Day: 08/19/2015

A metabolic master switch underlying human obesity

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A metabolic master switch underlying human obesity
Fat cells in the human body. 

Obesity is one of the biggest public health challenges of the 21st century. Affecting more than 500 million people worldwide, obesity costs at least $200 billion each year in the United States alone, and contributes to potentially fatal disorders such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and cancer.

But there may now be a new approach to prevent and even cure obesity, thanks to a study led by researchers at MIT and Harvard Medical School and published today in the New England Journal of Medicine. By analyzing the cellular circuitry underlying the strongest genetic association with obesity, the researchers have unveiled a new pathway that controls human metabolism by prompting our , or fat cells, to store fat or burn it away.

“Obesity has traditionally been seen as the result of an imbalance between the amount of food we eat and how much we exercise, but this view ignores the contribution of genetics to each individual’s metabolism,” says senior author Manolis Kellis, a professor of computer science and a member of MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) and of the Broad Institute.

New mechanism found

The strongest association with obesity resides in a gene region known as “FTO,” which has been the focus of intense scrutiny since its discovery in 2007. However, previous studies have failed to find a mechanism to explain how in the region lead to obesity.

“Many studies attempted to link the FTO region with brain circuits that control appetite or propensity to exercise,” says first author Melina Claussnitzer, a visiting professor at CSAIL and instructor in medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School. “Our results indicate that the obesity-associated region acts primarily in adipocyte progenitor cells in a brain-independent way.”

To recognize the cell types where the obesity-associated region may act, the researchers used annotations of genomic control switches across more than 100 tissues and cell types. They found evidence of a major control switchboard in human adipocyte progenitor cells, suggesting that genetic differences may affect the functioning of human fat stores.

To study the effects of genetic differences in adipocytes, the researchers gathered adipose samples from healthy Europeans carrying either the risk or the non-risk version of the region. They found that the risk version activated a major control region in adipocyte progenitor cells, which turned on two distant genes, IRX3 and IRX5.

Control of thermogenesis

Follow-up experiments showed that IRX3 and IRX5 act as master controllers of a process known as thermogenesis, whereby adipocytes dissipate energy as heat, instead of storing it as fat. Thermogenesis can be triggered by exercise, diet, or exposure to cold, and occurs both in mitochondria-rich brown adipocytes that are developmentally related to muscle, and in beige adipocytes that are instead related to energy-storing white adipocytes.

“Early studies of thermogenesis focused primarily on brown fat, which plays a major role in mice, but is virtually nonexistent in human adults,” Claussnitzer says. “This new pathway controls thermogenesis in the more abundant white fat stores instead, and its genetic association with obesity indicates it affects global energy balance in humans.”

The researchers predicted that a genetic difference of only one nucleotide is responsible for the obesity association. In risk individuals, a thymine (T) is replaced by a cytosine (C) nucleobase, which disrupts repression of the control region and turns on IRX3 and IRX5. This then turns off thermogenesis, leading to lipid accumulation and ultimately obesity.

By editing a single nucleotide position using the CRISPR/Cas9 system—a technology that allows researchers to make precise changes to a DNA sequence—the researchers could switch between lean and obese signatures in human pre-adipocytes. Switching the C to a T in risk individuals turned off IRX3 and IRX5, restored thermogenesis to non-risk levels, and switched off lipid storage genes.

“Knowing the causal variant underlying the obesity association may allow somatic genome editing as a therapeutic avenue for individuals carrying the risk allele,” Kellis says. “But more importantly, the uncovered cellular circuits may allow us to dial a metabolic master switch for both risk and non-risk individuals, as a means to counter environmental, lifestyle, or genetic contributors to obesity.”

Success in human and mouse cells

The researchers showed that they could indeed manipulate this new pathway to reverse the signatures of obesity in both human cells and mice.

In primary adipose cells from either risk or non-risk individuals, altering the expression of either IRX3 or IRX5 switched between energy-storing white adipocyte functions and energy-burning beige adipocyte functions.

Similarly, repression of IRX3 in mouse adipocytes led to dramatic changes in whole-body energy balance, resulting in a reduction of body weight and all major fat stores, and complete resistance to a high-fat diet.

“By manipulating this new pathway, we could switch between energy storage and energy dissipation programs at both the cellular and the organismal level, providing new hope for a cure against obesity,” Kellis says.

