Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/60942
Thursday, April 5, 2012 – Daily News FEATURES Menstrual synchrony has skeptics, supporters TOR K: It seems to be commonly accepted that women who live together or who are close friends get their periods at the same time. I've had the same expe- rience. Is this a real biological phe- nomenon or just a coincidence? DEAR DOC- Dr. K by Anthony L. Komaroff, M.D. DEAR READER: The idea that women who spend a lot of time togeth- er eventually begin to get their periods at the same time each month is called menstrual synchrony. But how this synchronization occurs — or even if it hap- pens at all — is not well understood. was first described by a graduate student at Welles- ley College named Martha McClintock, now a profes- sor at the University of Chicago. McClintock noticed the phenomenon in her dorm and decided to research it. She found that of 135 female fellow stu- dents, those who lived closest together tended to cycle together. The research was published in a prestigious scientific journal and caused quite a stir. Menstrual synchrony What could account for this? McClintock wasn't sure. One interesting pos- sibility was pheromones — airborne chemical sig- nals. It's well known that pheromones exist in ani- mals. The chemicals given off by one animal travel to the nose of another animal and affect that animal's behavior. Mating, domi- nance among male ani- mals, weaning patterns of mothers and many other animal behaviors are influ- enced by pheromones. In 1998, McClintock published another research report in a prestigious jour- nal that suggested pheromones were the cause of menstrual syn- chrony. She found that women produce pheromones in their armpits, and showed that these pheromones influ- enced the length of the menstrual cycle of women around them. However, not all mined. Even though pheromones from one per- son reach another person by traveling through the air to the other person's nose, pheromones don't actually have a smell. For many years it was believed that the human nose did not have the same ability to receive pheromones as the noses of animals. Howev- er, a study in 2006 by Linda Buck, who shared the Nobel Prize for her dis- coveries of how the sense of smell works, found that the human nose has the structures necessary to receive pheromones. In short, there is still some controversy about whether menstrual syn- chrony exists, and about whether there are human pheromones. My bet is that menstrual synchrony does exist: I've heard many women describe their experience with it. And I'll bet that human pheromones exist: Our noses have the "equip- ment" necessary to sense pheromones, and pheromones are common in other mammals. The question of whether human pheromones exist is one of the most important and interesting in biology. If we are like animals, then our behavior and even our attitudes about people may be influenced by forces (pheromones) we are entirely unaware of. If sci- ence identifies human pheromones, then it is pos- sible that science could influence our behavior — for better and for worse. Dr. Komaroff is a physician and professor at Harvard Medical School. Go to his website to send questions and get additional information: www.AskDoctorK.com. researchers who have studied this question have found that men- strual synchrony exists. And, to my knowledge, the chemical nature of the pheromones seemingly identi- fied by Dr. McClintock has not yet been deter- Dear Annie: I've been with my husband for 15 years. He has many good qualities, but he has always struggled with shyness, low self-esteem and awk- wardness. When we got together, he promised to be the financial provider. He started many careers, all of which fizzled. Twice he's had yearlong gaps where he was unemployed. Right now, he works a minimum- wage job. We are both in our mid-30s and recently had our first baby. I am resentful and angry that I had to return to work and put the baby in day care. I missed my baby's first steps and first word. I feel robbed of time with my child. My husband says the difficulty of being the provider has been too hard to overcome. He wants me to let it go and move on. But, Annie, he is perfectly capable of making it happen. I never wanted to be "Mrs. Career," and now I feel trapped. He always has excuses for not choos- ing a career. He has abandoned me to carry this financial burden on my own. I have seen a few counselors, who say to keep encouraging and believing in him, but my baby is nearly 2, and my husband is not making any effort. My father worked two jobs, and he says there's something wrong with a Dignity Health announced April 4 it will be the first health care system in the