by Mary Ellen Ryall

Why are we doing this? Does the butterfly not have enough challenges on Earth without sending it into space?

This reminds me of the poor monkeys who were sent into space by the Russians when I was a young woman. According to Wikipedia, “The Soviet/Russian space program in the Bion program satellites used only rhesus species. The first Soviet monkeys, Abrek and Bion, flew on Bion 6. They were aloft from December 14, 1983 – December 20, 1983.”

Now it is monarch caterpillars. Just look at the poor things. I don’t believe they even know what is happening to them. The experiment appears to promote monarch biology in the classroom and also studies the life cycle of the butterfly in outer space and affect of loss of gravity and weightlessness at the same time.

Butterflies are free. We build habitat for the monarch butterfly and sell milkweed seed (their host plant) so they might live. Happy Tonics is building a floral corridor across the USA so the butterfly will have abundant host and nectar sources along its migration route. We have a Monarch Butterfly Habitat in Shell Lake, Wisconsin. If you go outside surely you will see that they live in a natural world. They fly, but not in outer space.

Hace unos meses se me ocurrió la idea de hacer un post sobre un dato curioso en la sociedad nipona, y es la importancia que estso le dan al grupo sanguineo, inlcuso es mayor que la que damos en occidente al signo del zodiaco. Pero pensé en realizar un ánalisis más detallado en lugar de simplemente aportar este dato curioso. Por eso este post en realidad ha constado de dos partes.

Por un lado la composición y los descubrimientos cientificos que nos han hecho conocer a la sangre tal y como lo hacemso hoy día. Y por otro un perfil psicológico que se remonta a la época griega y que también ha tenido su importancia en el mundo oriental, hasta el punto de seguir arraigado en la actualidad.

Antes de hablar sobre esa “psicologia” de la sangre, os voy a habalr brevemente de los grupos sanguineos y sus características desde el punto de vista científico:

LOS GRUPOS SANGUINEOS:

En 1900, el patólogo y biólogo austriaco “Karl Landsteiner” , salvó muchisimas, vidas gracias al descubrimiento de los grupos sanguíneos. Este descubrió 3 de los cuatro hematíes que existen: A, B y 0. Serían sus discípulos los que descubririan unos pocos años después el cuarto: el grupo AB.

PERO… ¿ POR QUÉ FUE TAN IMPORTANTE ESTE DESCUBRIMIENTO?:

El descrurbimiento de Karl, no solo le llevó a ganar el premio Nobel, sino a evitar muchísimas muertes. Ya que el principal problema de desconocer los grupos sanguineos era que podrían mezclar sangre de pacientes, los que ocasionaba la muerte inmediata del mismo. Seguramente hasta este descubrimiento muchas personas morirían desconociendose las causas.

GRUPO RH:

El factor RH ( o factor Rhesus) es otro elemento de la sangre, y recibe su nombre por el “macaco rhesus” (macaco mulatta) que fue en el primer ser vivo donde fue identificado este factor.

Hay dos tipos de RH dependiendo de si este factor se manifiesta o no en la superficie de los glóbulos rojos del individuo. Este puede ser:
Positivo (+): el cual se encuentra en un 85% de la población
Negativo (-): el cual se encuentra tan solo, en un 15% de la población

Al igual que al mezclar sangre de diferentes grupos, mezclar la sangre d eindividuos con diferente Rh tambien puede tener graves consecuencias:

Por ejemplo transmitir Rh+ a un individuo de Rh-, provocaría que esta comenzase a producir anticuerpos y que en futuras transfusiones a grupos de RH+, destruyese sus glóbulos rojos por un proceso de hemolización (fragmentación).

OTROS GRUPOS SANGUINEOS:

Un dato desconocido por la mayoría d ela población es que no solo existe el sistema sanguíneo ABO, usada para describir la presencia o ausencia de diferentes antígenos. Algunos ejemplos son:
Diego +: solo presente en Asia del este y en los Indios americanos.
MNS: un sistema que se caracteriza por M, N o MN y es usado normalmente para pruebas de paternidad y maternidad.
Duffy negativo: que confiere cierta inmunidad contra la malaria

GRUPOS SANGUÍNEOS Y RACISMO:

No todo fue un camino de rosas tras los descubrimientos de Karl Landsteiner, el hecho de que los diferentes grupos sean más comunes en unas sociedades o grupos étnicos que en otras, provocó fuertes críticas y comentarios racistas. Por ejemplo se llego incluso a considerar a la raza asiática inferior en la escala evolutiva, porque se pensaba que en ellos predominaba (falsamente) el grupo B, el cual no era muy común en la población caucásica, pero si en animales.
Fue a partir de esas falsas alusiones con las que no estaba de acuerdo Japón, el punto de origen de su obsesión con los grupos sanguineos.

Pero un periodo oscuro se cernía sobre la raza humana, con la llegada de la supremacia de la raza aria y la sangre durante la senguda guerra mundial, Japón comenzó a buscar artimañas y absurdas teorias para contraponer este hecho, mostrando “pruebas” sobre su asimilitud con la raza aria.