The researchers are currently establishing collaborations in academia and industry to translate their findings into therapeutics. They are also using their approach as a model to understand the circuitry of other disease-associated regions in the human genome.

Scientists successfully grow human brain equivalent to 5-week-old foetus in the lab – ScienceAlert

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The most complete brain ever grown in a lab: 99% of genes accounted for.

Growing brain tissue in a dish has been done before, but bold new research announced this week shows that scientists’ ability to create human brains in laboratory settings has come a long way quickly.

Researchers at the Ohio State University in the US claim to have developed the most complete laboratory-grown human brain ever, creating a model with the brain maturity of a 5-week-old foetus. The brain, which is approximately the size of a pencil eraser, contains 99 percent of the genes that would be present in a natural human foetal brain.

It not only looks like the developing brain, its diverse cell types express nearly all genes like a brain,” Rene Anand, professor of biological chemistry and pharmacology at Ohio State and lead researcher on the brain model, said in a statement.

“We’ve struggled for a long time trying to solve complex brain disease problems that cause tremendous pain and suffering. The power of this brain model bodes very well for human health because it gives us better and more relevant options to test and develop therapeutics other than rodents.”

Anand turned to stem cell engineering four years ago after his specialised field of research – examining the relationship between nicotinic receptors and central nervous system disorders – ran into complications using rodent specimens. Despite having limited funds, Anand and his colleagues succeeded with their proprietary technique, which they are in the process of commercialising.

The brain they have developed is a virtually complete recreation of a human foetal brain, primarily missing only a vascular system – in other words, all the blood vessels. But everything else (spinal cord, major brain regions, multiple cell types, signalling circuitry is there). What’s more, it’s functioning, with high-resolution imaging of the brain model showing functioning neurons and brain cells.

The researchers say that it takes 15 weeks to grow a lab-developed brain to the equivalent of a 5-week-old foetal human brain, and the longer the maturation process the more complete the organoid will become.

“If we let it go to 16 or 20 weeks, that might complete it, filling in that 1 percent of missing genes. We don’t know yet,” said Anand.

The scientific benefit of growing human brains in laboratory settings is that itenables high-end research into human diseases that cannot be completed using rodents.

“In central nervous system diseases, this will enable studies of either underlying genetic susceptibility or purely environmental influences, or a combination,” said Anand. “Genomic science infers there are up to 600 genes that give rise to autism, but we are stuck there. Mathematical correlations and statistical methods are insufficient to in themselves identify causation. You need an experimental system – you need a human brain.”

Epidemic of sea mammal deaths explodes as Fukushima radiation contaminates one-third of the earth

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Dead and dying sea mammals continue to wash ashore at unusual and alarming rates along the California coast. Scientists are stumped, suggesting that the cause may be food shortages caused by abnormally warm waters – but unsure of what has caused the ocean off the California coast to warm so rapidly.

radiation

Meanwhile, the radioactive plume released into the Pacific Ocean following the Fukushima nuclear disaster draws ever closer to North America’s western coast. At the same time, radioactive material is still pouring into the sea from the Fukushima site. Could the ongoing radioactive poisoning of the Pacific and the dying of its marine mammals be related?

Whales, dolphins now affected

On July 6, San Francisco news outlets reported the discovery of a large dead dolphin that had washed ashore at nearby Ocean Beach. While one death might not be particularly unusual, a dead sea lion pup and a dead adult elephant seal were also found washed up at the same beach, on the same day.

In the few months prior, numerous dead whales had washed up along the nearby coast.

At the same time, literally thousands of dead and dying sea lions have been beaching themselves from San Francisco to San Diego. In the first three months of the year, more than 1,800 sea lions – many of them starving and sickly juveniles – were found on beaches or in coastal back yards. More than a thousand of these sea lions beached themselves in March alone.

“You could equate it to a war zone,” said Keith Matassa of the Pacific Marine Mammal Center.

Three of five years since 2011 – the year of the Fukushima disaster – have seen abnormally high numbers of sea lion strandings.

Mainstream scientists are not pointing the finger at radiation, however. Instead, they suspect that marine mammals are dying due to a food shortage caused by abnormally warm ocean temperatures. And they may have a point: Temperatures between San Francisco and Monterey are an astonishing 5 degrees warmer than normal for the time of year.

A third of the world poisoned?

