Monthly Archives: March 2019

For most of us, potassium is an important mineral nutrient that we need for health and is found in many foods, including fruits and vegetables. However, for people who have kidney disease, doctors recommend a low potassium diet. The recommended amount of potassium for an adult is around 4.7 grams/day, while low potassium diets are around 1.5 grams/day.  This is because while a person with healthy kidneys is able to process potassium well at the recommended amount, someone with kidney disease would have trouble and could put their health in danger. Low potassium diets, unfortunately, are often deficient in vegetables, and for good reason. However, skipping the vegetables means that kidney disease patients are missing out on many other vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants provided by vegetables. Microgreens, an emerging raw salad crop, may be able to help. Researchers at University of Bari Aldo Moro in Bari, Italy decided to try…

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Sexually reproducing animals have their sex determined through many mechanisms. Sex in reptiles such as alligators is determined by egg temperature during incubation. Some species, like the clownfish, can be hermaphroditic, shifting from one gender to another depending on the environmental conditions. However, most vertebrates determine their sex genetically through the specific combination of two or more chromosomes. For instance, most mammals use the XY system. Two X chromosomes designate female sex, while those with one X and one Y designate male sex. Other genetic systems can include two Xs determining females and one X (but no Y) determining males, or a W/Z system where the male is determined by two of the same chromosomes (two Ws) and females being determined by two different chromosomes (W and Z). How these systems form, and why there are so many different ways to determine sex has puzzled geneticists and evolutionary biologists for centuries.…

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