question for _________

[[SiN] Merc]

[quote author=Dr. Zaius link=topic=5854.msg232763#msg232763 date=1323641710]
[quote author=versus link=topic=5854.msg232761#msg232761 date=1323640278]
[quote author=Dr. Zaius link=topic=5854.msg232758#msg232758 date=1323639660](translation: Germany or one of the northern european nations who aren't fucked inside out).

lol
[/quote]

Are you laughing because I obviously haven't done any research on this, or because I used profanity?
[/quote]

this would have sounded good a while ago but europe is not doing so hot right now either

although germany does own
[/quote]

They were the dudes that invented Zweihanders, and that's a pretty cool sword, so Germany gets a free pass from me.

Oh, and they are the land of chocolate, I can respect that too.

[Dr. Zaius]

Merc link=topic=5854.msg232785#msg232785 date=1323647508]
[quote author=versus link=topic=5854.msg232784#msg232784 date=1323646862]
[quote author=Dr. Zaius link=topic=5854.msg232763#msg232763 date=1323641710]
[quote author=versus link=topic=5854.msg232761#msg232761 date=1323640278]
[quote author=Dr. Zaius link=topic=5854.msg232758#msg232758 date=1323639660](translation: Germany or one of the northern european nations who aren't fucked inside out).

lol
[/quote]

Are you laughing because I obviously haven't done any research on this, or because I used profanity?
[/quote]

this would have sounded good a while ago but europe is not doing so hot right now either

although germany does own
[/quote]

They were the dudes that invented Zweihanders, and that's a pretty cool sword, so Germany gets a free pass from me.

Oh, and they are the land of chocolate, I can respect that too.
[/quote]

and beer

The list goes on. You know the Germans make good stuff.

[matter11]

[quote author=[SiN] Merc link=topic=5854.msg232785#msg232785 date=1323647508]
[quote author=versus link=topic=5854.msg232784#msg232784 date=1323646862]
[quote author=Dr. Zaius link=topic=5854.msg232763#msg232763 date=1323641710]
[quote author=versus link=topic=5854.msg232761#msg232761 date=1323640278]
[quote author=Dr. Zaius link=topic=5854.msg232758#msg232758 date=1323639660](translation: Germany or one of the northern european nations who aren't fucked inside out).

lol
[/quote]

Are you laughing because I obviously haven't done any research on this, or because I used profanity?
[/quote]

this would have sounded good a while ago but europe is not doing so hot right now either

although germany does own
[/quote]

They were the dudes that invented Zweihanders, and that's a pretty cool sword, so Germany gets a free pass from me.

Oh, and they are the land of chocolate, I can respect that too.
[/quote]

and beer

The list goes on. You know the Germans make good stuff.
[/quote]

They used to be really known for their ovens. what happened to that?

[HeK]

Does brbu have tumblrs I can follow?

And I won't post mine because I'm not here to self-promote lol.

Check out Rilnac's tumblr, it's about bugs or something: http://fuckyeaharthropods.tumblr.com/

[matter11]

I got pretty high and had this discussion with a friend. I haven't taken any high level bio classes so does brbu know?


but see i've thought about something like this
like why parasites hurt the host
because they would increase their own survivability
by lengthening the hosts
*host's life

right

like a virus could spread faster

there are some gnarly parasites out there

if instead of hurting the host
it helped them so they could live longer and infect more people

zombies

what if they designed a new disease in a laboratory
but it was good for you
like it removes any built up cholesterol

[Didzo]

I got pretty high and had this discussion with a friend. I haven't taken any high level bio classes so does brbu know?


but see i've thought about something like this
like why parasites hurt the host
because they would increase their own survivability
by lengthening the hosts
*host's life

right

like a virus could spread faster

there are some gnarly parasites out there

if instead of hurting the host
it helped them so they could live longer and infect more people

zombies

what if they designed a new disease in a laboratory
but it was good for you
like it removes any built up cholesterol

If the parasite helps the host and the host helps the parasite, then it's no longer parasitism. Then you have some sort of mutualism or symbiosis.

Viruses replicate by hijacking cell machinery so more virus particles are produced. The cell eventually bursts and releases the virus particles so they can infect more cells. Don't think there is a gentler, friendlier way for a virus to propagate itself and still be effective.

People can engineer viruses to be vectors for DNA. They aren't able to spread like normal viruses, but still insert their DNA into a host cell, allowing it to produce proteins that the host cell is unable to or disable harmful ones. This is called gene therapy, but I guess it's sort of similar to the "beneficial disease" thing.