Uno de los más importantes en etse campo fue el médico japonés Hara Kimata, que en 1916 publicó un artículo, donde proponía un posible vínculo entre el temperamento y el tipo de sangre. Artículo que fue desarrollado de manera más minuciosa por Takeji Furukawa en 1927, y que tuvo una gran repercusión en la decada de los años 30 y 40.

En 1971 resurgió el interés en este tema tras la publicación del libro “Lo que los tipos de sangre revelan sobre la compatibilidad” por Nomi Masahiko, el cuals e convirtió en la Biblia para los creyentes en etsa teoría. Tal fue el impacto del libro en la sociedad nipona que a pesar d elos estudios científicos se sigue teniendo en cuenta. Por ejemplo: se han llegado incluso a contratar empleados atendiendo a su grupo sanguineo como más o menos calificados para el puesto.

CALIFICACIÓN DE LOS GRUPOS SANGUÍNEOS SEGÚN SUS CARACTERÍSTICAS:

O:Es el atlético. Carácter tranquilo, paciente, en control de sus emociones, de gran fortaleza, saludables, buenos en los deportes, autoritarios, celosos, obsesivos.

A:Es el artístico. Meticuloso, reservado, de carácter agradable, lleno de preocupaciones, indeciso, cauto, incombativo,auto sacrificable, pesimista, discreto, inflexible, fastidioso.

B: Es el creativo. Optimista, independiente, de buen corazon, sensible, creativo, cuidadoso, impredecible, ostentoso e indiscreto.

AB:Es el adaptable. Racionales, diplomaticos, organizados, honestos, calculadores.Tipo B al exterior, tipo A a su interior. Muy conservadores, se ofenden con facilidad.

Compatibilidad -sentimental- entre tipos de sangre:

A es más compatible con A y AB
B es más compatible con B y AB
AB es más compatible con AB, B, A, O.
O es más compatible con O y AB

OTRAS CURIOSIDADES:

Según Masao Ohmura, profesor de psicología de Nihon University, debido a que la población nipona es de características bastantes homogeneas, el sugiere que se han fundamentado en esa creencia de los grupos sanguineos para crear cierta diversidad, unido a los pensamientos antiguos ya establecidos sobre el sistema feudal antiguo:

* Tipo O : discretos y fuertes.- clasificación que concuerda con la denominación feudal de “guerreros”.
* Tipo A: sumisos y de caracter ligero – clasificación feudal del “granjeros o campesinos”.
* Tipo AB: Inteligentes y sensitivos – clasificacion feudal de “artesanos”.
* Tipo B : optimistas y negociadores – clasificación feudal de “vendedores”.

“Si eliges un grupo heterogéneo y le pones la etiqueta de grupo O o B, entonces todo el grupo parece realmente como gente del grupo O o B, compartiendo los individuos entre sí grandes similitudes. El hecho es entonces imprimir esa idea en la mente de los individuos y de esa forma ellos creerán en la conexión entre los tipos de sangre y su personalidad”.

CONCLUSIÓN:

Los fundamentos sobre que la sangre puede determinar nuetsro carácter es en gran medida absurda, si bien al ser un factor genético podría tener alguna influencia, pero sería mínima. Entonces ¿ por qué muchas personas se sienten identificadas con estas correspondencias? La respuetsa radica en la predisposición mental. si nosotros creemos que somos algo al final seremos ese algo.

CURIOSIDADES:

Al parecer la sangre no solo influye en nuetsra salud de manera directa, sino que además de todas las especulaciones sobre su influencia en el carácter. Reciemntemente los investigadores James y Peter D’Adamo, han sugerido que tambien influye en nuestra alimentación. Definiendo que alimentos que son perjudiciales, beneficiosos y neutros según nuestro grupo sanguineo.

En este artículo me extenderé más en el próximo post que estoy cansada de escribir XDD

At the end of today’s Hypersensitivity lecture, some one asked about Rhesus positive mothers having children.  I got a little confused and gave COMPLETELY THE WRONG ANSWER!  I thought the question was what if the mother has rhesus antibodies, and has a rhesus positive baby; the question being the baby dies, which is the answer I gave, and it’s the right answer, but not the answer to the question asked.  Thinking back, the question was, what if the mother is rhesus positive, and has a rhesus positive baby – well, if the mother is rhesus positive, any rhesus positive blood from baby 1 at parturition will not lead to antibody formation, because the mother is rhesus positive, thus will see the baby blood as native, not foreign.  Consequently, if baby 2 is rhesus positive, or rhesus negative, there will be no rhesus antibodies present, so reaction.

So.  Rhesus disease of the newborn does not happen in mothers who are rhesus positive, as they will never form anti-rhesus antibodies.  Rhesus disease of the newborn occurs in rhesus negative mothers who have a rhesus positive baby, blood mixes at parturition, anti-rhesus antibodies are made, and then subsequent rhesus positive fetuses are attacked by the antibodies.  The treatment is to give anti-rhesus antibodies to the rhesus negative mothers at parturition, to mop up any rhesus positive blood floating about, so the mother does not make anti-rhesus Abs, and thus has no memory cells to produce anti-rhesus in future pregnancies.

