Tourette’s Syndrome

On Saturday 22nd November, mental health professionals and members of the public who are affected by Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) will all come together for the 2008 OCD Conference at Imperial College London.

This annual conference has been designed to inspire, invigorate and educate participants and provide an opportunity to share personal experiences of a condition which affects an estimated 1.8 million people in the UK alone. Public awareness of the challenges faced by OCD sufferers has increased in recent years after several well-known public figures, including David Beckham and Justin Timberlake, spoke frankly and openly about the effect OCD has had on their lives.

OCD Conference 2008 is organised by OCD Action, the leading UK national charity for people affected by OCD spectrum disorders.

Keynote speakers at the conference will include Professor Paul Salkovskis (Channel 4’s ‘The House of Obsessive Compulsives’) and Dr. Isobel Heyman (Maudsley Hospital, London), both specialists on the treatment of OCD and health anxiety. The day will also include workshops, presentations and short films designed to help adults, families and children identify, treat and seek advice about OCD spectrum disorders including Tourette’s syndrome, Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD)/’Imagined Ugliness’ and skin picking.

Though OCD is listed as one of the top 10 disabling conditions (including physical ailments) in the world by the World Health Organisation, people who suffer from OCD are usually reluctant to request help from others. They worry that people might think them mad and are often unaware that their disorder is a recognised condition with effective treatments. Events such as OCD Conference 2008 are a vital step forwards in developing public awareness not only of this debilitating disorder, but also of the many different treatments and support networks available to OCD sufferers and those around them.

OCD Action Chairman Peter Jennings said: “This day of action will have internationally-respected experts deconstruct this complex disorder to show people that these intrusive thoughts and compulsive rituals are purely symptoms of OCD; symptoms which can be managed through therapy, medication and the determination to say ‘No’ to OCD.

“You don’t have to suffer from OCD to be affected by it, but you need to know about the disorder to fight it. I hope that as many people as possible will join us for OCD Conference 2008 to learn more about OCD spectrum disorders, find out which forms of therapy and medication are most effective, and learn how to manage OCD whilst working, studying and socialising.”

OCD Conference 2008
Date: Saturday 22nd November, 2008
Time: 09.30 - 17.00
Venue: Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London SW7 2AZ
Fees: £75 (health professionals), £30 (public), £20 (members of OCD Action and supporting charities)
To register: visit http://www.ocdconference.org.uk or telephone 0870 360 6232.

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Will My Next Child Be Born With Autism?

Although autism has become a fairly common disorder, there is still a lot that it not understood about it. One of the things that are the least clear is what causes autism. There has been a great deal of speculation about the reasons for its occurrence, but there has been little evidence to support most of these theories.

One of the most accepted ideas about the cause of autism is that certain individuals are genetically predisposed to it. However, that doesn’t mean that children who inherit the unknown gene will certainly be autistic. It is thought that many people have the gene, but the only ones who develop autism are those that are exposed to some sort of environmental catalyst. This could potentially explain why the numbers of autism sufferers have grown exponentially in recent years.

The idea of an autism gene is disheartening for parents of autistic children who would like to have more kids. They worry that because one child has autism, any other children they have will also be autistic. But this is not necessarily true.

Studies have shown that parents of an autistic child have a one in twenty chance of having another autistic child. In the general population, the chance of a child being autistic is one in 150. So while it does appear that there is an increased risk for siblings of autistics, they are not absolutely destined to be autistic themselves.

Studies have also indicated a possible correlation between certain traits in parents and relatives and an increased chance of autism in a child. These include autism-like characteristics such as impaired social and communication skills and emotional problems such as bipolar disorder.

Children who have certain other medical conditions are also more likely to end up with autism. These include fragile X syndrome, tuberous sclerosis, Tourette syndrome, and epilepsy. Another risk factor is advanced age of the child’s father. Children of men who are over 40 are about six times more likely to be autistic than those of men who are under 30.

While there are certain risk factors that have been discovered, it’s simply not possible to predict whether or not a child will be autistic. Some autistic children have all of the genetic factors associated with the disorder, but many children with no apparent risk factors are also autistic. And some kids with all of the risk factors do not develop autism.

The good news is that doctors are studying autism like never before, and they are getting closer to finding the answers every day. And once the cause is determined, we will be much closer to seeing a cure or means of prevention.

