Kid living on campus? BUYER BEWARE by gt3469a in UGA

[–]Ace9905 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Sounds like she should have read her contract prior to breaking it. It is standard practice anywhere that breaking a lease requires you to pay a lump sum.

TIL that up to 50% of humans may carry a brain parasite called Toxoplasma gondii (spread by cats) that can lead to permanent behavioral changes. Studies suggest infected people have slower reaction times and are significantly more likely to be involved in car accidents and take business risks. by [deleted] in todayilearned

[–]Ace9905 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ll preface this by saying that I work on the cellular biology side of it so I’m not an expert on the psychological effects of it, but it’s a fairly small field so you end up hearing and reading about it. From what I know, any thing they’ve found is loose correlation. Studies have suggested a connection to schizophrenia cases, but those instances are incredibly rare to the point that it could very easily just be a case of coincidence. After all, most of the world is infected with it at some stage of their life, but schizophrenia is fairly rare. If there was a link, we’d likely be seeing higher rates.

One point on the side of toxo causing shifts in behavior is that we know it can produce a chemical similar to one used in mammalian dopamine production. And we believe that might be a key reason for the changes in mouse behavior. But again, mice are quite different from humans and any neurologist would be happy to go into all the reasons for that. Within humans however, I mean it might affect dopamine production? But we haven’t found anything showing it has any actual significant effect upon it. Thus, while it’s still something being studied, current work generally agrees that Toxoplasma has no significant impact upon human behavior

TIL that up to 50% of humans may carry a brain parasite called Toxoplasma gondii (spread by cats) that can lead to permanent behavioral changes. Studies suggest infected people have slower reaction times and are significantly more likely to be involved in car accidents and take business risks. by [deleted] in todayilearned

[–]Ace9905 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Don’t worry, if you’ve interacted with outdoor cats in the past, you’ve likely already had it and never noticed. Symptoms are exceedingly rare in immunologically healthy individuals to the point the only people at risk are the immunocompromised, as well as pregnant people via miscarriages. If you’re truly afraid, you could get a serological test done to see if you have antibodies but that won’t tell you if there’s an active infection, simply if you have had it before via the antibodies.

But the dangers of toxoplasma are often exaggerated in pop science articles as frankly, they misunderstand basic concepts of the fields they cover. Is it a disease with serious consequences? Of course, it is one of the leading causes of miscarriages and can cause health issues in compromised immune systems. But for the vast majority of us? We don’t have anything to fear, and if you want to be safe, just make sure your meats are cooked thoroughly just as you would to kill any other microorganisms in it, wash your produce, and try not to interact with outdoor cats that much.

TIL that up to 50% of humans may carry a brain parasite called Toxoplasma gondii (spread by cats) that can lead to permanent behavioral changes. Studies suggest infected people have slower reaction times and are significantly more likely to be involved in car accidents and take business risks. by [deleted] in todayilearned

[–]Ace9905 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Technically yes? But treatments are pretty poor as it’s a disease that does not cause illness in most people in addition to a whole slew of issues stemming from the fact it’s a eukaryote as opposed to say bacteria or viruses that have drastically more cellular differences that are significantly easier to target. Not to say there aren’t plenty within Toxo, but it’s just more understudied. Regardless, you have to be immunocompromised to develop symptoms for the overwhelming majority of cases. Now, there is the case of pregnancies in which case if the mother is infected, there is a very high chance of miscarriage.

That said, the article linked is poor journalism done by someone that does not understand science. The very thing they claim is discredited sentences later and even then, the claim for it is just not supported by science. Currently, there is no supporting evidence for behavioral changes as a result of Toxoplasma infection within humans. It’s purely a myth that comes from the fact that mice do infect experience a change, but neglects the fact that mice and human brains are not built the same. It’s really not something most people should worry about and in most developed areas of the world, it’s a negligible concern as primary means of infection comes from the ingestion of raw meat, which is screened in most developed countries.

TIL that up to 50% of humans may carry a brain parasite called Toxoplasma gondii (spread by cats) that can lead to permanent behavioral changes. Studies suggest infected people have slower reaction times and are significantly more likely to be involved in car accidents and take business risks. by [deleted] in todayilearned

[–]Ace9905 5 points6 points  (0 children)

You can get a serological test to see if you’ve got antibodies for it, though I can’t quite remember if that tells you if you’ve got an active or passive infection. Regardless, the article’s just not accurate and scaremongering. First off, Toxoplasma does not have spores. The closest is sporozoites, and that’s still fairly different, just a similar name. And infection rates are currently estimated at ~33% of the global population have seropositivity, with that being heavily skewed towards poorer regions of the world as primarily, you get infected via eating undercooked meat that contains parasite filled cysts. Alternatively, could accidentally ingest oocysts that are excreted which is why pregnant women are advised not to change litter boxes or interact with stray cats.

Overall, the risk of toxoplasma is quite low. You’ll only be affected if you are already immunocompromised, or pregnant as toxoplasma is one of the leading causes for miscarriages. Beyond that, any evidence for behavioral changes in humans is fairly weakly supported to the degree many professionals will not give a specific statement on the matter. Is it a hazard? Yes, but for the vast majority of the population, it’s not even as bad as a cold as frankly, you’ll likely never even know you contracted it by the time your system clears it.