Sorry if I’ve mislead any of you – I was confused by the question!  Hopefully this will have cleared up any misunderstanding.

And yes – I’ve sent the lecture to the medical school to be put up on Blackboard.

I am Rhesus Factor negative and have always been fascinated by the wacky theories surrounding this phenomena. Evidently, scientists have failed to explain the origin of such a condition. Some believe the origin is not of this earth. It is claimed that 75% of people that claim to have been abducted by aliens are rh negative. The following are the common traits of my fellow RH negatives:

• predominance of green or hazel eyes that change color like a chameleon, but also blue eyes
  - I have hazel eyes that change like a chameleon
• true red or reddish hair
  - I have reddish brown hair
• low pulse rate
  - Check
• low blood pressure
  - Check. Usually around 90/55
• Freckles rather than tans – Check
• keen sight or hearing
  - My eyesight has always been better than 20/20
• High IQ – Check. I am a Mensan.
• ESP
  - Not that I know of
• extra rib or vertabrae
  - Not that I know of
• UFO connections
  - Not yet
• love of space and science
  - Check. I’m an engineer.
• a sense of not belonging to the human race
  - I feel unique, but I wouldn’t go this far.
• piercing eyes
  - Don’t think so
• para-normal occurrences
  - Not yet
• physic dreams
  - Not yet
• truth seekers
  - Check.
• desire for higher wisdom
  - Check
• empathetic illnesses
  - Check
• deep compassion for fate of mankind
  - Check
• a sense of a ‘mission’ in life
  - Check
• physic abilities
  - Nope
• unexplained scars on body
  - Nope
• capability to disrupt electrical appliances
  - Nope
• alien contacts
  - Nope

Jharkhand is a state blessed with wide variety of flora and fauna. It is the store house of several rare and endangered species. More than half of the landmass in Jarkhand comes under forestry. There are several National parks, wildlife sanctuaries and Zoological Parks in this beautiful state.

Belta National Park a 250 sqkm wide paradise is a home for several animals like Tigers, Elephants, Bisons, Sambhars, spotted Deers, Rabits, fox, Langurs, Blue Bulls, Rhesus, Wild boar and Pythons some of them are as long as 6 metres. It is also included in Project Tiger. The Palamau Tiger reserve is another wildlife reserve included in Project Tiger. It is the home for several mammals, snakes, lizards, fishes, insects, birds, seed bearing plants and trees, Shrubs and herbs, climbers, parasites and semi parasites.

The Jawaharlal Nehru Zoological Park is the biggest in the state of Jharkhand. Its covers an area of 200 acres with an artificial water park and boating facilities. 16 km away lays the states most popular zoo. Mother nature can be experienced at her best in Jharkhand. The state capital Ranchi has an airport hence reaching there is not a difficulty. The city is also well connected by rail and road with good accommodation facilities.

 The Greek Muse Euterpe

Mythologies, perhaps, originate as dreams, and their meanings are often open to debate. I like to think that the opportunities they afford for reflection and discussion are the meanings. Linda R. Herzog is an artist I discovered recently when searching online for images of Euterpe (yoo TER pee), the Greek muse of music who is usually depicted playing a flute or double aulos. Herzog tells us that her fantasy visions come to her in the night while she sleeps. They are so vivid and powerful that she wakes up to sketch them before falling back to sleep. Is this how it works … mythology? Her images are fantastic and surrealistic — surprising and fun — but we might be left puzzled at their meaning.

The work depicted above is called Euterpe and was painted in 2006. It immediately made me think of Darwin and the biblical Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. The parting waters might also remind us of Moses parting the Red Sea. Euterpe, I naturally assumed, plays the flute. I’d seen images before of Adam and Eve depicted as monkeys. This one stands unabashedly exposed, minus a fig leaf — clearly before the biblical Fall (and perhaps even before the creation of woman). At the same time, he is depicted as a kind of Pied Piper, perhaps luring (a devil in disguise) or leading (Moses in disguise) his people out of slavery in Egypt and toward the Promised Land. The image is at once ominous and hopeful. But why connect the obviously male figure to the female muse?

Not much information is available about Euterpe. Hesiod identifies her only as one of the nine daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne (Memory). Only later, in classical Greece, was she given a flute and associated with music and lyric poetry. We also learn that she became pregnant by the river god Strymon and bore him a son. His name was Rhesus who, Homer tells us in the Iliad, led a small army of Thracian soldiers into the Trojan War, where he was tragically killed by Diomedes.

Don’t bother to look up the etymology of rhesus. I couldn’t find a Greek meaning for the word. The rhesus monkey, as it turns out, was arbitrarily named after the Thracian king. Each one of us has an rh (rhesus) factor helping to identify our blood type. So … the rhesus monkey in Herzog’s painting is not Euterpe, after all. It is representative of the son that Euterpe bore. It emerges out of the river (the god Strymon) and has inherited its mother’s flute. And because we are all blood-connected by the rh element, the painting ultimately depicts our own image mirrored back to us. Maybe we view ourselves as Adam tempted by the knowledge leading to his fall, or maybe we view ourselves as the Thracian king Rhesus fighting for a seemingly noble cause tragically leading to his death. We might even view ourselves as Moses leading “our people” to a better place, or as a semi-dark figure luring others toward an ambiguous end.