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Nov 13 2008 By Katrine Bussey

AT LEAST one in six Scottish pupils has some form of learning difficulty, it is claimed.

A survey of specialist support teachers has found more than 120,000 children are affected by problems such as dyslexia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Asperger’s or Tourette’s syndrome.

The figure, from a study by charity Mindroom, is four times the government total of pupils recognised as needing additional support at school.

Mindroom founder Sophie Dow said the official figures were “masking a much larger problem”.

She warned: “Without concerted action, these shocking new figures suggest that we risk sleepwalking into the biggest public healthcare crisis of our time.”

She stressed that people with learning difficulties could make “a tremendously positive contribution to society” if they were properly diagnosed and supported.

But she added: “Too many are condemned to long-term unemployment or, worse still, committing crime because they don’t get the help and understanding they so desperately need.”

The survey results were presented at Holyrood yesterday as the charity, who help children and adults with learning difficulties, launched acampaign.

They are calling on the government to create the world’s first centre to help learning difficulty sufferers by bringing together facilities for research, education and diagnosis under one roof.

They also want more research on learning difficulties and are asking the government to ensure teachers are trained to identify and support affected pupils.

Dow has written to ministers asking for “an urgent meeting to discuss the survey findings and the specific actions we want the Scottish government to take to address this issue”.

Mindroom are backed by Edinburgh writer Alexander McCall Smith, creator of the The No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency novels.

He said: “Their efforts bring practical and much-needed help to the families of people with learning difficulties.”

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The second annual dinner and show to benefit The Tourette Syndrome Association of New Jersey will be held Sunday, Nov. 30, from 1 to 6:30 p.m. at Temple Emanu-El, 756 E. Broad St., Westfield.

Doors open at noon; Program starts at 1 p.m.; An early dinner starts at 2 p.m.

Singer/entertainer Steven Maglio will open the show at 2:30 p.m. with a tribute to Frank Sinatra; followed by a performance by Johnny Maestro and the Brooklyn Bridge.

The cast of the Sci-Fi Channel hit TV show “Ghost Hunters” will be at the dinner and show, including Dave Tango (who has Tourette Syndrome), and Jason Hawes, Grant Wilson, Steve Gonsalves and Kris Williams; the four actors and one actress from Ghost Hunters will be answering questions from the dinner audience.

Steven Maglio, the cast of Ghost Hunters, and Johnny Maestro and the Brooklyn Bridge band members will be signing autographs and selling T-shirts, autographed photographs, CDs, and other memorabilia including Sinatra collectibles.

Bruce Tango, the father of Dave Tango, is holding the dinner and show. The donation is $75 per person. Table seating is limited.

For more information or tickets, call Michael Kenny at 908-232-6770, Ext. 129; Bruce Tango at 908-256-4890, or Bernard Tracy at 732-381-0561.

Tickets can also purchased online at www.Idealeventmanage.com.

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Studies show rise in birth defects, infertility among men

Sonja Puzic
Windsor Star

Are males becoming an endangered species?

That’s the question scientists and researchers have been pondering since alarming trends in male fertility rates, birth defects and disorders began emerging around the world.

More and more boys are being born with genital defects and are suffering from learning disabilities, autism and Tourette’s Syndrome, among other disorders.

Male infertility rates are on the rise and the quality of an average man’s sperm is declining, according to some studies.

But perhaps the most disconcerting of all trends is the growing gender imbalance in many parts of heavily industrialized nations, where the births of baby boys have been declining for many years.

What many scientists are calling the most important — and least publicized — issue surrounding the future of the human race is highlighted in a CBC documentary that features two Windsor researchers who’ve studied the phenomenon.

Titled The Disappearing Male, the documentary includes interviews with Jim Brophy and Margaret Keith, adjunct sociology professors at the University of Windsor.

They have been studying the decline in the birth of male children in the Aamjiwnaang First Nation community located next to the infamous Chemical Valley, Canada’s largest concentration of petrochemical plants, near Sarnia.

A paper co-authored by Keith and published three years ago in the U.S. journal Environmental Health Perspectives suggests that exposure to various chemicals produced by industrial plants surrounding the Aamjiwnaang reserve land may be skewing the community’s sex ratio.

