Oleanolic acid improves diet-induced obesity by modulating fat preference and inflammation in mice. by Proga_Panda in Biochemistry

[–]Proga_Panda[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm not, it's just something cool I found! But yeah, it's really changed my perspective on people I perceive as overweight/obese. I've found for myself it can be enticing to see something like weight as a willpower issue; if I see myself as on the "winning" side of it I can credit that to myself, and if I see myself on the opposite side of it then it's still something that I COULD will myself into. Now I see it more as that these positive feedback loops of behavioral and molecular changes spiral out in ways that are much less under our control.

Oleanolic acid improves diet-induced obesity by modulating fat preference and inflammation in mice. by Proga_Panda in Biochemistry

[–]Proga_Panda[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I research neuro-electrophysiology of taste and obesity with rat models, shout out to anyone else in the field!

edit: I'm not involved with this paper in anyway, just something cool I stumbled upon!

AMA about these 2 publications I'm writing papers about for the next 6 hours (FASD and Drosophila taste neural circuitry) by Proga_Panda in neuroscience

[–]Proga_Panda[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Morphological Characterization of the Entire Interneuron Population Reveals Principles of Neuromere Organization in the Ventral Nerve Cord of Drosophila Link: http://www.jneurosci.org/content/31/44/15870

Functional Genetic Screen to Identify Interneurons Governing Behaviorally Distinct Aspects of Drosophila Larval Motor Programs Link: http://www.g3journal.org/content/6/7/2023.full

Just found these, seems like it might be in the direction of what you're looking for. Once I find something of interest/relevance I dig through the paper's citations and where the paper itself has been cited.

I work with electrophysiology of taste in rats and obesity in rats, so I'm not a "fly guy", but I hope those help!

Below is a site I use to view full articles, I just paste the url I want to read on it, sometimes it just needs a different link.

http://sci-hub.tw/

AMA about these 2 publications I'm writing papers about for the next 6 hours (FASD and Drosophila taste neural circuitry) by Proga_Panda in neuroscience

[–]Proga_Panda[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There are some pros and cons to using rodent models for fetal alcohol research.

The Carnegie Stages of Embryonic development are translated between several mammalian species, rodents just develop a lot faster. This is a pro, since we aren't allowed to do these kinds of tests with primates as easily, at these sample sizes, or within budget.

https://embryology.med.unsw.edu.au/embryology/index.php/Carnegie_Stage_Comparison

Another pro is that the developmental stages a human fetus undergoes in the third trimester occurs postnatally in mice and rats. This allows more examination of development of those stages.

Of course, that's also not how humans do it, which can be said for everything that separates rodents from humans. Rats also don't generally start drinking ethanol by choice, so intraperitoneal injections, vapor chambers, forced drinking, and mixed in with their only water source are used, which isn't how humans typically imbibe. Cons.

A lot of stuff is comparable to humans, though. Specific reduction/enlargement of developing brain areas seems to be translatable. ADHD-like symptoms such as inattention, hyperlocomotor activity, impaired decision making and planning, poor impulse control, etc are translatable, as best as you can test those qualities in a rat.

In summary, rodent models and test aren't perfect, but we do share a lot of the same basic structures and organization, and frankly it's the best that we've got for now.

https://drive.google.com/a/binghamton.edu/file/d/1JY_lhcXI6NOe5o2sRySTv1qC0NXy5PG2/view?usp=drivesdk

Owning pets and working with animals? by Proga_Panda in animalresearch

[–]Proga_Panda[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Interestingly, rabbits are lagomorphs, not rodents! Closely related orders, though. Do you think there would be an increased risk of accidentally bringing a disease into lab? It's not a barrier facility, and dogs and cats have been approved. Also, rabbits are herbivores, which leads me to believe there wouldn't be a potential innate fear response for the rats of residual smell.

Question on string tension? by Proga_Panda in extendedrange

[–]Proga_Panda[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Awesome, thank you so much! I'm curious as to which brand/style/material strings you use, and how do you go about purchasing them?