The monkey’s shadow connects him to the Tree of Knowledge, and the small bell suspended from a branch above him connects his mother Euterpe to both music and the fruit of knowledge–of both good and evil. When we call upon the muse, do we anticipate a tragic ending or a comic progression, or something else? If you’ve been following my blog, you know that I call it a journey of the dragonfly, my spirit mentor and, increasingly, mirror image of my own psyche. Imagine my surprise and delight, then, upon discovering that Herzog’s paintings were featured in a Kevin Costner film entitled Dragonfly.

The World is run by Neanderthals.

So says Eric Hufschmid. It could be that Mr. Hufschmids theory was influenced by a Jewish Scientist named Stan Gooch. Mr. Gooch theorizes that when CroMagnon man met up with Neanderthal man after evolving along seperate lines for 200,000 years, a hybrid species was created; today’s modern man. Mr Gooch’s theories have been rejected by the Scientific Community for years but are now proving to have some merit after all. He says todays Jewish people are the closest remnants to Neanderthals, who had many unique traits, they were control freaks, the tribe was dominated by the  women, they were telepathic , thanks to a pineal gland ‘third eye’  that was external back in the evolution from reptilians,and on and on. I suggest  investgating the Neanderthal bloodline traits of the rH negative blood type. That means Rhesus monkey negative (repitilian). This blood type will reject a pregnancy from a Rhesus monkey positive father. Some say it’s origins are extra-terrestrial, it cannot be cloned for instance. I could go on but instead I will just post these links if you care to learn more.

Oh, and if you happen to carry, the O negative type blood, that is the reptilian/neanderthal blood and , as I’m sure you are aware, the Government is watching you……

http://www.erichufschmid.net/Neanderthals/Blame-the-Neanderthals.html

http://www.greatdreams.com/reptlan/rhneg.htm

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/03/photogalleries/neanderthal/

http://www.amazon.com/Chosen-People-Caucasus-Deceptions-Colonization/dp/0883781476#

Posiblemente, el profesor de Biología explicará al alumno que el factor Rh hace referencia a una proteína característica de la sangre. Le dirá que la sangre de alrededor del 85% de la población mundial es Rh positivo, mientras que la del otro 15% que carece de esta proteína  es Rh negativo.

Cabe también la posibilidad de que le explique que la formulación de la teoría del factor Rh se realizó en 1937 a partir del trabajo llevado a cabo en Nueva York por el investigador de origen austriaco Karl Landsteiner (1868-1943) y el patólogo forense norteamericano Alexander Wiener (1907-76) en torno al estudio de las enfermedades de la sangre y de las técnicas aplicadas en las transfusiones sanguíneas. El propio Landsteiner había recibido ya en 1930 el Nobel por trabajos anteriores sobre la poliomielitis.

Si se quiere ir más alla, es posible que le explique que el descubrimiento se produjo cuando los dos expertos se encontraban haciendo transfusiones entre conejos y monos de un tipo de macacos llamado Rhesus y apreciaron la particularidad de la existencia de esta proteína en estos monos. Al descubrimiento le llamaron el “factor Rhesus“, etiqueta más tarde simplificada a “factor Rh“.

Lo que posiblemente no le explique el profesor es que quien bautizó a estos monos con el nombre de “Rhesus“, el naturalista francés Jean-Baptiste Audebert (1759-1800), era un enamorado y profundo conocedor del mundo clásico, hasta el punto de que algunos analistas atribuyen esta denominación a su interés en la guerra de Troya, en concreto al poema homérico de la Ilíada, donde el rey Reso de Tracia aparece en el Canto X. Hay también quien sugiere que, como era costumbre en su época, Audebert tenía conocimientos de griego, e impuso al mono el nombre de rhesus “hablador” (de rhesis, cf. retórica) por ser un rasgo aparente de este pequeño simio. 

Claro está que también puede haber quien piense que saber esto no vale para nada.

“Ma mengapa golongan darahku tidak sama dengan mama dan papa ya ?? Mama dan Papa bergolongan darah B sedangkan aku O, kok bisa ??” tanya didit kepada mamanya…

Golongan darah manusia pada dasarnya dapat digolongkan menurut beberapa sistem penggolongan darah yaitu :

• Sistem A, B, O
• Sistem M, N
• Sistem Rhesus (Rh)

Penggolongan darah menurut sistem A, B, O dapat dibedakan atas 4 macam yaitu :

1. Golongan darah A, bila dalam sel darah merahnya terdapat antigen A. Adanya antigen tersebut dikendalikan oleh gen I^A .
2. Golongan darah B, bila dalam sel darah merahnya terdapat antigen B. Adanya antigen tersebut dikendalikan oleh gen I^B .
3. Golongan darah AB, bila dalam sel darah merahnya terdapat antigen A dan B, yang masing –masing munculnya dikendalikan oleh gen I^A dan I^B.
4. Golongan darah O, bila dalam sel darah merahnya tidak terdapat antigen A dan / atau B. Keadaan ini timbul karena dikendalikan oleh gen I^O yang bersifat resesif baik terhadap antigen I^A maupun I^B.

