X-Message-Number: 24200
Date: Sun, 6 Jun 2004 10:47:21 -0700 (PDT)
From: Doug Skrecky <>
Subject: 138'th update on fly longevity experiments
This is the 138'th update of my fly longevity experiments. Average
temperature was 22.1 C during this run. Estimated maximal longevity using
the formula (363 - T*11.2) is 116 days.
This run had one intriguing result. Although control flies had lost
the ability to fly after the day 79 census, flies fed a high dose of
purple sweet potato were able to continue flying during the day 91 census,
and were still rather "frisky" at the day 100 census. It is tempting to
surmise that it was a slowing down of motorneuron degeneration that was
responsible for the increase in maximum survival from 91 to 110 days. It
is extremely doubtful that any putative antipathogen effect could account
for this, particularly since early mortality was actually increased by
this (raw) sweet potato. Only replication studies, now in progress will be
able to determine if this increased flying ability, at advanced ages is a
real effect, or is simply due to chance.
If the reader wishes to sample purple sweet potato, this item can
usually be found in any Chinatown, where it is often mislabeled as purple
yam. No purple "yam" as such is available in North America.
Run #138 Percent Survival on Day
supplement 28 36 46 52 58 63 74 79 86 91 100 105 110 115
______________________________________________________________________
control one 90 90 83 75 65 55 25 18 5 3 0 - - -
control two 81 79 62 47 38 33 14 5 0 - - - - -
apple-pear 5% 84 81 72 66 56 56 41 28 13 3 0 - - -
apple-pear 20% 96 89 85 81 69 58 39 27 8 0 - - - -
beet leaves 5% 75 75 69 63 59 47 25 9 6 3 0 - - -
beet leaves 20% 95 91 81 71 71 62 38 19 5 5 0 - - -
chayote 5% 90 83 76 55 55 45 14 3 0 - - - - -
chayote 20% 86 82 75 71 57 43 18 7 7 7 0 - - -
green lo bok 5% 88 65 54 53 44 35 27 18 9 3 3 0 - -
green lo bok 20% 73 73 57 57 47 33 30 17 7 3 3 0 - -
jacama 5% 79 76 55 45 41 28 10 0 - - - - - -
jacama 20% 73 69 62 58 46 39 23 8 4 0 - - - -
purple sweet potato 5% 75 64 43 36 36 32 14 4 4 0 - - - -
purple sweet potato 20% 65 57 54 54 54 43 43 43 43 22 14 5 3 0
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