Nepetalactone Cycloalkane in Catnip

Catnip, Nepeta cataria, is a member of the mint or Labiatae family. This perennial herb is sometimes known as catnip, catrup, catwort, cataria, or catmint (although there are other plants that also go by these common names). Catnip is indigenous from the eastern Mediterranean region to the eastern Himalayas, but is naturalized over much of North America and is easily grown in most gardens. The generic name Nepeta is said to have been derived from the Italian town Nepete, where catnip was once cultivated. For centuries humans have grown catnip for humans, but the herb is best known for its action on cats. Nepetalactone Chemistry Nepetalactone is a terpene composed of two isoprene units, with a total of ten carbons. Its chemical structure is similar to that of the valepotriates derived from the herb valerian, which is a mild central nervous system sedative (or stimulant to some persons). Cats Domestic and many wild cats (including cougars, bobcats, lions, and lynx) respond to the nepetalactone in catnip. However, not all cats react to catnip. The behavior is inherited as an autosomal dominant gene; 10-30% of domestic cats in a population may be unresponsive to nepetalactone. Kittens will not show the behavior until they are at least 6-8 weeks old. In fact, catnip produces an avoidance response in young kittens. The catnip response usually develops by the time a kitten is 3 months old. When cats smell catnip they exhibit a range of behaviors that may include sniffing, licking and chewing the plant, head shaking, chin and cheek rubbing, head rolling, and body rubbing. This psychosexual reaction lasts for 5-15 minutes and cannot be evoked again for an hour or more after exposure. Cats that react to nepetalactone differ in their individual responses. The feline receptor for nepetalactone is the vomeronasal organ, located above the feline palate. The location of the vomeronasal organ may explain why cats do not react from eating gelatin-enclosed capsules of catnip. Nepetalactone must be inhaled for it to reach the receptors in the vomeronasal organ. In cats, the effects of nepetalactone can be moderated by several drugs acting upon the central and peripheral nervous system, and by several environmental, physiological, and psychological factors. The specific mechanism governing these behaviors has not been described. Humans Herbalists have used catnip for many centuries as a treatment for colic, headache, fever, toothache, colds, and spasms. Catnip is an excellent sleep-inducing agent (as with valerian, in certain individuals it acts as a stimulant). Both people and cats find catnip to be emetic in large doses. It exhibits antibacterial properties and may be useful as an anti-atherosclerotic agent. It is used as an adjunct in treated dysmenorrhea and is given in tincture form to aid amenorrhea. 15th century English cooks would rub catnip leaves on meats before cooking and add it to mixed green salads. Before Chinese tea became widely available, catnip tea was very popular. Cockroaches and other Insects There is scientific evidence that catnip and nepetalactone may be effective cockroach repellents. Iowa State University researchers found nepetalactone to be 100x more effective at repelling cockroaches than DEET, a common (and toxic) insect repellent. Purified nepetalactone has also been shown to kill flies. There is also evidence that nepetalactone may serve as an insect sex pheromone in Hemiptera Aphidae (aphids) and a defense substance in Orthoptera Phasmatidae (walking sticks).