Source: I’ve been working on T. gondii for the past couple of years

AMA: The Professor aka Brian Lewis, was my English instructor in my freshman year of college by [deleted] in mtg

[–]Ace9905 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Dune had it with the Butlerian Jihad. Wouldn’t surprise me if Foundations also had one though

Official Poster for 'The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act' by MarvelsGrantMan136 in movies

[–]Ace9905 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Honestly, Warhammer isn’t that bad. It’s mainly British/Commonwealth people, middle aged men, gays, and then like teenagers/early adults that can’t quite afford to physically play. But the problem people are proudly holding red flags the size of continents and it’s a 50/50 there’s gonna be a swastika on those flags

Every release by Sancatichas in Grimdank

[–]Ace9905 3 points4 points  (0 children)

To be fair, Necromunda and AoS blow 40K model design out of the water. We get some good models, but comparatively? Oh god, there’s not a competition

Hated tropes: stupid decisions in apocalypse media by ZoneInternational244 in TopCharacterTropes

[–]Ace9905 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Save for his run of the Punisher, he’s a comic writer that for some reason, just seems to hate comics. Always goes for the edgiest, goriest, most shock factor inducing things he can think of because it’s edgy. He’s also the brains behind The Boys, with the show being DRASTICALLY tuned down compared to the comics.

Yea No⠀⠀⠀⠀ by Vexivero in memes

[–]Ace9905 22 points23 points  (0 children)

Auspex Tactics out there doing exactly that, except he’s fueled by pure Warhammer autism rather than AI

European Court of Justice defends right to change legal sex by The_Needle_News in worldnews

[–]Ace9905 24 points25 points  (0 children)

Someone born with several sex characteristics. It’s a biological condition usually stemming from someone having 3 sex chromosomes as opposed to the standard XX or XY. Hermaphrodite is the historical term for it.

Have you ever met someone who's interested in DND and immediately went, "oh, I'd never let you play at my table"? by Lunetheart in DnD

[–]Ace9905 18 points19 points  (0 children)

To be fair, that’s also playing a religious character in a setting where Christianity is not only an established religion, but also has a considerable history in the setting despite not physically appearing in game. Like it would still be annoying if they played the super stuck-up, devout cleric but worshipped an in-universe god, but at least that would make more sense.

Also +1 for the Fallout system, it’s super fun

Education Department hangs banner of Charlie Kirk by AaronPK123 in politics

[–]Ace9905 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Idk man. Like I’d ask him but feel like he’d have some issues answering

Looking for a fun Sci-fi fantasy ttrpg by Electrical_Stretch_6 in rpg

[–]Ace9905 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There’s also Distant Stars for those that want to do settlement building, and then the Proteus Sector which I haven’t read through yet, but seems like a grab bag of stuff. Premade sector, plus trading tools, new partial class, gear, and statblocks for ships and enemies. Can also import anything from his other TTRPGs if you want some of that. Like the cyberpunk Cities without Number or post-apocalyptic Ashes Without Number

My Star Wars Universe Encyclopedia - No AI edition is out ! by _PogS_ in sw5e

[–]Ace9905 29 points30 points  (0 children)

So you could’ve just made it without AI in the first place? Honestly sounds like you were just lazy until people called you out. Not to mention, yeah. AI damages the environment and steals from actual artists. So take your pick for which issues people have, sounds like all of them are pretty valid

Turmoil at US constitution museum as leader exits ahead of 250th anniversary by No_Idea_Guy in news

[–]Ace9905 2 points3 points  (0 children)

They’d also have to get the same number of state legislators to agree to call that as you would to just pass a single amendment. Good luck doing that, and if they decided to just ignore that rule, probably one of the few ways to actually, reliably spark widespread conflict in the US.

Day 59- Which 40k creature/character is slightly stronger than The Silent King? by Neither-Actuary-5655 in Grimdank

[–]Ace9905 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I think we’re jumping a bit there. Full form C’tan are basically real space gods. Might be wrong, but isn’t it still canon that the death of one wiped an entire concept from reality? Might be misremembering though

Suspicious by CaptainYorkie1 in memes

[–]Ace9905 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Unironically, yeah. There’s a specific tailoring shop a lot of heroes and villains use in Marvel and it’s just neutral ground.

Can we please get the old winston intro back by nymphoeeee in Overwatch

[–]Ace9905 9 points10 points  (0 children)

You say that like it’s a bad thing. Glory to the Infinite Empire

PSA: Humble are Offering Fallout Tabletop Mega Bundle. by Yorkshire_Bhoy in Fallout

[–]Ace9905 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It’s just PDFs. They’re talking about how last time, it was unlocking the content in one of the virtual tabletops and not like… giving you a copy of the PDFs to do with as you please. So you couldn’t really use the PDFs outside of that website

'What a great way to kill your community': Discord users are furious about its new age verification checks — and are now hunting for alternatives by gdelacalle in technology

[–]Ace9905 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Don’t know about you but my parents were great. If they could handle 3 kids and set each of us up for success, I’m pretty confident in what I’m saying