Scientists do not know why the waters are so warm, and have not studied a possible contribution from the massive amount of radioactive material from the Fukushima disaster that is predicted to slam into the California coast some time in 2017. Without such a study, any connection may have to remain speculative.

What is certain, however, is that the massive release of radioactive material into the Pacific Ocean is likely to have dire ecological consequences.

“Every day, four hundred tons of highly radioactive water pours into the Pacific and heads towards the U.S.,” renowned physician and anti-nuclear advocate Helen Caldicott warned in September 2014. “Because the radiation accumulates in fish, we get that too. The U.S. government is not testing the water, not testing the fish, and not testing the ambient air. Also, people in Japan are eating radiation every day.”

Asian Pacific governments are also taking the threat seriously. In 2011, 19 Pacific member states of the International Atomic Energy Agency launched a study into the possible effects of Fukushima radioactive releases on the region.

“Following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan on 11 March 2011 and their subsequent impact on the nuclear reactors and associated fuel storage ponds at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, there have been releases of radioactively contaminated water into the marine environment neighboring the north east coast of the island of Honshu,” the project document reads. “It is assumed that this radioactive contamination could be transported and circulated through the Pacific Ocean. Consequently … member states have expressed concern about the possible impact of these releases on their coastal zones.”

“The area potentially affected may encompass much of the Pacific Ocean, which covers one third of the area of the globe,” the document warns.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/050844_Fukushima_radiation_marine_life.html#ixzz3jtp1sKXx

Israeli Scientists Make Breakthrough Discovery in Combating Global Hunger .

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Israeli scientists have broken the genetic code of wheat, providing humanity with the keys to alleviate global hunger.

Israeli scientists were successful in fully mapping the genome of Wild Emmer wheat, thus providing vital information that could create a global breakthrough in reducing malnutritionamong those whose diet is based on this staple crop.

Wild Emmer, the progenitor of today’s durum and bread wheat varieties, was one of the first crops to be domesticated thousands of years ago in the Middle East.

Dr. Gil Ronen, CEO of NRGene, spoke of an historical moment. “Mapping the Emmer genome in Israel brings everything full circle. Aaron Aaronson [a Jewish researcher in pre-state Israel] identified the variety in Rosh Pina in 1906 and proved that Emmer wheat was the basis for the development of cultivated wheat.”

Reversing Global Hunger

Dr. Assaf Distelfeld and other scientists at Tel Aviv University have been working on wheat improvement for more than 10 years.

“Mapping Emmer wheat is critical to global wheat research as it is the direct ancestor of cultivated wheat,” said Distelfeld, head of the Emmer wheat consortium. “With a genome map of Emmer wheat, scientists at universities, global seed research centers and the major seed companies will be able to breed seeds with higher yields, better disease resistance, and more adaptability to extreme growing environments, such as drought or extreme heat conditions.”

Assaf Distelfeld

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For example, wild Emmer wheat is rich in nutrients such as iron and zinc and can be naturally crossed with cultivated wheat. Transferring this trait to bread could reduce malnutrition among those whose diet is based on this staple crop.

“The repercussions of the mapping will be felt around the world,” Distelfeld expanded. “Scientists will now be able to identify key genes in the Emmer wheat and introduce them into commercial wheat via classical breeding, creating hardier varieties across environmental conditions, ultimately increasing the global food supply.”

Researchers participating in the program represent an international collaboration of leading universities in Israel and across the globe, including Tel Aviv University, Hebrew University, Weizmann Institute of Science, University of Haifa and Ben-Gurion University in Beer Sheva.

NRGene, located in Ness Ziona in the Tel Aviv area, is a genomic big data company developing cutting-edge software and algorithms to reveal the complexity and diversity of plants and animals for the most advanced computational breeding. NRGene tools have already been employed by some of the leading seed companies as well the most influential teams in academics and NGOs.

Smarter children could be more likely to develop bipolar disorder, scientists say .

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Brighter children are more likely to develop bipolar disorder as they grow up, a new study has said.

Scientists from the Universities of Bristol, Glasgow, Cardiff and Texas have suggested that children who present a higher IQ at age eight are more like to exhibit signs of the mood disorder when they reach 22 or 23 years of age.

The research, which was published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, followed 1,881 individuals. It tested their verbal and performance IQs at eight and “lifetime manic features” at 22.

