Strange Machines

Unfortunately for us humans (and cats too, sorry) we’re unable to regenerate any of our parts with our stem cells like our invertebrate relative, the sea squirt. Not yet at least but scientists are working on it.

… regeneration (for the sea squirt) began from dozens of tiny compartments loaded with stem cells, which the researchers dubbed regeneration niches. “In mammals, many adult organs and tissues contain specific stem cells that are involved in repair and some restricted regeneration abilities,” biologist Ram Reshef at Technion Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa said.

Regenerating our bits would mean a longer life as we turn in our old parts for new ones. It’s one of the touted killer apps for longevity and anti-aging advocates. Right now, all we have is calorie restriction and it’s often a tough one to follow (think: pineapple tarts).

While the stem cells the researchers looked at are much like stem cells in adult mammals that give rise to our tissues and organs, “the huge difference is that they culminate in an entire organism,” Reshef said. The most important implication of their finding is the possibility that vertebrate adult tissue stem cells may exhibit the same capabilities to generate any cell in the body, he added.

Reshef and his colleagues are currently teasing apart the molecular mechanisms by which the sea squirt accomplishes its whole body regeneration and to compare that process with similar mechanisms in other invertebrates and vertebrates. “We speculate that vertebrates altered or suppressed parts or all of this ability,” Reshef said.

Hope for us, no?

(Source: LiveScience - Sea Squirt Regrows Entire Body from One Blood Vessel)

From LiveScience.com today:

Warmer temperatures promised by climate change researchers could affect children more than adults in the form of more frequent fevers.

An Australian researcher compared emergency room visits for children under age six to climate data. Higher temperatures outside were related to more visits by children with fevers and gastroenteritis.

‘We showed that maximum daily temperature is strongly associated with emergency presentations of fever and gastroenteritis among young children, with UV index negatively associated with gastroenteritis,” said Lawrence Lam, a pediatrics lecturer at Sydney University.

The possible reason: Children’s bodies can’t cope with extreme changes in temperature as well as adults.

“The results from this study suggest a detrimental effect from climatic changes, particularly in terms of maximum temperature, on children’s health,” Lam said. “As global warming is becoming more apparent, there is an urgent need for more in-depth and thorough investigation of climatic factors on human health, especially in early childhood.”

The study, announced today, is detailed in the International Journal of Environmental Health Research.

Lam found no connection between climate and emergency visits due to respiratory problems. Other researchers have speculated that global warming will fuel increased allergies.

This basically means Jack should be kept out of the sun (or wear sunblock) and be hydrated while outside.

I’ve been thinking a lot about flow lately and what sort of activities I do get immersed in, some practical, some not, and that explains why sometimes I get annoyed when interrupted midway of the activity.

* Organising pix of my cats and Jack
* Meddling with my blog or website
* Playing any RPG
* Oil painting
* Reading an engaging book
* Watching an engaging movie
* Watching a happy scene in my mind’s eye

Flow is a sort of play for adults and kids alike which has been proven to bring happiness and fulfillment.

One route to more happiness is called “flow,” an engrossing state that comes during creative or playful activity, psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has found. Athletes, musicians, writers, gamers, and religious adherents know the feeling. It comes less from what you’re doing than from how you do it.

(Source: The Keys to Happiness, and Why We Don’t Use Them)

For me, it is very therapeutic to immerse myself into something for a while.

Happiness is within our reach. We just have to stretch out and grasp it.

Since December 1, Jack’s been getting difficult at bedtime and sleeping even less. His first sleep lasts anything from 1-3 hours (3 if I’m lucky), then it is another 1-3 hours, and after that 1-2 hours.

So last night out of sheer exhaustion, we tried the CIO method (cry it out). Absolute wusses, we didn’t last 10 minutes. Poor Jack cried, then screamed till his lungs were hoarse. I leapt out of bed and held him close swearing never to do it again.