Berdasarkan keterangan diatas jika dibuat tabel hubungan antara fenotip golongan darah, genotip dan kemungkinan sel gametnya dapat dilihat pada tabel berikut ini :

Kembali kepertanyaan didit kepada mamanya diatas jika dibuat tabel kebenaran maka dapat dihasilkan tabel kebenaran seperti dibawah ini :

Mama Didit : Golongan Darah B

Papa Didit : Golongan Darah B

Dari tabel Kebenaran diatas dapat dilihat bahwa golongan darah yang mungkin pada saudara – saudara Didit yaitu : B dan O, sedangkan golongan darah yang tidak mungkin pada saudara –saudara Didit yaitu : A dan AB

Contoh 2:

Seorang Pria bergolongan darah B menikah dengan wanita bergolongan darah AB maka kemungkinan golongan darah untuk anak – anaknya adalah :A,B dan AB, sedangkan golongan darah yang tidak mungkin O. Untuk lebih jelasnya dapat dilihat pada tabel kebenaran dibawah ini :

Berikut tabel golongan darah orang tua, beserta golongan darah yang mungkin dan golongan darah yang tidak mungkin dari anak –anaknya

From Punkeys:

In a bold move, punkeys are creeping ever forward across our borders. Now it looks like an unnamed island of the coast of South Carolina is the staging area for an impending monkey invasion! From WIS News:

An island in South Carolina is home to thousands of monkeys.The exact location cannot be disclosed because the animals on the island are federally protected. It took years to find the place called Monkey Island.

Finding an island that few people believe exists is nearly impossible.

Vince Loper thought it was an urban legend, and his family has owned a home directly across from Monkey Island for decades.

“Like you said, a lot of people don’t believe it,” he said.

Vince and his son, Devin, helped a North Carolina television news crew from WCNC find what so many say is a myth.

After several hours of snaking through South Carolina estuaries, the years-long search paid off.

Slowly, one at a time, they came towards the boat.

They’re called Rhesus monkeys and they’re native to India, but 3,500 of them live in the wild in South Carolina.

Rhesus monkeys were first brought there in 1979 and they were left on the island to live and breed almost 750 newborns a year.

Every monkey is tagged or tattooed, and each year 500 monkeys are taken to labs.

Over the decades, they’ve been used to test vaccines for everything from AIDS to bio-terrorism agents.

Few people, even those who live there, have ever seen them.

“Just in amazement that there’s monkeys running around on that island right there,” said Lopez. “Ha ha ha.”

Seeing them first hand in the Carolinas is a bit mind boggling.

Isn’t that the point of an invasion? Do it when no one is expecting it? It’s not so mind-boggling if you know how evil monkeys can be!

Faktor Rh menggambarkan adanya partikel protein (antigen D) di dalam sel darah seseorang. Bagi yang ber-Rh negatif berarti ia kekurangan faktor protein dalam sel darah merahnya. Sedangkan yang ber-Rh positif memiliki protein yang cukup. Pada jaman dahulu dalam transfusi darah, asal golonganya sama, tidak dianggap ada masalah lagi. Padahal, bila terjadi ketidak cocokan rhesus, bisa terjadi pembekuan darah yang berakibat fatal, yaitu kematian penerima darah.

Orang-orang dengan rhesus negatif mempunyai sejumlah kesulitan karena diseluruh dunia ini, orang dengan rhesus negatif relatif jumlahnya lebih sedikit. Pada orang kulit putih, rhesus negatif hanya sekitar 15%, pada orang kulit hitam sekitar 8%, dan pada orang asia bahkan hampir seluruhnya merupakan orang dengan rhesus positif.

Di Indonesia, kasus kehamilan dengan rhesus negatif ternyata cukup banyak dijumpai. Umumnya dijumpai pada orang-orang asing atau orang yang mempunyai garis keturunan asing seperti Eropa dan Arab, walaupun tidak langsung. Ada juga orang yang tidak mempunyai riwayat keturunan asing, namun jumlahnya lebih sedikit.

Bila seorang wanita dengan rhesus negatif mengandung bayi dari pasangan yang mempunyai rhesus positif, maka ada kemungkinan sang bayi mewarisi rhesus sang ayah yang positif. Dengan demikian akan terjadi kehamilan rhesus negatif dengan bayi rhesus positif. Hal ini disebut kehamilan dengan ketidak cocokan rhesus (rhesus inkontabilita).

Kehadiran janin sendiri di tubuh ibu merupakan benda asing, apalagi jika Rh janin tak sama dengan Rh ibu. Secara alamiah tubuh bereaksi dengan merangsang sel darah merah (eristrosit) membentuk daya tahan atau antibodi berupa zat anti Rh untuk melindungi tubuh ibu sekaligus melawan ‘benda asing’ tersebut. Inilah yang menimbulkan ancaman pada janin yang dikandung.