Individuals who scored in the top 10 per cent of manic features had a mean childhood IQ almost 10 points higher than those scoring in the lowest 10 per cent of manic features.

Professor Daniel Smith, in the Institute of Health & Wellbeing at Glasgow, said: “A possible link between bipolar disorder and intelligence and creativity has been discussed for many years and many studies have suggested a link.

“In this large study, we found that better performance on IQ tests at age eight predicted bipolar features in young adulthood.”

He stressed that the study did not suggest that high IQ was “clear cut risk factor for bipolar disorder” but there was a “shared biology” between the two that need to be understood better.

Professor Smith said other factors such as a family history of mental illness, traumatic childhood events and drugs also play a part in the development of the condition.

‘Quantum dot’ technology may help light the future

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'Quantum dot' technology may help light the future
The orange color in the letters ‘OSU’ is produced from ‘quantum dots’ viewed under a microscope, as they absorb blue light and emit the light as orange — an illustration of some of the potential of new technology being developed at Oregon State University. Credit: Oregon State University

Advances at Oregon State University in manufacturing technology for “quantum dots” may soon lead to a new generation of LED lighting that produces a more user-friendly white light, while using less toxic materials and low-cost manufacturing processes that take advantage of simple microwave heating.

The cost, environmental, and performance improvements could finally produce solid state lighting systems that consumers really like and help the nation cut its lighting bill almost in half, researchers say, compared to the cost of incandescent and .

The same technology may also be widely incorporated into improved lighting displays, computer screens, smart phones, televisions and other systems.

A key to the advances, which have been published in the Journal of Nanoparticle Research, is use of both a “continuous flow” chemical reactor, and technology that’s conceptually similar to the ovens that are part of almost every modern kitchen.

The continuous flow system is fast, cheap, energy efficient and will cut manufacturing costs. And the microwave heating technology will address a problem that so far has held back wider use of these systems, which is precise control of heat needed during the process. The microwave approach will translate into development of nanoparticles that are exactly the right size, shape and composition.

“There are a variety of products and technologies that can be applied to, but for mass consumer use, possibly the most important is improved LED lighting,” said Greg Herman, an associate professor and chemical engineer in the OSU College of Engineering.

“We may finally be able to produce low cost, energy efficient LED lighting with the soft quality of white light that people really want,” Herman said. “At the same time, this technology will use nontoxic materials and dramatically reduce the waste of the materials that are used, which translates to lower cost and environmental protection.”

Some of the best existing LED lighting now being produced at industrial levels, Herman said, uses cadmium, which is highly toxic. The system currently being tested and developed at OSU is based on , a much more benign material with high energy conversion efficiency.

Quantum dots are nanoparticles that can be used to emit light, and by precisely controlling the size of the particle, the color of the light can be controlled. They’ve been used for some time but can be expensive and lack optimal color control. The manufacturing techniques being developed at OSU, which should be able to scale up to large volumes for low-cost commercial applications, will provide new ways to offer the precision needed for better color control.

By comparison, some past systems to create these nanoparticles for uses in optics, electronics or even biomedicine have been slow, expensive, sometimes toxic and often wasteful.

Oher applications of these systems are also possible. Cell phones and might use less power and last much longer on a charge. “Taggants,” or compounds with specific infrared or visible light emissions, could be used for precise and instant identification, including control of counterfeit bills or products.

Coconut Water: A New Alzheimer’s Disease Treatment?

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Unlike conventional drug treatments for Alzheimer’s disease, coconut oil and water may help resolve some of the root causes of neurodegenerative conditions. 

green-coconut-with-water

Have you ever noticed that sometimes a food that nourish a particular organ often look uncannily similar to it? For instance, the walnut shell and bi-hemispheric flesh look awfully like the skull and brain it is now known to be exceptionally good for. Pomegranate fruit, the actual fruiting ovary of the plant, looks a lot like the mammalian ovary that it has been proven to support, containing relatively high levels of the actual bioidentical estrogen estrone. So too is the case with the head-like coconut, which is increasingly being looked at for preventing and/or improving brain dysfunctions such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD) due to its wide range of potentially therapeutic properties, such as:

1) Increasingly energy production in the brain by providing neurons an alternative to glucose, namely, the brain-nourishing metabolites of medium chain fatty acids known as ketone bodies.