[kaese]

I got pretty high and had this discussion with a friend. I haven't taken any high level bio classes so does brbu know?


but see i've thought about something like this
like why parasites hurt the host
because they would increase their own survivability
by lengthening the hosts
*host's life

right

like a virus could spread faster

there are some gnarly parasites out there

if instead of hurting the host
it helped them so they could live longer and infect more people

zombies

what if they designed a new disease in a laboratory
but it was good for you
like it removes any built up cholesterol

I'm not a microbiology major so I don't know too much about parasites, but since they are called "parasites" I would assume that it means that they establish a "parasitic relationship" with the host--which means that the parasite lives off the host without giving anything in return (aka hurting the host). So it's in their nature to harm their hosts. If the parasite started living peacefully with the host it would be considered a "mutualistic relationship" where both organisms benefit from each other or a "commensal relationship" where the parasite benefits and the host is unharmed but does not benefit.
What Didzo said, but I spent too long typing this reply so I'll just keep it here. lol.
I don't think a parasite's main goal is to live as long as it can but rather to reproduce and pass on its offspring as quickly as possible (a common goal among most mammals as well). I'm not sure about this but it seems logical from what I've learned about parasites and their behavior. For example the toxoplasma gondii parasite infects rodents and eliminates their fear for cats which results in the infected rodents to be eaten more likely. Now in the cat's, , the parasite's main host, stomach, toxoplasma gondii can reproduce and the babies be transported out of the cat's body along with its feces (and potentially infecting a passerby rodent). The cycle repeats, etc etc.

As for the second question, if something like that were to be developed, it would be called a bacteria or something and not a disease because (from wiki) in humans, "disease" is often used more broadly to refer to any condition that causes pain, dysfunction, distress, social problems, and/or death to the person afflicted, or similar problems for those in contact with the person. So disease = bad but a mutualistic relationship with a bacteria (such as e.coli) = good.
I haven't heard of anything like this being developed though, and it seems difficult as it means that the scientists would need to create a new species. Or alter an existing species to have the function of removing only built up cholesterol and not all the cholesterol in the body.


And I've always thought of viruses as being harmful...is this an incorrect assumption and can someone give me an example of a virus that is beneficial to the host?

[Saxxy]

And I've always thought of viruses as being harmful...is this an incorrect assumption and can someone give me an example of a virus that is beneficial to the host?

The only example I can think of is a bit convoluted, but I think its known to happen occasionally:  Viruses are capable of taking up chunks of their host's genome, and incorporating it into viral genome.  Later on, the virus may integrate their genome into the genome of another host, thereby transferring that chunk of DNA from the original host to the new host.

For the vast majority of these transfers, it is not beneficial because the virus just reactivates again and kills the new host as it replicates.  But, occasionally a mutation arises in the viral genome that knocks out the ability of the viral sequences to reactivate.  Therefore the host lives, and the now-defunct viral sequences have now become a permanent addition to the host's genome.

The beneficial aspect can occur if that transferred chunk of DNA contained an antibiotic resistance gene, or perhaps an infection gene.

So, most of the time, the virus wouldn't be helpful, but by virtue of it's DNA transferring abilities it can occasionally benefit a host.

However, that little story I told above really only applies to microbes.  For a virus to be beneficial to a human host, it would basically have to be part of some sort of gene therapy.

There's also treatments for bacterial infections that use viruses that kill bacteria, but in that case the human with the bacterial infection would not technically be the host, it would be the bacteria.

Theoretically a virus could be engineered that is capable of living peacefully within human cells, and only kills bacteria when it comes across them.  However that would be the worst thing in the world to make, since you'd have to engineer the virus to avoid your immune system, and also you'd kill a lot of beneficial bacteria that live in your gut.  So, scratch that idea :/

[matter11]

biggest or a big regret?

[matter11]

so for one reason or another I only ate a multi vitamin, mint, and 3 tacos yesterday. at about 7am I woke up feeling like shit, took one, and then puked. Stomach was empty and what came up was just a thin yellow substance that tasted like it was just acid. I feel fine now but should I look into this incident further?

p.s. 20, male, approx. 170-75 lbs if that matters.

[Saxxy]

so for one reason or another I only ate a multi vitamin, mint, and 3 tacos yesterday. at about 7am I woke up feeling like shit, took one, and then puked. Stomach was empty and what came up was just a thin yellow substance that tasted like it was just acid. I feel fine now but should I look into this incident further?

p.s. 20, male, approx. 170-75 lbs if that matters.

Your body isn't a furnace that you can just shove reduced carbons into and get energy.  Respect yourself, eat right

[KarthXLR]

so for one reason or another I only ate a multi vitamin, mint, and 3 tacos yesterday. at about 7am I woke up feeling like shit, took one, and then puked. Stomach was empty and what came up was just a thin yellow substance that tasted like it was just acid. I feel fine now but should I look into this incident further?

p.s. 20, male, approx. 170-75 lbs if that matters.

Sounds like your sick, possibly a stomach virus. If I'm correct, what you threw up was probably bile that was lingering in your stomach. It's possible something you ate got you sick or you just caught something. This is probably a sign you need to flush some junk out of your system. Drink lots of water, eat some healthy food (I'd recommend fruit, eggs, chicken, or any less-fatty meat), and rest. Even if you don't, at least take a rest from any fast food or microwavable stuff. That stuff is like poison.

[k0ala]

so for one reason or another I only ate a multi vitamin, mint, and 3 tacos yesterday. at about 7am I woke up feeling like shit, took one, and then puked. Stomach was empty and what came up was just a thin yellow substance that tasted like it was just acid. I feel fine now but should I look into this incident further?

p.s. 20, male, approx. 170-75 lbs if that matters.

