Is Spanish Moss Coming from Spain? – Gardening and Hobby 11

Fig 01- Spanish moss is hanging off the trees

We just aware that there are plenty Spanish moss hanging of the trees on the near by of our jogging paths.

Then, is Spanish Moss coming from Spain? No, the moss is not coming from Spain. It is said, its common in the areas (regions) such as:

- Central America

- South America

- Caribbean

- Mexico

- the USA

In the USA, the moss grows well in the south states, because of moister condition.

The moss is abundant in the states such as Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. The moss also may be found from south areas until north states such as Virginia.

Fig 02- We may see Spanish moss attaches to the trunk of trees

How this an epiphyte plant gets foods and water? By using its leaves:

- absorb nutrients from air

- get water from rainfall 

Fig 03- Spanish moss grows on the ground

There are some negative effect of Spanish moss to the host trees:

- thick moss will block sunlight to reach host tree leaves.

- moss may reduce growth rate of trees. 

Fig 04- Moss covers the trunks

However, the Spanish moss will not kill the host trees, because they are not parasites, and just need the trees to support their life span.

Not all trees are attached by Spanish moss, two most favorite hosts are:

- live oaks

- bald cypress

These two trees are common in the southern states of America.

Do you recognize the Spanish moss in the nature? Do they attach your own backyard trees?

Chemothesis - What a Kind of Covid 19 symptom? - Virus 26

 

A concrete table with two benches.

We have known that there are a lot of symptoms for whom infected with Covid 19.

Some well known symptoms or common symptoms are:

- headaches

- fatigue

- muscle pain

- joint pain.

- or other persistence of pain related symptoms

For severe infections, the symptoms might be following:

- encephalitis, cause brain inflammation

- Chronic pain, long term pain.

Moreover, you may like to read my relevant previous post about common symptoms for infected persons

- How to Know Someone Infected by Wuhan Virus? - Virus 1.

A cat, just for illustration

Moreover, the strange symptom for me is called chemethesis. It is happen when an infected person almost lost his or her taste sense, but he or she able to detect cool peppermints and chilies.

From “definition.net,” the summary of chemethesis is following:

“Chemesthesis is defined as the chemical sensibility of the skin and mucus membranes. Chemesthetic sensations arise when chemical compounds activate receptors associated with other senses that mediate pain, touch, and thermal perception. Examples of chemesthetic sensations include the burn-like irritation from chili pepper, the coolness of menthol in mouthwashes and topical analgesic creams, the stinging or tingling of carbonation in the nose and mouth, and the tear-induction of onions.”

Hope, no one of us be infected by virus Sars Cov 2. Stay safe, healthy and virus free.

Do You Know a Prickly Cactus Pear? - Food Variety 5

Two of the sweet cactus pears

We just noticed in one of our city groceries “a pear like fruit” on the shelf. The size and shape look like the same with a green pear at glance.

It is called a Prickly Cactus Pear or a sweet cactus pear, with scientific name is Oppuntia engelmanni.

The Prickly Cactus Pears are found a lot in the country or regions of:

- Mexico

- USA

- Africa

- Mediterranean areas

- West Indies (the Caribbean islands)

- other regions of arid and semiarid

Some countries grow the fruit for commercial purposes, as an important income source of farmers.

The Prickly Cactus Pears on the grocery shelf

Like green pear, the Prickly Cactus Pears is sweet and may be consumed at raw stage.

The taste is similar to other fruits such as:

- strawberry

- raspberry

It is said that the cactus pear is a healthy fruit. Its contains:

- antioxidants

- fiber

- carotenoids.

Finally, do You Know and have tasted a Prickly Cactus Pear? 

Do Women Heart Beats more than Men? - Heart 9

Ginger plant, just for illustration

Let us talking the fact that women’s heart is healthier than men’s. Men tend to have heart diseases (coronary artery disease) than women while they are in the young age.

Female estrogen (sex hormone) is believed to alleviate arteries walls to cause the blood flow easily. At this point, It might one reasons why women live longer than men.

After 65 years old, the sex hormone production decrease, then women face the higher risk of cardiovascular diseases, but the risk factors are the same for both men and women.

Some risk factors of heart diseases are:

- high blood pressure

- high cholesterol.

- smoking

Halloween decoration, just for illustration.

Do Women Heart Beats more than Men?

The answer is yes. It is because women heart size is smaller than men, around 66% of men’s size.

The different of heart beat rate average between men and women are:

- 78 to 82 beats per minute for women.

- 70 to 72 beats per minute for men.

Clearly, fact shows that women’s heart beats are faster than men.