2) By contributing potent antioxidant polyphenols that may reduce oxidative stress, improve brain blood circulation and reducing neuroinflammation

3)  By inhibiting amyloid beta plaque-associated neuronal toxicity.

Indeed, a growing number of cell, animal, human and population-based studies reveal that coconut consumption may provide a natural solution to a growing global epidemic that pharmaceutical drugs have been shown to do nothing to mitigate. In fact, we have discussed in previous articles how modern drug-based treatment for AD actually is more like chemical warfare than a therapeutic intervention.

One reason why conventional interventions are so ineffective is that the brain is highly protected against the entry of chemicals due to the brain-blood-barrier (BBB), with most small molecule drugs and virtually all large molecule drugs incapable of gaining entry to the brain because of it. Even naturally occurring biomolecules such as fats have a hard time penetrating directly through the BBB. Coconut may be an exception to this rule, as it has copious amounts of the medium chain triglyceride known as caprylic acid, which preliminary research indicates is able to pass through the BBB and which has been demonstrated to possess  anti-convulsive and neuroprotective properties in the animal model.[1]

Coconut Water’s Anti-Alzheimer’s Properties

We have reported previously on coconut oil and Alzheimer’s research, but it appears another coconut product: coconut water, which contains no fatty acids of physiological relevance, may also have great value for those suffering with Alzheimer’s disease.

Coconut water is one of nature’s best forms of hydration due to its isotonic properties (it is able to pass through cell membranes easily). And while the focus on brain health has been primarily on brain structures, e.g. neurons, brain plaque, etc., little focus has been on the role of water in brain health, and particularly dehydration as a factor in chronic neurodegeneration illness. Coconut water may help to restore hydration to the brain, and considering thediscovery of a 4th phase of water known as EZ by Gerald Pollack which acts like a battery by absorbing the energy of sunlight, this increased hydration of the brain may also translate to increased energy production in those tissues and associated improvements in cognition.

First, coconut water contains a range of essential biomolecules needed for health, including vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, amino acids, enzymes, growth factors and other nutrients which have yet to be fully characterized.

Second, one of the more promising classes of phytocompounds in coconut water (and related plants) is known as cytokinins. These plant hormones modulate plant cell division and are believed to have anti-aging properties. One cytokinin known as trans-zeatin has been investigated as a possible new treatment for neuronal diseases including Alzheimer’s disease. According to a recent review on coconut’s value in Alzheimer’s disease, trans-zeatin is capable of preventing the brain cell damaging properties of amyloid beta brain plaque and related impairments in memory:

“Zeatin has demonstrated antioxidant and cell protective effects against Ab-induced neurotoxicity in cultures of neuronal PC12 cells, and in experiments of mice treated with scopolamine to induce amnesia, pretreatment of the mice with zeatin caused a reduction in the level of induced amnesia, according to the passive avoidance test and Y maze test(165)[2]. Interestingly, another study has found that trans-zeatin could inhibit acetylcholinesterase (166,167)[3][4]. This indicates that cytokinin could have therapeutic value, as levels of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine are reduced in AD, and acetylcholinesterase inhibitors are currently used to ameliorate the symptoms of AD.”

The enzyme acetylcholinersterase is the target of most AD drugs, because when this enzyme is inhibited it increases the duration of activity for the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which in Alzheimer’s patients is believed to impaired or deficient.

Furthermore, the study pointed out another potentially beneficial property of coconut water for neurodegenerative disease via improving cardiovascular disease parameters (e.g. blood lipids and blood pressure):

“Coconut water has also been shown to have beneficial effects on serum and tissue lipid parameters, when given to rats concurrently fed a high-cholesterol containing diet(168).[5] Another study has investigated the positive effect of regular consumption of two tropical food drinks, coconut (C. nucifera) water and mauby (Colubrina arborescens), on the control of hypertension(169).[6] The combined products were found to be almost twice as effective as the products in isolation.”

If you have followed my previous writing on coconut water it is no secret to you that I am quite smitten with coconut water. In a previous article, “Coconut Water: More Than Just A Refreshing Beverage,” I broke down the multitude of health benefits it has been studied to possess. Despite these scientifically validated health properties, a common concern is coconut water’s sugar content. And yet, despite coconut water’s sweet taste and not insignificant simple sugar content it has actually been studied to have significant anti-diabetic properties.[7][8] Also, take a look at this study showing that coconut water may outperform a blockbuster statin drug[9] for improving blood lipid profiles.  Because statin drugs are well known diabetogenic agents, coconut’s potential role in substituting for statin drugs may actually make it a powerful contributor to reducing iatrogenic, drug-caused diabetes.