The researchers looked at the community’s birth records since 1984 and saw “a dramatic drop in the number of boys being born in the last 10 years, particularly in the five-year period between 1998 and 2003,” Brophy said.

Of 132 Aamjiwnaang babies born between 1999 and 2003, only 46 were boys. Typically, about 105 boys are born for every 100 girls in Canada.

High miscarriage rates and a unusually high number of children suffering from asthma were also noted by researchers.

Although the link between pollutants and human reproduction has not been firmly established, there is growing evidence that the birth sex ratio can be altered by exposure to certain chemicals, such as dioxin, PCBs and pesticides. Brophy said studies done in the United States, Japan and Europe seem to support the theory that the so-called endocrine disrupting chemicals have a particular effect on males.

Some of these chemicals are found in commonly used products such as baby bottles and cosmetics. They can also cause miscarriages and a “whole host” of disorders in a male child, Brophy said.

Brophy said soil and water contamination in and around the Aamjiwnaang reserve had been documented before, including in a University of Windsor study that found high levels of PCBs, lead, mercury and various chemicals in the area in the late 1990s. Accidental chemical spills in the area have not been uncommon.

GLOBAL AWARENESS

But it wasn’t until the Aamjiwnaang birth ratio study was published that the global science community really took notice.

“It triggered … calls from scientists and researchers from around the world who had been looking at this issue in Europe and the United States,” Brophy said. “Aamjiwnaang became almost the poster child.”

While Brophy has not seen The Disappearing Male documentary yet, he believes the story of the Aamjiwnaang community will be “the focal point.”

He said the documentary also includes interviews with “some of the foremost experts in the world” on environmental effects on reproductive health.

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by Max Blumenthal

The reclusive billionaire, the mother of Blackwater’s Erik Prince, and the drive to fund this year’s most controversial referendum.

Among the local ballot measures to be decided on Election Day, California’s Proposition 8 is perhaps the most fiercely contested. Backers of the proposition to ban same-sex marriage in the state cast their campaign in apocalyptic terms. “This vote on whether we stop the gay-marriage juggernaut in California is Armageddon,” born-again Watergate felon and Prison Fellowship Ministries founder Chuck Colson told the New York Times. Tony Perkins, the president of the Christian right’s most powerful Beltway lobbying outfit, Family Research Council, echoed Colson’s language. “It’s more important than the presidential election,” Perkins said of Prop 8. “We will not survive [as a nation] if we lose the institution of marriage.”

The campaign for Prop 8 has reaped massive funding from conservative backers across the country. Much of it comes from prominent donors like the Utah-based Church of Latter Day Saints and the Catholic conservative group, Knights of Columbus. Prop 8 has also received a boost from Elsa Broekhuizen, the widow of Michigan-based Christian backer Edgard Prince and the mother of Erik Prince, founder of the controversial mercenary firm, Blackwater.

While the Church of Latter Day Saints’ public role in Prop 8 has engendered a growing backlash from its more liberal members, and Broekhuizen’s involvement attracted some media attention, the extreme politics of Prop 8’s third largest private donor, Howard F. Ahmanson, reclusive heir to a banking fortune, have passed almost completely below the media’s radar. Ahmanson has donated $900,000 to the passage of Prop 8 so far.

I first met Ahmanson in 2004, when he and his wife, Roberta, agreed to an interview request for an article I was writing for Salon. Their exchanges with me marked the first time since 1984 that Howard had agreed to make contact with a journalist, and the first time since 1992 for Roberta. Howard agreed to answer questions only by email because, according to Roberta, his Tourette’s Syndrome made chatting on the phone with a stranger nearly impossible. He functions “like a slow modem,” she said. Her dual role as her husband’s spokesperson and nurse quickly became apparent.

Few Americans have heard of Ahmanson—and that’s the way he likes it. He donates cash either out of his own pocket or through his unincorporated Fieldstead & Co. to avoid having to report the names of his grantees to the IRS. His Tourette’s syndrome only adds to his mysterious persona, as his fear of speaking leads him to shun the media. While Ahmanson once resided in a mental institution in Kansas, he now occupies a position among the Christian right’s power pantheon as one of the movement’s most influential donors. During a 1985 interview with the Orange County Register, Ahmanson summarized his political agenda: “My goal is the total integration of biblical law into our lives.”