Efek ketidakcocokan bisa mengakibatkan kerusakan besar-besaran pada sel darah merah bayi yang disebut erytroblastosis foetalis dan hemolisis. Hemolisis ini pada jaman dahulu merupakan penyebab umum kematian janin dalam rahim, disamping hydrop fetalis, yaitu bayi yang baru lahir dengan keadaan hati yang bengkak, anemia dan paru-paru penuh cairan yang dapat mengakibatkan kematian.

Selain itu kerusakan sel darah merah bisa juga memicu kernikterus (kerusakan otak) dan jaundice (bayi kuning/hiperbilirubinimia), gagal jantung dan anemia dalam kandungan maupun setelah lahir.

Dikarenakan jarangnya kasus kehamilan dengan rhesus negatif, maka sangat sedikit pula rumah sakit yang dapat menanganinya. Untuk itu walaupun tidak ada masalah serius dokter biasanya akan tetap menangani kehamilan dengan rhesus negative secara khusus. Langkah pertama yang dilakukan dokter adalah dengan memeriksa darah ibu untuk memastikan jenis rhesus dan untuk melihat apakah telah tercipta antibodi.

Bila belum tercipta antibodi, maka pada usia kehamilan 28 minggu dan dalam 72 jam setelah persalinan akan diberikan injeksi anti-D (Rho) immunoglobulin, atau biasa juga disebut RhoGam. Proses terbentuknya zat anti dalam tubuh ibu sendiri sangat cepat sehingga akan lebih baik lagi jika setelah 48 jam melahirkan langsung diberi suntikan RhoGAM agar manfaatnya lebih terasa. Sayangnya, perlindungan RhoGAM hanya berlangsung 12 minggu. Setelah lewat batas waktu, suntikan harus diulang setiap kehamilan berikutnya.

Bila dalam diri ibu telah tercipta antibodi, maka maka akan dilakukan penanganan khusus terhadap janin yang dikandung, yaitu dengan monitoring secara reguler dengan scanner ultrasonografi. Dokter akan memantau masalah pada pernafasan dan peredaran darah, cairan paru-paru, atau pembesaran hati, yang merupakan gejala-gejala penderitaan bayi akibat rendahnya sel darah merah.

Bila memang ada zat anti-Rh dalam tubuh ibu hamil, sebaiknya dilakukan pemeriksaan jenis darah janin melalui pengambilan cairan ketuban (amniosentesis). Dapat juga melalui pengambilan cairan dari tulang belakang Chorionic Villi Sampling (CVS), dan pengambilan contoh darah dari tali pusat janin (kordosentesis). Pada kasus tertentu, kadang diputuskan untuk melakukan persalinan lebih dini, sejauh usia janin sudah cukup kuat untuk dibesarkan diluar rahim. Tindakan ini akan segera diikuti dengan penggantian darah janin dari donor yang tepat. Induksi persalinan juga akan dilakukan pada ibu yang belum mempunyai antibodi bila kehamilannya telah lewat dari waktu persalinan yang diperkirakan sebelumnya, untuk mencegah kebocoran yang tak terduga.

Pada kasus janin belum cukup kuat untuk dibesarkan diluar, maka perlu dilakukan transfusi darah terhadap janin yang masih dalam kandungan. Biasanya bila usia kandungan belum mencapai 30 minggu. Proses transfusi ini akan diawasi secara ketat dengan scanner ultrasonografi dan bisa diulang beberapa kali hingga janin mencapai ukuran dan usia yang cukup kuat untuk diinduksi. Setelah bayi lahir, ia akan mendapat beberapa pemerikasaan darah secara teratur untuk memantau kadar bilirubin dalam darahnya. Bila diperlukan akan dilakukan phototerapi. Bila kadar bilirubin benar-benar berbahaya akan dilakukan penggantian darah dengan transfusi. Kadar cairan dalam paru-paru dan jantungnya juga akan diawasi dengan ketat, demikian juga dengan kemungkinan anemia.

Perbedaan Rh ibu dan janin tak terlalu berbahaya pada kehamilan pertama. Sebab, kemungkinan terbentuknya zat anti-Rh pada kehamilan pertama sangat kecil. Kalaupun sampai terbentuk, jumlahnya tidak banyak. Sehingga, bayi pertama dapat lahir sehat.

Pembentukan zat anti Rh baru benar-benar dimulai pada saat proses persalinan (atau keguguran) pada kehamilan pertama. Saat plasenta lepas, pembuluh-pembuluh darah yang menghubungkan dinding rahim dengan plasenta juga putus. Akibatnya, sel-sel darah merah bayi dapat masuk ke dalam peredaran darah ibu dalam jumlah yang lebih besar. Peristiwa ini disebut transfusi feto-maternal. Selanjutnya, 48-72 jam setelah persalinan atau keguguran, tubuh ibu dirangsang lagi untuk memproduksi zat anti-Rh lebih banyak lagi. Demikian seterusnya.