It sounds like that was good old bile, from the liver. It's released every few hours usually coinciding with meals you've eaten. Usual hunger pangs are the empty stomach contracting around air inside... this time it looks like there was a load of raw bile ready and waiting and when your stomach squeezed it didn't feel right.

Go drink some water and eat a variety of vegetables. Soup first, then cooked veggies, then maybe tomorrow have an actual salad.

And don't miss meals.

[matter11]

I'm all good now. I think I should have just eaten more.

[Saxxy]

bile in the stomach

no

bile in the stomach

no

[ainmosni]

What would make you want to move to america/canada respectively and what would make you not want to?

bonus question for vongore:
would you rather live in the states or canada?

I'll answer that from a european perspective, Canada because that's where my girlfriend is from but I'm too socially liberal/economically left for north America anyway, if our government goes on for another term I might think about moving to another european country, maybe Sweden or if I found a job that I can do from anywhere, get a place in Italy that looks out over the Mediterranean sea, enjoy that lifestyle (best food and drink on earth) and ignore politics/economics until the end of my days.

[KarthXLR]

[quote author=matter11 link=topic=5854.msg232750#msg232750 date=1323637011]
What would make you want to move to america/canada respectively and what would make you not want to?

bonus question for vongore:
would you rather live in the states or canada?

I'll answer that from a european perspective, Canada because that's where my girlfriend is from but I'm too socially liberal/economically left for north America anyway, if our government goes on for another term I might think about moving to another european country, maybe Sweden or if I found a job that I can do from anywhere, get a place in Italy that looks out over the Mediterranean sea, enjoy that lifestyle (best food and drink on earth) and ignore politics/economics until the end of my days.
[/quote]
Goddangit Europe, how come everything over there is BEAUTIFUL?!

[Kirby]

[quote author=ainmosni link=topic=5854.msg238041#msg238041 date=1327824927]
[quote author=matter11 link=topic=5854.msg232750#msg232750 date=1323637011]
What would make you want to move to america/canada respectively and what would make you not want to?

bonus question for vongore:
would you rather live in the states or canada?

I'll answer that from a european perspective, Canada because that's where my girlfriend is from but I'm too socially liberal/economically left for north America anyway, if our government goes on for another term I might think about moving to another european country, maybe Sweden or if I found a job that I can do from anywhere, get a place in Italy that looks out over the Mediterranean sea, enjoy that lifestyle (best food and drink on earth) and ignore politics/economics until the end of my days.
[/quote]
Goddangit Europe, how come everything over there is BEAUTIFUL?!
[/quote]


Because it hasn't been trashed by apathetic Americans yet.



Yet.

[matter11]

[quote author=Karth link=topic=5854.msg238044#msg238044 date=1327826192]
[quote author=ainmosni link=topic=5854.msg238041#msg238041 date=1327824927]
[quote author=matter11 link=topic=5854.msg232750#msg232750 date=1323637011]
What would make you want to move to america/canada respectively and what would make you not want to?

bonus question for vongore:
would you rather live in the states or canada?

I'll answer that from a european perspective, Canada because that's where my girlfriend is from but I'm too socially liberal/economically left for north America anyway, if our government goes on for another term I might think about moving to another european country, maybe Sweden or if I found a job that I can do from anywhere, get a place in Italy that looks out over the Mediterranean sea, enjoy that lifestyle (best food and drink on earth) and ignore politics/economics until the end of my days.
[/quote]
Goddangit Europe, how come everything over there is BEAUTIFUL?!
[/quote]


Because it hasn't been trashed by apathetic Americans yet.



Yet.



[/quote]

and here I thought western Americans cherished our wilderness. I think you just disappointed merc, karth.

[ainmosni]

[quote author=Kirby the Dick link=topic=5854.msg238051#msg238051 date=1327852652]
[quote author=Karth link=topic=5854.msg238044#msg238044 date=1327826192]
[quote author=ainmosni link=topic=5854.msg238041#msg238041 date=1327824927]
[quote author=matter11 link=topic=5854.msg232750#msg232750 date=1323637011]
What would make you want to move to america/canada respectively and what would make you not want to?

bonus question for vongore:
would you rather live in the states or canada?

I'll answer that from a european perspective, Canada because that's where my girlfriend is from but I'm too socially liberal/economically left for north America anyway, if our government goes on for another term I might think about moving to another european country, maybe Sweden or if I found a job that I can do from anywhere, get a place in Italy that looks out over the Mediterranean sea, enjoy that lifestyle (best food and drink on earth) and ignore politics/economics until the end of my days.
[/quote]
Goddangit Europe, how come everything over there is BEAUTIFUL?!
[/quote]


Because it hasn't been trashed by apathetic Americans yet.



Yet.



[/quote]

and here I thought western Americans cherished our wilderness. I think you just disappointed merc, karth.
[/quote]

The American continent is beautiful when it comes to nature, I just like to live in older cultures.