The campaign to teach “intelligent design” in public school classrooms, the Republican takeover of the California Assembly, and the rollback of affirmative action in California—Ahmanson has been behind them all. He has also taken a special interest in anti-gay crusades. Ahmanson’s most controversial episode related to his funding of the religious empire of Rousas John Rushdoony, a radical evangelical theologian who advocated placing the United States under the control of a Christian theocracy that would mandate the stoning to death of homosexuals. With Prop 8 organizers claiming in a virtual mantra that their measure will not harm gays or take rights away from heterosexual Californians, Ahmanson has good reason to conceal his involvement in the campaign.

more…

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by HOLLY HITCHCOCK

As the Arizona youth ambassador for the Tourette Syndrome Association, I was happy when Therapeutic Riding of Tucson selected me to help develop a hippotherapy program for people with Tourette’s syndrome.

The neurological disorder causes involuntary vocal and physical tics. It first shows up between the ages of 4 and 18.

There is no cure and very few therapies, but hippotherapy has been making a difference for me!

Hippotherapy provides skill development and recreation through horse care, horse riding lessons, trail and pen activities.

In hippotherapy, the movement of the horse is used by a team of professional therapists to help increase the rider’s skills - from relaxation and visualization to brain-body function improvement.

Every Wednesday, I join TROT Instruction Director Mary Vardi, volunteer nurse Cheryl North and Skittles the paint-Percheron horse at the TROT Ranch, 8920 E. Woodland Road.

We have been experimenting with numerous ways to use the movements I am experiencing, through grooming, walking and riding Skittles, to help me experience some relief from my tic episodes throughout the week.

We have tried a variety of techniques, including riding Skittles using Western and English saddles or just a blanket, with my eyes open and with eyes closed.

On a “bad tic day,” even being able to recall the sensation of the horse’s movement helps me to calm myself and experience muscle relaxation and relief.

It’s definitely worth the time and effort trying hippotherapy if you have TS.

I have less tics, fewer muscle spasms and am sleeping better at night since starting hippotherapy.

At first I wasn’t sure how hippotherapy would help me. But I’ve discovered I can get into a mental “zone” where I can let go and almost forget I have Tourette’s for periods of time!

I am very grateful to Mary Vardi, Cheryl North, TROT and the Dillon Foundation, which helped pay my scholarship fees.

I am also grateful to Skittles for his gentle patience with me.

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By FIONA ISAACSON, EXAMINER HEALTH WRITER

During the first Flip Tricks for Tourette Skate Competition, Danielle Turpin can’t forget the 11- year-old boy who first got on the skateboard ramp but then approached the microphone to tell the audience he has Tourette syndrome.

“That’s probably what made it for me — kids feeling comfortable (talking about Tourette syndrome),” she told The Examiner last night.

Turpin has won the Maureen Cavanaugh Public Awareness Award from the Tourette Syndrome Foundation of Canada for promoting awareness of the neurochemical disorder, which can cause motor and verbal ticks.

“It’s given to an individual who exemplifies public awareness in the face of adversity,” executive director Rosie Wartecker said yesterday about the award.

Turpin, along with her son Ethan Wyatt, who turns 11 Saturday, organized the 2006 and 2007 Flip Tricks for Tourette Skate competitions at the West 49 skateboard park in Peterborough.

Both Turpin and her son have Tourette syndrome.

“Living with Tourette syndrome herself, raising two kids, one of which has Tourette syndrome, and taking the time out of all that to then go and ensure that not only an event is successful but that all forms of media are at that event,” Wartecker said.

“That raised the consciousness of this particular disorder to the public and that’s what the award was given for.”

The award is named for Cavanaugh who did a “huge amount” of public awareness for the foundation, Wartecker said.

“I’m honoured I think it’s great,” said Turpin who is the local contact for the foundation and provides advice and education for people with Tourette syndrome and for schools.

Spreading awareness is important, she said.

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The gene has also been implicated in autism, researchers say

By Amanda Gardner
HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 5 (HealthDay News) — British researchers have identified the first gene to be associated with a common childhood language disorder.

Variants of the CNTNAP2 gene are associated with the disorder known as specific language impairment (SLI) — the unexplained difficulty with language that can involve repetition of nonsense words, the researchers said.

The gene has also been implicated in autism and could represent a genetic link between the two disorders, the scientists said.