Ultimately, I believe a compelling pattern of evidence points to the use of coconut oil and water as a therapeutic agent in the prevention and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. To learn more about how alternative fuel sources such as fatty acids may benefit brain health read “Sugar and Your Brain: Is Alzheimer’s Disease Actually Type 3 Diabetes?” To explore a rich database of research on natural interventions for Alzheimer’s disease view our section dedicated to the topic here: Alzheimer’s disease research.

Article References

[1] Wlaz´ P, Soca?a K, Nieoczym D, et al. (2012) Anticonvulsant profile of caprylic acid, a main constituent of the medium chain triglyceride (MCT) ketogenic diet, in mice. Neuropharmacology 62, 1882–1889.

[2] Choi SJ, Jeong CH, Choi SG, et al. (2009) Zeatin prevents amyloid b-induced neurotoxicity and scopolamine-induced cognitive deficits. J Med Food 12, 271–277.

[3] Heo HJ, Hong SC, Cho HY, et al. (2002) Inhibitory effect of zeatin, isolated from Fatoua villosa, on acetylcholinesterase activity from PC12 cells. Mol Cells 13, 113–117.

[4] Mirjana BC?, Danijela ZK & Tamara DL (2013) Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors: pharmacology and toxicology. Curr Neuropharmacol 11, 315–335.

[5] Sandhya VG & Rajamohan T (2006) Beneficial effects of coconut water feeding on lipid metabolism in cholesterolfed rats. J Med Food 9, 400–407. 169.

[6]  Alleyne T, Roache S, Thomas C, et al. (2005) The control of hypertension by use of coconut water and mauby: two tropical food drinks. West Indian Med J 54, 3–8.

[7] Isabella F D Pinto, Railmara P Silva, Adriano de B Chaves Filho, Lucas S Dantas, Vanderson S Bispo, Isaac A Matos, Felipe A M Otsuka, Aline C Santos, Humberto Reis Matos. Study of Antiglycation, Hypoglycemic, and Nephroprotective Activities of the Green Dwarf Variety Coconut Water (Cocos nucifera L.) in Alloxan-Induced Diabetic Rats. J Med Food. 2015 Feb 4. Epub 2015 Feb 4. PMID: 25651375

[8] P P Preetha, V Girija Devi, T Rajamohan. Hypoglycemic and antioxidant potential of coconut water in experimental diabetes. Food Funct. 2012 May 11. Epub 2012 May 11. PMID:22576019

Sex and the Psychopath

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By definition, the psychopath doesn’t have successful relationships. Actually, the truth is more about capacity thanquality. With the psychopath, there is an absence of emotional connection and true empathetic feeling. The psychopath simply isn’t capable of trusting and depending on another individual. To sit with them and assess them as I have inforensic settings, it’s as if you’re talking with someone who’s part ice. Though they engage in sex (and other trappings of relationships), their experience of sex is vastly different from their non-psychopathic peers.

gpointstudio/Shutterstock

First, let’s quickly review the most disturbing traits of the psychopath: According to theAntisocial Personality Questionnaire (Blackburn & Fawcett, 1999), primary psychopathy is characterized by hostility, extraversion, self-confidence, impulsivity, aggression, and mild-to-moderate anxiety. Though the psychopath may commit illegal crimes, a psychopath can go through life wreaking harm on others and yet never commit an actual crime. The traits of the psychopath are deeply troubling when applied to sex and relationships.

Sex is never a mutually emotional experience with a psychopath.

Conventional wisdom suggests that sex should be an emotional and intimate experience. Think of any popular ballad on the radio, and you know what I mean—songs about idealistic, perfect love in which both partners love and trust, and make love until dawn because their emotional connection is so strong. Simply put, a psychopath would be the last person in the world to have that kind of lasting, sustainable connection. Psychopaths are chiefly oriented around getting their most important needs met, regardless of the expense to others.

Because psychopaths don’t have mutually dependent and respectful romantic relationships, they can’t have a healthy sex life, either. The psychopath is often a pro at seducing and getting someone into bed, but the process is more a calculated game than an organic emotional—and then sexual—experience.

