Hah, Ok so first I have to confess that I am a bit off a mozzy (mosquitoe) geek as I have a soft spot for this area of research, for two reasons;

1-My first ever real research project that I designed myself as a undergraduate was on Malaria and mozzy’s

2-Sudan is full of them and has both the species that carry malaria in abundance and they like to bite me, lots, whenever I go home ggggrrrrhhh!

Side note/Trivia: Did you know that mosques (Islamic house of prayer) are called mosques in England instead of Masjid (which is the correct word) because when the English landed in countries which contained Masjid’s and they heard the call to prayer, the soldiers described the sound as the buzzing of mosquitoes, hence the term mosque instead of Masjid.

Anyhoo, back to the topic at hand, due to the above reasons, I am still a member of a number of web journals all about mozzys’ and malaria and it just so happens that only yesterday I read this paper.

Click here if you feel up-to the hard-core science (I hope some of you do 🙂 otherwise play this live ensemble by Seun Kuti feat Manu Dibango whilst I try and break it down.

I always used to say to my dad ” it really is not fair, how come you never get bitten and I always get bitten” and he used to come at me with an African proverb that translates to “My old skin/blood is dry and your young skin/blood is sweet my dear”.LOL

So I looked it up and it turns out he was kinda right. Firstly, I thought a mozzy was just looking for blood, so what does it matter who’s blood it has for dinner, right? I was wrong.

Actually, the mosquito that carries malaria aka Anopheles gambiae, tracks its victims with an acute sense of smell.

Now when I say acute, I really mean it, as the smells they are attracted to come from the billions of tiny bacteria that live on our skin. Skin bacteria gives us all our own “scent” if you will, and we need them as they help convert chemicals on our skin into those that can easily rise into the air.

So here is the answer to your question. We all have different types of bacteria on our skin or different concentrations of a particular type. Therefore, our scent will be different, your scent must be far more attractive than your partners.

Recently, Neils Verhulst et al (2011) discovered that the bacteria on our skin does affect the odds of being bitten by a malarial mosquito and they have even managed to identify which of the different types of skin bacteria are more attractive.This has exciting implications for malaria research.

What can you do?

There are a few things that you can do to make yourself less “attractive” to mozzys

1-We know from past experiments that human sweat becomes more enticing to A.gambiae, therefore a shower before sundown might help.

2-Your diet matters, for example we know that drinking bear can give a attractive odour

3-Cover up as much as possible during the evenings when the mozzy’s come out to play

Hope that helps.

Ex

The good ol’ red wine and heart Question! aaah yes, I do get asked this frequently and actually it’s my area of “expertise” as I worked in the cardiovascular arena for 5 years.

So here it goes, I hope you’re all ready for this? I promise to try and keep it simple 🙂 but just in-case click play for some background music

Yes, red wine (or white) is good for the heart, IF you drink it moderately and you are generally “healthy”! That means if you are unhealthy or “at Risk” don’t be fooled into thinking that wine is your savior, it will do you more harm than good if you go over moderate!

Right, now that’s out of the way, I’ll explain why?

1- The reason red wine is quoted more than white is because the types of grapes that red wine is made from contain a higher concentration of Flavonoids. Flavonoids are polyphenolic antioxidants found in many plants and vegetables but are especially abundant in red grapes.

2- Now here is the Science bit; Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) the “bad” cholesterol/fat that you hear about on TV is the stuff that undergoes oxidation and initiates the process of atherogenesis (fat deposits in your arteries/heart), which can lead to heart disease.

3- Put 1 and 2 together and you can see why red wine is good as the higher concentration of flavonoids following wine consumption act as an ANTI-oxidant, hindering that process.

4-Wine also contains alcohol, and prospective epidemiological studies have suggested that alcohol, in all of its forms, increases plasma High Density Lipoprotein and it’s major apolipoprotein, Apo A1. HDL is the good protein, which protects against heart disease and a increase in HDL concentration is inversely related to a 50% reduction in atherosclerosis.

HOWEVER

5-Studies DO NOT show these benefits to be highly-significant especially as the fitness, diet and honesty of cohorts varies so much in studies. But studies DO show absolutely that alcohol, especially in excess, does have detrimental effects, in most groups and outweigh its benefits. Other interventions, including dietary modification, are far more effective at reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease. Hence the confusion!

To Conclude:

regular light-to-moderate alcohol intake, especially in those at risk, whose diet is steadfastly Western will, at the very least, do no harm and almost certainly lead to benefit. For those who have a healthy diet and lifestyle, you can probably push it a little more? I’m just saying tho, disclaimer!!

Now you gotta decide what light-to-moderate is in relation to your personal level of fitness and make an educated guess LOL

Click here for one of the best reviews I have read for further details, history and info

Hope that helps, if you have any more questions leave me a comment and I will do my best to reply.

Happy light-to-moderate drinking

Peace.

Ex

Even Books Need A Little Music: LOVE

oh yes, I remember telling my mother and farther the same thing while I was studying for exams. They complained a lot, I ignored them a lot and eventually they stopped telling me, a lot.

The simple answer, is yes and no lol

Yes, it is true when it comes to memory recall. It has been proven that if you associate a concept to a song and/or the word within a song or the melody of a song it helps you recall the concept from memory much easier. This is good for subjects like history, humanities, geography, Biology, Psychology etc

No, it is not true when it comes to learning figures or facts. So subjects like maths, physics, charts, tables etc. However, converting equations into song-form has been proven to increase grades in students.

What is important to understand is that music has lots of benefits, including making you feel better and surely a happy student will do better than a less happy student without his music. You can then advise him on how to use his music to help him study better by suggesting he links some of it to his subjects or pay careful attention and see if you can make the links for him? then suggest them in that way that only a parent can do 🙂

Have a read of this link and see for yourself how music affects the Brain and how you can use it to your advantage.

Hope that helps

Ex