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To: yefragetuwrabrumuy

You are correct. I use that in the paper, to support the contention political ideology is related to dopamine signaling.

My guess is r and K are fundamental states of mind, and the effects of T. gondii are just a simple exploitation of that pre-designed neurological system.

By shifting rats towards an r-strategy, T.gondii not only makes them approach threats. It will also increase rat reproductive rats by making them more r, thus producing more rats to get infected, and get eaten. If the rat’s didn’t become more r, they might get eaten to the point their population disappeared.

Oddly enough, France has near 80% T. gondii infection in humans, due to raw meat consumption. Animals on farms pick the cyst up from cats and rats, and harbor it in their meat. If the meat isn’t cooked, the cyst will make it into humans. Cook your food.


9 posted on 06/22/2012 11:02:30 AM PDT by AnonymousConservative (Why did Liberals evolve within our species? www.anonymousconservative.com)
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To: AnonymousConservative
My guess is r and K are fundamental states of mind, and the effects of T. gondii are just a simple exploitation of that pre-designed neurological system.

Maybe, though studies of neurological control by parasites shows that some have a rather astounding detail to their control. The pre-design is already there, but it seems more than a "simple exploitation."

Mice form social bonds with other mice, and are inherently afraid of cats, which the T. gondii parasite changes to an affinity for cats. Maybe it is simple in one sense, but it seems a very detailed mechanism, as it would be simpler to shut off fear altogether, which I have not read that it does.

20 posted on 07/01/2012 9:25:46 AM PDT by lepton ("It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into"--Jonathan Swift)
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