Saat ibu mengandung lagi bayi kedua dan selanjutnya, barulah zat anti-Rh di tubuh ibu akan menembus plasenta dan menyerang sel darah merah janin. Sementara itu bagi ibu perbedaan rhesus ibu dan janin sama sekali tidak mengganggu dan mempengaruhi kesehatan ibu.

We are quickly allowing Punkeys to gain control over our daily lives. Now they have invaded our coffee picking and once they have control over our caffine, we will be forced to do their bidding or wander around groggy and defenseless. Either way they win! From Canada.com:

Making this specialty coffee was monkey business.

Vancouver’s 49th Parallel Coffee Roasters have enlisted the aid of some unlikely workers in Southern India to help harvest the best coffee beans — rhesus macaque monkeys.

The coffee critters, who work for peanuts, pick only the few sweetest beans from each plant, which they then store in their mouths for several hours while sucking on the “cherry” fruit before spitting out the inner bean.

Sounds tasty! ABC Coffee. As in Already Been Chewed. MMMMM. We might as well give up now…

A worker then collects the spat-out beans and they are cleaned and roasted, making his job slightly better than the person whose job it is to collect the Kopi Luwak — Sumatran beans harvested from the droppings of civet cats.

“The wild monkeys seek out the sweetest cherries,” president Vince Piccolo explained yesterday after returning from a coffee conference in Minneapolis, Minn.

“It is like us eating an apricot and spitting out the pit. I find the coffee to be extremely sweet with low acidity.”

Only four or five sacks of the masticated beans called Indian SL 795 Devon Estates Arabica were produced and Piccolo got his hands on three of them, which he plans to serve as single-origin espresso and not blended with anything else.

The SL 795 will be available in the company’s Kitsilano store at 2152 West 4th Ave. beginning tomorrow.

That would be today.

“It is only in limited amounts,” said Piccolo. “This is a unique discovery and we want out customers to have great coffee.”

Piccolo expects the 12-ounce bags, which sell for $25, to sell out quickly.

Ah…those poor simple Canadians.

I decided to do a double post today in two ways – I’m discussing two discs in this post, and I’m also doing two posts today because I need to put up my weekly mix. Things got a bit backed up when I moved home from university (three full days on the Trans-Canada Highway killed any energy I had to write), so hopefully I’ll be able to spread my posts a little more evenly this coming week. Anyhow, on to the subjects of this double feature. I came across the French band Rhesus last year and liked the song I heard from their earlier album Sad Disco. Then I chose to order their latest album, The Fortune Teller Said, off their MySpace page (much easier than trying to track it down anywhere else), and I was very pleased with their poppy guitar rock. Based in Berlin and comprised of vocalist/guitarist Aurelien Marie, drummer Simon Nodet, and bassist Laura Rosello, Rhesus performs in English.

Aurelien’s high voice alternately quivers and rasps, sometimes sounding like The Sleepy Jackson’s Luke Steele, as he expresses jubilation, pain, and anger. Album opener, No Directions, is a sunny ode to being happily directionless. Hey Darling, the only single officially released from The Fortune Teller Said, is a catchy, breezy song that pumps along to fast guitars and then expands into a chorus that feels like breathing in so deeply your lungs hurt. Reining in the energy of Hey Darling, Little Things shambles along to Aurelien’s lazy vocals. Picking up once again, the following track I Suppose is a raucous number that emulates a frustrated relationship, but then the music comes down to showcase a beautiful blend of Aurelien and Laura’s voices as they insist they don’t want to start a fight. Berlin is a pretty little interlude under two minutes that imitates an old French record crackling away on a grammophone as Aurelien plays a ukelele (it reminds me a bit of the song Guilty from the Amelie soundrack) One of my favourite tracks is Will You Follow Me Out, which takes you on a moodier turn with its thrumming bassline and Aurelien’s voice comes down to a near-whisper. Another quieter song is Together, in which Aurelien is accompanied only by an acoustic guitar for the first two thirds of the song, and I Still Think of You is a tender ballad of regret. Overall, The Fortune Teller Said is a youthful, exuberant record perfect for a summer day or a road trip.

I soon discovered that Aurelien had his own solo project under the name Lian Ray in which he self-releases EPs every few months. I purchased the latest one entitled, We Are the Fox and the Pony, and I was charmed by the low-key, lo-fi music, enchanting lyrics and homemade artwork (apparently created by a very talented Mary Oh). As Lian Ray, Aurelien explores the slower, acoustic side of Rhesus more fully while also creating more magical, personal narratives than in Rhesus. In many ways, this EP recalls the sound of the title track off Sad Disco, a slightly folkier number. The EP includes three versions of the The Fox and the Pony – an instrumental theme, the original demo, and a piano version – and all of them are beautiful, though I think I like the instrumental the best with its plinking xylophone-like sounds. The other two versions with their vocals spin a sweet, quirky story where “Your name sounds like a Japanese candy and I’m standing there being a clown.” Our Correspondence is melodic and filled with fantastic, strange vignettes like “You’re singing lullabies to babies on a boat.” Ink & Paper Twin could have been a Fionn Regan song, and Kings Street is a mournful ballad interspersed with accordion sounds and a European airport announcement. Give Me a Call, a song available for free download from Lian Ray’s MySpace, is a brief, bouncy tune of loyalty, and the final track of the EP, Mystery’s Never Home is hazy and dreamy as Aurelien croons over soft guitars and piano. While The Fortune Teller Said is an album of perpetual motion down a motorway in summer, We Are the Fox and the Pony EP is a blissed out lounge in dappled sunlight.