But tonight, after 3 hours of “winding down”, he still refused to go to bed despite rubbing his eyes many times. The moment we put him down, he began crying (maybe remembering what happened last night). Finally for the third time, I picked him up and nursed him, tried putting a semi-awake baby down, and he cried again.

I tried the Karp method (5Cs), carrying him on his side, tummy to tummy with me (actually it is my Mom’s method), and loudly shushing (this one is Karp’s). He began his soft whining which indicates he is very sleepy and he slowly fell asleep. Three times more I tried putting him down and three times he cried again. Eventually, he slept.

So here I am, rather exhausted but mentally awake (actually I wanted to check if the WoW maintenance was over), updating my blog with something very important: the dangers of CIO. Instinctively, it feels wrong to ignore my child’s crying. In this case, a mother’s instinct has been proved correct by science.

Science shows up Supernanny

A mental health expert warns that fashionable advice to ignore your child’s tears may cause lifelong harm

When it comes to the crowded and hotly debated world of how best to bring up baby, there is a new theory that uses brain scans to argue that controlled crying not only damages babies’ brains but produces angry, anxious adults.

‘If you ignore a crying child, tell them to shut up or put them in a room on their own, you can cause serious damage to their brains on a level that can result in severe neurosis and emotional disorders later in life,’ said Professor Margot Sunderland, a leading expert in the development of children’s brains and a British Medical Association award-winning author, who has already written more than 20 books on child mental health.

Based on her four-year study of brain scans and scientific research, Sunderland entreats parents to reject the modern theories of baby experts such as Gina Ford and Channel 4’s Supernanny, Jo Frost, who preach strict discipline, routine and controlled crying.

Sunderland’s book, The Definitive Child Rearing Book, to be published next month, provides step-by-step guidance on how to react to every swing in a child’s mood, even down to the best way to hug an upset baby.

‘The blunt truth is that uncomforted distress may cause damage to the child’s developing brain,’ said Sunderland, the director of Education and Training at the Centre for Child Mental Health in London.

She believes that parents often do not give adequate recognition to their children’s distress. While the importance of touching, cuddling and physically soothing their babies is paramount, she also advises parents of the dangers of attempting to minimise their children’s anger and emotional distress.

‘Parents should never try to persuade their child out of feeling a certain emotion,’ she said. ‘Even if your child is reading a situation in a completely different way to you, it is important to prove to them you are empathising through the time you give them and the language and facial expressions you use.

‘If your child is upset, you will reduce rather than increase their feelings of stress by not taking their upset as seriously as you would wish someone to take your own,’ she added. ‘Attempting to jolly them out of their mood will result in them internalising their stresses, which will take the same toll on their bodies and brain as unsoothed crying.’

Sunderland also believes parents often unwittingly discipline children through shame and fear. ‘It can get quick results and parents often do not realise they are doing it,’ she said. ‘But the price on a child’s developing brain can be very high and leave a legacy of anxiety and social phobia for life. It is all too easy to break a child.’

Instead, Sunderland encourages parents to be very emotional when their child is well behaved and very matter of fact when they behave badly. ‘When telling a child off, parents should use low-key voices, a monotone that states calmly but firmly what the child has done wrong and what the punishment will be.’

Sunderland believes that parents who use fighting words and phrases that demand absolute and immediate obedience will create a defiant child while thinking words, that activate their brains by giving them a choice, will defuse intense states of emotional arousal.

Often, however, Sunderland advises that words are not necessary and that calmly holding the child who is refusing to listen is enough. ‘Sometimes the child’s brain is too hyper-aroused to respond to language and a warm and loving touch is the only thing that can calm them down without conflict.’

Sunderland offers the following advice to parents:

· Do not try to persuade the child out of their emotions, however extreme or unreasonable you might feel those emotions to be.

· Do not minimise their emotions: show through touch, tone and facial expression that you understand the intensity and quality of what they are going through.

·Be their emotional rock: be kind and calm.

·Hold them - touch is vital to calm and soothe a child.

I shall do that… and I’ll look out for the book.

(Reference: Q&A: 11-week-old and self-soothing)