, the stereotype of the crazy cat lady, infects around 15 percent of the US population. Luckily, a new technique that traps the parasite with gold nanoparticles, and then zaps them with lasers, should help ease the $7.7 billion the disease costs America every year.
The treatment, developed at the University of Technology Sydney, Australia, uses gold nanoparticles that attach to toxoplasmid-hunting antibodies. The gold carrying-antibodies then spread through the circulatory system, affixing themselves to parasites in the blood.
Once the gold particles are well distributed and widely attached to the parasite, the laser heats up the gold, incinerating the parasites. According to the researchers, the laser could be tuned to the so-called "tissue window", a wavelength of light to which the human body appears transparent. That way, the laser can pass harmlessly through the skin, burning up the parasites along the way
A Brain Cyst Writhing With Toxoplasmid Parasites : DJP Feruson/University of Oxford, via Cosmos Magazine
Crazy Cat Lady
Moderator needs to pull this one or put a warning on the title. I forget her name but she is so frightening. Helen Thomas is a pinup by comparison.
This is really gross about cat sickness parasite. Do dogs carry this?
Would it work on Nancy Pelosi?
oooooh...thats awful
Is this of a piece with that theory that schizophrenia is actually caused by a cat parasite?
That it was extremely rare before people started keeping kitties in significant numbers?
>>Toxoplasmosis, a common food- and pet-borne illness linked to hallucinations, personality alteration, and, since it’s often carried by house pets, the stereotype of the crazy cat lady, infects around 15 percent of the US population.<<
Finally, a scientific explanation for paulbots!
"Is this why a peacefully-sleeping cat will suddenly jump upright and spazz across the room and down the hall for no reason?"
Cheers!
1. Poltergeists
2. A sudden compelling urge to be in a different room because that room might have.... you guessed it, a poltergeist.
Is this what causes otherwise good-looking people to inject their lips with collagen and turn them into big blubber lips? AKA trout pout, fish lips, etc.
Misplaced vanity
Ping.
No, not vanity. A serious misreading (or mis-skimming) of the article. I thought it had to do with the “catwoman” of plastic surgery. That’s what happens when you only skim! I apologize.
;-{)
Learn just a little more about parasites and you’ll never eat anything again without thoroughly washing it or cooking it until it is well done. There are all kinds of critters ready to take up residence inside of us.
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