What turns on the psychopath?

The psychopath is sexually motivated by power—everything is a means to an end. If having a sexual relationship with a woman means that she will then trust him more or give him more money, he will perform the sexual task with Herculean bravado. Some of the women I have worked with who have gotten involved with psychopaths actually share how amazing sex can be with them.

How could this be so?

Like much of their behavior, psychopaths have mastered the art of performance. They perform in areas of their lives most people wouldn’t even imagine—saying “I’m sorry” with the right sensitive tone, having seen an actor do it really well in a movie; professing love as if the world were to end the next day, reminiscent of lyrics from a popular song; and always dressing the part wherever they may be, understanding that image and first impressions can lure others into their lair. When it comes to sex, psychopaths perform, too.

The psychopath who seeks to drain the bank account of a vulnerable but wealthy individual will have as much sex—or provide the best sex possible—if it helps him or her achieve that goal. Similarly, another psychopath who has sexual urges seeks a willing partner on whom to force himself and have sex as rough as necessary to discharge the dysregulated, hostile energy.

Promiscuous behavior, and multiple short-term relationships.

The psychopath frequently engages in promiscuous sexual behavior or has many short-term marital relationships, both items on Robert Hare’s seminal Psychopathy Checklist—Revised (1991). Ali and Chamorro-Premuzic (2010), for example, found that primary psychopathy was positively associated with promiscuity (e.g., psychopathy meant more promiscuity) and negatively associated with commitment (e.g., psychopathy meant less commitment).

Psychopaths don’t engage in promiscuous sex because they love sex so much; it’s more about boosting their ego when they feel rejected, obtaining power, or defending against the boredom psychopaths often feel. Plus, sex—especially with a stranger—allows the psychopath to get incredibly quick access to another person at their most sexually intimate and vulnerable. Because psychopaths constantly have their eye on a goal, getting someone in a vulnerable position allows them to take more advantage of them. If someone is lonely, they may be more susceptible to the sexual advances of a psychopath—even if their instinct tells them something about this new person seems off or, as is sometimes the case, they seem “too good to be true.”

The psychopath at the bar, restaurant, or other social hangout.

Bars and restaurants with active happy hours are especially popular spots for psychopaths to sexually pursue individuals. With the wheels greased with alcohol, men and women alike are more willing to fall prey to the psychopath’s highly calculated strategies to ensnare. The psychopath in this setting can be spotted by picking up on the following signals: excessive, forced flattery; looking for pity or sympathy; creating a sense that the two share a deep, almost destined connection right from the start; and asking extremely personal questions too soon in service of the need to ascertain the target’s emotional weaknesses.

Finding victims when they’re lonely, depressed, or emotionally lost.

A female client of mine who started her relationship with a psychopath in a bar later told me, “I thought he was coming on a little strong, but I guess I was just really lonely at the time.” Psychopaths are experts at reading cues that indicate vulnerability, as these are the circumstances when normal men and women are most likely to fall for the psychopath’s tactics. It’s critical for everyone to trust their instincts when it comes to the sexual advances of others, especially when they get the sense that the pursuer is dead-set on sealing the deal in that moment—and getting them home.

Disposing of sexual or romantic partners as if they’re unnecessary objects.

Just as a complex dynamic is at work with the abused woman who stays with an abusive boyfriend or husband, an equally complex dynamic is at work with the psychopath and his victim. People often stay with a psychopath far longer than they’re proud to admit because the psychopath has brainwashed the victim over time through a series of self-esteem-killing strategies (isolating them from family and friends, criticizing them in countless ways). It’s often when the psychopath ends the relationship that the victims seek mentalhealth treatment, frequently because they are devastated by the way they were abandoned so flippantly.

It’s hard for most people to understand how anyone could cut off a partner so quickly and callously, but healing from a relationship with a psychopath usually requires that the victim clearly understands the unique psychological profile of the psychopath. Healing also requires that the victim understand how vastly different the psychopath’s needs are in comparison: In essence, their emotional needs are all about serving their own grandioseself-image, and not at all about mutuality or reciprocity.

Most important, the psychopath will never truly honor the victim’s feelings, especially when it comes to asking the psychopath to take accountability for their deceitful andconscience-less ways. There will never be any meaningful, lasting insight from the psychopath. Martha Stout says it best in her book, The Sociopath Next Door:

“In general, people without conscience tend to believe their way of being in the world is superior to ours.”