nation to begin using pigment-free patient plas- tics in all of its hospitals and other care centers to reduce its impact on the environ- ment. man who can't provide for his family. I tend to believe him. Do I let the dream die and accept reality or keep encouraging him? -- Sad Wife Annie's Mailbox by Kathy Mitchell and Marcy Sugar worse things than being the main breadwinner and putting your child in day care. But the resentment and anger are problematic, and encouragement only goes so far. Please insist that your husband be evalu- ated for adult ADD, and also that he get some career counseling as well as therapy to work on his neg- ative, self-defeating attitude. Dear Annie: My father is dying of cancer. According to the doc- tors, he doesn't have much longer to live. Dear Sad: There are 3B Shy husband procrastinates on career Dad and his second wife have been married for nearly 60 years. She has some dementia. My two younger half-brothers have told me she will get very upset if my daughter and I go see Dad. My stepmother and I have never been close, but she was always very sweet to us in the past. I don't want to upset her, but at the same time, I want to see my dad, and my daugh- ter wants to visit her granddad before he passes. We were able to see him for a short visit in the hos- pital, and once we came over when his wife was out of the house. I know this is a stressful time for cups, with pigment-free products, which support greener manufacturing because they eliminate the need for potentially harmful chemicals during the manu- facturing process. The conversion to dye- free plastics, manufactured by Medline Industries, Inc., will be completed in all Dignity Health facilities by the end of May. "We are proud that Dig- nity Health is the first health system that is changing its plastics to dye -free prod- ucts for our patients across our network," said Sr.Mary Ellen Leciejewski, Dignity Health Ecology program coordinator. "It helps pro- tect and improve the envi- ronment and, ultimately, public health." Under the new initiative, Dignity will replace every- day products that are used at the patients' bedside, such as bed pans, wash basins, water pitchers and drinking investigators using a helicopter to find a stolen 26-foot-long truck spotted a man using a bulldozer to bury the vehicle in a western New York sand pit. The Orleans County Sheriff's Office tells the Daily News of Batavia (http://bit.ly/HK9IAi ) that investigators alerted deputies, who went to a construction business in the town of Murray and took the owner and his son into custody. NYpolice find stolen truck as it's being buried MURRAY, N.Y. (AP) — Authorities say Officials say the box truck was stolen last week from a business in Wayne County. Police were told the vehicle may have been taken to Murray, 25 miles west of Rochester. Investigators say when they flew over the sand pit, the owner's son was in the process of burying the stolen truck using a bulldoz- er. The two men haven't been charged. The investigation is continuing. the whole family. I don't think Dad has much more time, and I will be upset if he dies and I haven't had a chance to say goodbye. What should I do? -- First Born Dear First Born: Go anyway. If you fear it will derail your step- mother, ask one of her sons to please take her out for dinner or shopping so you can stop by with your daughter and say goodbye. Give them two or three possible time options, and insist that they select one within the week. Our thoughts are with you. Dear Annie: Here's one more about naming a pet the same as a person. Years ago, I had a cat named Charlie. He was not allowed on our sofa. One day, a business associate stopped by and was sit- ting on the sofa talking to my hus- band. I walked into the living room and saw our cat jumping onto the couch. I yelled, "Charlie, get off of that sofa," and the visitor suddenly jumped to his feet in confusion. I had forgotten that his name was also Charlie. I quickly apologized. -- Still Chuckling in Pennsylvania Annie's Mailbox is written by Kathy Mitchell and Marcy Sugar, longtime editors of the Ann Landers column. Please email your questions to anniesmailbox@comcast.net, or write to: Annie's Mailbox, c/o Creators Syndicate, 737 3rd Street, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254. Hospital group switches to dye-free products Based on its annual usage of these products, Dignity will divert an esti- mated 2,935 lbs of pigment from leaching into the soil and groundwater by switch- ing to pigment-free plastics. The total value of the con- tract is $1 million per year. The company has already taken a number of steps to reduce its environ- mental footprint and improve patient safety.