Previous posts relate to heart:

- What is the Irregular Heartbeats? - Heart 1

- Why Sugary Drinks Cause of Heart Diseases? – Heart 2

- What is the Meaning of Cardiovascular Disease? - Heart 3.

Cleaning the Roof as a House Routine Maintaining – Gardening and Hobby 10

Fig 01- Dirty roof, just for illustration

Roof is one of important parts of our house. People do cleaning house roof for many purposes, from just to make look beautiful to prevent from destroying to get good bargain when selling it.

Many of my neighbors call a cleaning roof company to do the cleaning, but few did by themselves.

These chemicals are favorite to clean roof in my neighborhood:

- bleach (Sodium Hypochlorite).

- Sodium Hydroxide.

- or Sodium Percarbonate

Bleach not only clean the roof, but also kill the organisms (micro plants) which attached on shingles.

Two important “micro plants” may destroy our roofs are:

- algae

- mold

Fig 02- Clean roof after washed by bleach

What is different between algae and mold?

Both are living organism. Algae need sunlight to live and grow, while mold does not require sun to survive.

Mold eats material on the roofs, and our roofs to be infected by molds. thus can make shingles rotten over times.

Fig 03- A house roof looks black in color, before cleaned

Our roofs may look “ugly,” because mold produces colors, include:

- black

- gray

- brown

- green

- white 

Fig 04 – Roofs of a house look pretty after cleaning

Many brands of roof cleaners are available in the market, some of them are:

- Thetford

- Dicor

- Propack

- Wet and forget

- Eterna

- Spray and forget

It is easy to clean the roof, first, just spray the shingles with bleach or other brand cleaners, let the solution on the surface for 30 minutes. Then rinse with pressure water.

The result is amazing. Roof looks shining. Please see Figure 02 and 04. Our neighbors did clean their roof every other year.

Do You Like to Grill Fish? - Food Variety 4

Marinated fish with certain seasoning, ready to grill

We prefer to fry fish than to grill it. We sometimes make curry with fish, one of our favorites.

Very rare, we grill fish, usually in the Summer season. From internet, top five favorite fish to grill in the USA are:

- Salmon

- Swordfish

- Tuna

- Snapper

- Mahi mahi

We might wonder: what is Mahi mahi?

It is a fish from Hawaii with scientific name Coryphaena hippurus. Another name is Dorado in Spanish.

In fact, Mahi mahi not only found in Hawaii, but also in tropical and subtropical oceans all over the world.

One of fish, live fish is good for grill.

Favorite fish is not big deal for us. We tried to consume many species of fish as mentioned in previous posts such as:

- Do You Know these by Catching Fish Species?

- Why Consuming Trash Fish could Help Environmental Protection?

To grill fish, we need fish to be seasoned. We just have simple ones or combination of:

- garlic

- olives

- lemon zest

- soy sauce

- chili flakes.

- parmesan cheese

Do you like to grill or barbecue fish? Do you have any favor of fish species?

A Possible Weapon to Kill Coronavirus was Found by a Teenager – Virus 25

 

Pumpkins in front the house, just for illustration

We have talked about possible drugs and vaccines to contain coronavirus (Sars Cov 2) at previous posts, some are:

- What is a Monoclonal Antibody to Treat Donald Trump? - Virus 22

- What is mRNA Covid-19 Vaccine? - Virus 15

- Updates of Vaccines to Combat Covid-19 – Virus 12

- Is Remdesivir a Potential Drug Against Covid-19? - Virus 11

A 14 years old teenager, Anika Chebrolu from Texas, proposed a new weapon, a kind of “specific” molecule to fight virus.

She was the winner of “2020 3M Young Scientist Challenge,” and got US$ 25,000 prize.

As we know that “Hemaglutinin” is an important “protein” in influenza vaccines. What is the Hemaglutinin?

One of the street in the neighborhood, just for illustration

Hemaglutinin is “antigen glycoprotein” found on the virus surface, in this case is the influenza virus.

The antigen glycoprotein to bind virus and infected cells, while this happening, then viral RNA genome penetrates into cytoplasm of cells.

They are replicating in the host (human) by using DNA polymerase of host cell. Replicating from one to thousands over time.

Why Hemaglutinin (antigen glycoprotein) is important in vaccines?

Vaccines such as an influenza vaccine is designed to trigger immune system to produce antibody to fight Hemaglutinin, then control virus.

Moreover, by using a method, namely “in silico methodology,” Anika Chebrolu found a “specific molecule” to bind spike protein on the corona virus, covid 19, SARS CoV 2 virus.

This “specific molecule” may be used to develop Covid 19 vaccine or drugs in the near future. Hence, we will have a lot of weapons to contain Coronavirus.