Working Long Hours Could Increase Your Risk of Stroke and Heart Disease

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The reasons might be connected to stress, physical inactivity, and higher alcohol consumption
Burning the candle at both ends might impress your boss, but you could be sacrificing your health in the process.

A study published in The Lancet on Wednesday finds a strong connection between people who work 55 or more hours per week and cardiovascular disease. Those who work such long hours were found to have a 33% increased risk of stroke and 13% greater chance of developing coronary heart disease compared to people who work the standard 35- to 40-hour work week.

Researchers from University College London reviewed 42 studies of hundreds of thousands of men and women from Europe, the U.S., and Australia for several years. Their results held even after controlling for demographic factors—age, sex, socioeconomic status—and health behaviors—like smoking, alcohol consumption, and physical activity.

Working overtime in general, even if it’s not the 55 hour maximum the group studied, also affects health outcomes negatively. Working between 41 to 48 hours led to a 10% increased risk of stroke and upping work hours to between 49 and 54 hours a week caused a 27% increased risk of stroke.

The authors aren’t sure exactly what the link is, but noted a few potential causes. For one, working long hours tends to be correlated with risky health behaviors, like drinking more alcohol or sitting for hours at a time. Those behaviors, combined with the stress associated with working overtime, could be a perfect recipe for a stroke or cardiovascular strain.

Paleo Diet Debunked

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Why Is This Important?

Because heaps of our fellow menfolk – and some of us here in the office – subscribe to the Paleo diet or a variant thereof.

Health & Sports News: Paleo Diet Debunked
Long Story Short

No carbohydrates, no worries? Not so, says new research, which shows that our ancestors most definitely nibbled potatoes on the reg.

Long Story

It has not been a good time for the Paleo diet. Already under fire from all sides of the media, and now here comes actual methodical science with a huge wind-up soccer-kick to the ribs: The basis for the Paleo diet is a complete and utter falsehood.

Its theoretical basis of ‘mimicking’ the high protein and low carb diets of our Paleolithic ancestors has already been convincingly shredded, and a new study published to The Quarterly Review of Biology has also found that the Paleo menu’s definitive low-carb (or even no-carb) thinking is bunk. Instead, the researchers claim that, far from never filling up on carby foodstuffs, our cavepeople ancestors loved them, needed them, and probably ate them all the time.

These findings are based on a plethora of achaeological, genetic, and physiological evidence – like examining three-million-year-old teeth and the type of edible plants that would’ve been sprouting in the regions our ancestors did their thing. The verdict: “Plant carbohydrates and meat wereboth necessary and complementary dietary components.” Most Paleo devotees avoid root veggies, but according to this, that’s exactly what they should be inhaling. Root vegetables were likely an important source of food for our gibbering forebears, who are increasingly thought to have hunted much, much less than previously assumed. Well, shit, you try catching a mammoth while wearing nothing but a loincloth.

“Although meat may have been a preferred food, the energy expenditure required to obtain it may have been far greater than that used for collecting tubers from a reliable source,” the researchers went on.

Not convinced? Basic human nutritional needs as well as evolutionary evidence dictate that cavepeeps did not and could not live on meat alone. Their brains were growing during this period, and that required a bunch of energy – energy you just can’t get from protein alone, because too much of it is straight-up toxic and can even kill a person. Saliva was also evolving to cope with starchy plant food and this, coupled with the fact cooking was becoming a thing, led to veggies becoming a good support network for living and “improved reproduction functions.” Nice, nice. 

 

Own The Conversation

Ask The Big Question: Is this really a big deal? Can’t we just amend Paleo thinking? Humility! Progress!

Disrupt Your Feed: I don’t remember this from The Flintstones.

Drop This Fact: In his book 12 Paleo Myths: Eat Better Than a Caveman,Matt Stone makes some pretty salient points about not just the validity of the Paleo diet, but how these things become impervious to change despite mounting truths: “Americans have high rates of heart disease and autoimmune disease? Do they eat lots of wheat, you know, the cause of inflammation? Yes! Boo-yah! Paleolujah! Similar foolish things are used to support, say, eating a low-carb diet. ‘Hey, Americans were told to eat a low-fat diet, and after we were told that we became more obese! Carbs are the cause of the whole hackin’ obesity epidemic! Can’t ya see?’”