But the fact that this gene is also linked to other neurological conditions such as autism, epilepsy, schizophrenia and Tourette’s syndrome means it may not be unique to language, but to the early development of cognitive function, said Rajesh Miranda, associate professor of neuroscience and experimental therapeutics at Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine.

No one knows exactly how this gene may be affecting language.

“What skill in language-impaired children is this gene affecting?” said Dr. Karin Stromswold, author of an editorial accompanying the paper in the Nov. 6 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. “There are a lot of reasons you can be language-impaired, excluding hearing loss and mental retardation.”

Many children with common language impairment also have motor impairment, so the gene could actually be affecting either core language or motor involvement, said Stromswold, a professor of psychology and member of the Rutgers University Center for Cognitive Science, in New Brunswick, N.J.

An estimated seven percent of pre-school children have SLI, according to background information in the study.

Scientists had previously identified mutations in a gene known as FOXP2 as involved in speech disorders in one family.

“FOXP2 is the strongest gene candidate for language but the mutation is only seen in a small number of people, just one family, and that family also has mental retardation and other issues,” Miranda said.

The FOXP2 gene is also active in animals such as mice, birds and primates that obviously don’t have speech problems, Miranda said.

The authors of the new study, from the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics at the University of Oxford, screened this gene and found that one of the other genes it interacts with is called CNTNAP2. An analysis of CNTNAP2 function in 184 families with common language impairments found that children with certain forms of the gene had language deficits, notably nonsense-word repetition.

The findings seem to raise more questions than they answer, but hopefully they provide a gateway for further discoveries, experts said.

“A lot of times the clues to the basis of a disease come from very small groups,” said Miranda. “You find one family that clues you into the process, but then you have to work through the process.”

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NJCTS Grassroots Campaign Empowers Kids and Families To Fight Tourette Syndrome Stigma

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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Here is some more information about Jerk, California:

Twitch, Jerk, Freak—Sam Carrier has been called them all. Because of his Tourette’s syndrome, Sam is in near constant motion with tics and twitches and verbal outbursts. So, of course, high school is nothing but torment. Forget friends; forget even hoping that beautiful, perfect Naomi will look his way. And home isn’t much better with his domineering stepfather reminding him that the only person who was more useless than Sam was his dead father, Jack. But then an unexpected turn of events unearths the truth about his father. And suddenly Sam doesn’t know who he is, or even where he’ll go next. What he does know is that the only girl in the world who can make him happy and nervous at the same time is everywhere he turns . . . and he’d give anything just to be still.

About Jonathan Friesen

Jerk, California is Jonathan Friesen’s first novel. A fourteen-year public school teacher and writing instructor at the University of Minnesota, Jonathan shares his passion for writing with children of all ages—including three of his own, whom he home schools. He lives in Mora, Minnesota.

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Nine will air a 90 minute special of Domestic Blitz on Monday November 10th at 7:30pm. It will feature Tourette’s patient Bianca Saez whose family home on the Sunshine Coast gets a renovation from the Nine team.

The show has been one of Nine’s more popular new programmes attracting figures of over 1.4m on Sunday evenings.

The special means episodes of Two and a Half Men and Til Death will not air, while CSI and Cold Case are pushed back by half an hour each to 9:00pm and 10:00pm. True CSI: Cold Blood is set for 11pm.

Now we wait to see if City Homicide wants to re-think its Monday repeat episodes….

Press Release:
The story of Tourette’s patient Bianca Saez touched the hearts of Australians. Bianca endured uncontrollable tics which made her punch, kick, swear and convulse uncontrollably. A radical new brain surgery gave Bianca a chance at a normal life, but the family home still resembled a bomb site, thanks to Bianca’s Tourette’s-induced rages. The local community on the Sunshine Coast banded together with the Domestic Blitz team to give the Saez family a new home. This is by far the biggest renovation project ever undertaken for Australian television and the result is a spectacular new home, giving the Saez family a well deserved new start in life.

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Parasites may seem merely icky, but some of them have the Halloweenish capacity to take over your brain. Scientists have happened upon a number of neurological nuisances in the animal world, but the scariest of the lot is a tiny critter known as Toxoplasma gondii - which makes rodents, and perhaps even humans, go loco.