Hey Darling – Rhesus

Will You Follow Me Out – Rhesus

Ink & Paper Twin – Lian Ray

Pour ses 10 ans, le festival Solidays s’offre une affiche de rêve avec une programmation éclectique, rock, world et électro, et surtour un pass 3 jours à 30 euros en vente à partir du 18 avril.

 The Gossip, Yael Naim, Thomas Dutronc, Alpha Blondy, I AM ou encore les Québécois fidèles des Cowboys Fringants, plus de 80 concerts sont programmés pour le dixième anniversaire du festival Solidays qui se déroulera les 4, 5 et 6 juillet prochain sur l’hippodrome de Longchamp.

 Sont d’ores et déjà annoncés : Yael Naim, The Gossip, Tiken Jah Fakoly, Patrice, Césaria Evora, Thomas Dutronc, Asa, Moriarty, Foals, Asian Dub Foundation, Girls in Hawaii, The Hoosiers, The Subways, Alpha Blondy, IAM, Xavier Rudd, Grand Corps Malade, Orchestre National de Barbès, Beat Assailant, Hocus Pocus, Les Cowboys Fringants, Dub Pistols, Aaron, Dub Inc., Toots and the Maytals, Bumcello, Nneka, Kery James, Cocosuma, Têtes Raides, Deportivo, Rhesus, Empyr, Jim Murple Memorial, Cocoon, Caravan Palace, Java, Samarabalouf, Yelle, Rose, Psy 4 de la Rime, Sharko, La Caravane Passe, La Chanson du Dimanche… d’autres noms devraient suivre.

 
Deux grandes nuits électro sont également prévues à partir de minuit, l’hippodrome sera laissé aux mains de DJ’s qui animeront trois dancefloors : Laurent Garnier, Etienne de Crécy, Don Rimini, Brodinski, Beat Torrent, Missill, Dj Soulist, Chinese Man, Midnight Juggernauts, Agoria… Sans oublier Busy P, Dj Mehdi, Para One réunis autour d’une « Ed Banger and Friends Arena ».

Toujours emprunt de solidarité, Solidays, mettra également l’accent sur la découverte avec les Talents de la Région Ile-de-France, partenaire principal du festival, de la Mairie de Paris et pour la première fois, avec une sélection inédite des artistes du métro.

Pour fêter son dixième anniversaire, le festival met en vente à partir du 18 avril 15 000 pass 3 jours à 30 €. Le pass journée est fixé à 25 euros.

 
www.solidays.org

As I’ve always stated, Punkeys have a keen knack of deception and trickery. This excerpt on an article at MSNBC.com backs me up:

“Some of the primates like to tease other individuals and make fun of them,” he told me. “Possibly they’re the only animals that do this – poke fun at others just for the fun of it. Young animals do it to adults. It’s not really deceptive. It’s more like teasing behavior.”

Chimps and other apes also seem to be adept at deceiving each other for societal advantage, Maestripieri said.

“The deception, when it’s intentional, is something that comes with other complex cognitive skills. It’s what people call ‘theory of mind,’” he said. “To be able to deceive someone else implies the ability to know that they think, they believe. That’s something that only the higher primates have.”

For example, female chimps (and even rhesus monkeys) will sneak around to have sex with younger males when the senior, dominant male isn’t looking. A lone chimp will fool the others in its troop to save a cache of food all for itself.

This is not unlike many of the dating reality shows on TV. Someday they’ll really get real about reality TV and just have a show called “Whore.” You heard it here first.

Some research has linked the capacity for deception with brain size – and specifically the size of the neocortex, the area of the brain involved in higher-level thought.

“It seems that primates that have a larger brain engage in deception more than others,” Maestripieri said. “But I have to tell you this is controversial, because when you study deception, you’re studying a series of anecdotes. What might look like [intentional] deception to one researcher wouldn’t look like that to another.”

Richard Byrne, an evolutionary psychologist at St. Andrews University in Scotland, agrees that it’s hard to judge whether primate deception qualifies as intentional foolery – let alone the kind of April Fools’ prankishness so familiar to humans.

“To find a prank funny, one needs to understand how the world looks through other people’s eyes – so that you can fully appreciate how stupid they must be feeling by now!” he wrote in an e-mail. “Technically called ‘theory of mind,’ that’s just what most primate deception lacks.

“The interesting thing in my primate evidence is that, even so, primates do use deception a lot, to achieve their own ends, presumably without having any idea how their victims feel,” he continued. “Instead, they learn the tactics by experience. They just find out what works and – since they learn very fast in social contexts – only need one hint and they have got the trick.”

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times:

NEVER TRUST A MONKEY!