Stanford neurobiologist Robert Sapolsky provided a status report on the fabled Toxoplasma and other brain snatchers this week on the university’s Palo Alto campus, as part of the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing’s annual New Horizons in Science seminar.

Over the past few years, neuroscientists have used brain imaging and other high-tech tools to track exactly how the one-celled Toxo organism does its nefarious deed. The parasite can reproduce only in cat feces - but once the next generation has been spawned, how does it get into another feline host?

That’s where zombie rodents play a role: When mice or rats consume the feces, as is their wont, the Toxo protozoans migrate to the brain - specifically, to the amygdala, which is the brain’s switchboard for emotional response. There they form encapsulated cysts and proceed to manipulate the wiring of the rodent brain.

Studies have shown that the Toxo genome contains what appear to be mammalian versions of two genes that are involved in the production of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that is linked with the brain’s reward system. “Toxo has evolved to take over the reward pathway,” Sapolsky said.

He and other researchers are still working to nail down the exact mechanism, but Toxo apparently targets a neural pathway that instills mice and rats with a natural fear of … cat urine. “It’s lasering out this one thing of not liking the smell of cats,” Sapolsky said.

In a long series of experiments, scientists have found that Toxo-infected rodents lose that fear of cat pee, while other fear mechanisms (for example, the fear of being in an exposed area) are unaffected. “What this damn Toxo knows how to do is make cat urine smell sexy to male rats,” Sapolsky said.

As for the female rats, “I’ll bet you it makes [cat urine] smell like babies,” he added.

The result is predictable: The rats are drawn to the cats, the cats eat the rats, and the circle of life begins anew.

So far, this sounds like some sort of hallucinogenic ”Tom and Jerry” cartoon - but if Toxoplasma gondii can affect rodent brains, it can affect human brains as well. One out of every five Americans are thought to carry the parasite, and the infection rate can be higher in other parts of the world. Toxo poses such a risk to the fetal nervous system that pregnant women are advised to avoid contact with cat litter boxes.

Although scientists are just starting to study Toxo’s effects on adult humans, the initial evidence suggests that “Toxo does something to humans quite reminiscent to what it does to rats and mice,” Sapolsky said. He’s not talking about a sudden fondness for cat pee - rather, the organism is thought to mess with the way our brains handle rewards and impulse control.

One study, conducted in Turkey, showed that a Toxo-infected group of drivers were two to four times more likely to be involved in traffic accidents than the experiment’s control group. Another study has claimed that high rates of infection could influence an entire culture - making people more naturally neurotic, for example. One researcher has charted what he says are Toxo-linked personality differences. Others have suggested a link between the infection and schizophrenia. (Here’s a scary study on the subject.)

The bottom line is that more research is needed to pinpoint Toxo’s effects on humans. “Three studies - that’s the entire literature at this point,” Sapolsky noted.

The tale of Toxoplasma gondii also may spark interest in figuring out how other infections affect our zombie brains. Some researchers speculate that there’s a whole class of psychiatric disorders known as PANDAS that are linked to childhood infections. Among the illnesses are obsessive-compulsive disorder, hyperactivity and Tourette’s Syndrome.

If you’re still doubtful that brain invaders really exist, Sapolsky can cite a few more examples, including:

• Hairworms that invade crickets, take over their nervous system and then order their buggy hosts to drown themselves so that the grown worm can take to the water.
• Barnacles that latch onto male crabs and blast them with so much estrogen that they dig empty nests, made to order for the barnacle to lay its eggs inside. If the crab host happens to be a female, no problem: The barnacle merely wipes out the host’s reproductive system, and then sets her digging.
• A mind-controlling fluke known as Dicrocoelium dendriticum that makes its way through the innards of cows, and then snails, and then ants. Once the parasites are inside an ant’s head, they turn the bug into a zombie. The ant repeatedly climbs up blades of grass, a type of behavior that doesn’t seem to make sense … until you realize that it makes the ant more vulnerable to being eaten by a grazing cow, where the life cycle begins again.

To learn more about how the amygdala and other parts of your brain work, check out our interactive “road map to the mind.” To learn more about zombifying parasites, check out Carl Zimmer’s book, “Parasite Rex.” And if all this gets you in a Halloween mood, click through this ghoulish gallery of past postings:

• 2002: Ghostly mysteries solved
• 2003: Why we seek out an eek