What a Home Really is in The House on Mango Street Essays

What a Home Really is in The House on Mango Street â€Å"Home is where the heart is.† In The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros develops this famous statement to depict what a â€Å"home† really represents. What is a home? Is it a house with four walls and a roof, the neighborhood of kids while growing up, or a unique Cleaver household where everything is perfect and no problems arise? According to Cisneros, we all have our own home with which we identify; however, we cannot always go back to the environment we once considered our dwelling place. The home, which is characterized by who we are, and determined by how we view ourselves, is what makes every individual unique. A home is a personality, a depiction of who we are inside and†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"I am an ugly daughter,† she says. â€Å"I am the one nobody comes for† (109). She feels she can relate to the four skinny trees outside her window. â€Å"Four skinny trees with skinny necks and pointy elbows like mine† (93) . Just as the trees survive under a harsh environment, Esperanza finds difficulty in accepting the neighborhood in which she lives. She is very self-conscious about her name, whose mispronunciation by teachers and peers at school sounds ugly to her ears. She struggles with jealousy of her younger sister Nenny and cynically says that she â€Å"has pretty eyes and it’s easy to talk†¦if you are pretty† (109). Ashamed of most everything she identifies with, Esperanza is maturing with a very low perception of herself. She is not content with her home and surroundings, and cannot be until she is happy with her own character. The neighborhood is not exactly a pretty place as Esperanza describes it. She says, â€Å"here there is too much sadness and not enough sky. Butterflies too are few and so are flowers and most things that are beautiful† (39). In the one year of Esperanza’s life that this book covers, she is raped, abused, and sees the death of the only person who would listen to her poetry- â€Å"Her name was Aunt Lupe and she was beautiful like [her] mother† (70). Her discontent with the neighborhood surrounding the house on Mango Street and the rough times that she experienced caused her to want to move away fromShow MoreRelatedLiterary Analysis Of The House On Mango Street1163 Words   |  5 PagesEzra Collins English 9: Tetlak Literary Analysis: The House on Mango Street November 3, 2017 Remember Where Your From The House on Mango Street On average 40,093,000 people in the United States move annually. In the book The House on Mango Street the main character Esperanza and her family are included in this number. They Come very poor roots, and they don t have much money. They move often, one day dreaming to live in a real house, one they don t have to share, one with their own yard, withRead MoreThe House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros766 Words   |  3 Pagesliterary analysis on â€Å"The House on Mango Street† by Sandra Cisneros. This story takes place in the center of an over populated Latino neighborhood in Chicago, a city where many of the poor areas are ethnically segregated. This novella uses two main symbols shoes and trees. Later in the literary analysis I will explain what these mean to the main characters. There are three main characters in the novella Esperanza, Sally and Nenny (short for â€Å"Magdalena†). The House on Mango Street tells the life of EsperanzaRead MoreThe House On Mango St reet Analysis1145 Words   |  5 Pagesnovel The House on Mango Street portrays the struggle of a young Latina girl from a bad neighborhood who is trying to have a better life. From the beginning, it is evident that the dreams of this young girl are to be independent, become a writer, and have a home of her own. To begin with, the author makes it clear from the start that Esperanza, the young Latina girl, is a big dreamer who wishes to be independent. Throughout the book, it is clear how much she talks about leaving Mango street and beingRead More Imprisoned on Mango Street Essay695 Words   |  3 PagesImprisoned on Mango Street â€Å"I am tired of looking at what we can’t have.† This particular quote explains that Esperanza desperately longs to leave Mango Street behind, but she also feels that she may be trapped forever. Esperanza is coming to realize she may never get out of Mango Street. Esperanza feels as though she is trapped many times. Three areas where Esperanza realizes just how trapped she is are a treasure in a furniture shop that they cannot have, Esperanza’s family making lies aboutRead MoreThe House On Mango Street Essay746 Words   |  3 Pagesand people are afraid to go near this neighborhood because, people thought they would get jumped or hurt. This neighborhood is known as Mango Street, and there is a young girl named Esperanza(Sandra Cisneros) that lives in a old broken down home. This is her story in The House on Mango Street, Esperanza is a young Latina writer, inventing for herself who and what she will become . Esperanza did not have many friends, was shy, and very sensitive but her love to write and telling of stories has gottenRead More‚Äà ºthe Setting of the House on Mango Street‚Äà ¹974 Words   |  4 Pages10:40-11:55 November 26, 2012 â€Å"The Setting of the House on Mango Street† The short story, â€Å"The House on Mango Street,† is a story that is centered within a particular neighborhood, which is evidently inhabited by middle-to-lower class folks. Although the introduction of the story does not state a specific location, it is safe to say that it is not the typical neighborhood where you would find rich white folks living. For example, the house where the protagonists live is described as almost collapsingRead MoreThe American Dream in The House On Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros1511 Words   |  7 Pageseverybody has one, it can be from living in a large house and having a million dollars to just having the privilege to live in America and try to make something better for themselves in this new life or new start they are trying to grasp. There are many traditions and dreams of every American today while some dreams are practical and some are not and most of all their dreams are from the heart. The American dream is really simple--it consists of a house a job a car three kids and one dog but this is notRead MoreThe House On Mango Street By Sandra Cisneros886 Words   |  4 PagesThe House on Mango Street is a novel by Sandra Cisneros. The novel is acclaimed by critics and used in schools all around the world. â€Å"The House on Mango Street† is about a young Latina girl who is about the age of 12 when the novel begins. Sandra’s novels have sold over two million copies. Sandra was born on December 20, 1984, in Chicago, Illinois. In 2016, President Barack Obama presented her with the medal of ‘National Medal of Arts’. Title: The House on Mango Street Author: Sandra Cisneros TheRead MoreTheme Of Oppression In The House On Mango Street1470 Words   |  6 Pagesa murder on the loose who only kills people wearing a blue coat. Whats the first thing you do? Do you wear your blue coat in defiance of the blue coat killer? I mean, who is some murder to tell you what you can and cannot wear?Do you hide it, I mean theres a murder so it common sense, right? But what if you couldn’t hide them? Now imagine that the blue coat killer is a euphemism for the oppression in our society, and the blue coats are the things being oppressed in people, whether it be race, genderRead MoreEssay on The House on Mango Street and the Style of Sandra Cisneros1669 Words   |  7 PagesThe House on Mango Street and the Style of Sandra Cisneros Clearly, Sandra Cisneros writing style is one representative of a minority voice. Her amazing style allows her readers to take an active part in the minority experience. For this reason, I believe Cisneros has had a lot of influence and success in the status of minority writers, especially in the canon of what is read and taught in schools today. But, more than anything, Cisneros has shown that liberation can come through creativity

Movie Overview Girl, Interrupted Essay Example For Students

Movie Overview Girl, Interrupted Essay The purpose the publisher made this movie was because she wanted to recap on her life when she was put into a mental hospital. The â€Å"Girls Interrupted† by Susanna Kaysen was based on a true story about a girl who agrees to go to a hospital called McLean in Massachusetts. She voluntarily agreed to stay for two weeks but eventually ended up staying for about two years. The reason she was put into the institution in the first place was because she tried to commit suicide by overdosing on Aspirins in high school. As well as being diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. She learns about herself that she is unhappy and not fond of herself. As her time in the hospital she met a woman named Lisa, throughout the movie she was mainly the leader to the other entire girls. Lisa was diagnosed with as a sociopath and she was proud of that. She was pretty spontaneous and unpredictable. Throughout the movie she was the type to throw random tantrums and helped the other girls to plan escapes. She didn’t really like authority. Lastly Georgina was Susanna’s roommate she was always depressed. She never really had a reaction to anything she would always be so cool calm and collective. In the movie they say she really wasn’t diagnosed with anything. Once Susanna felt comfortable and â€Å"at home† she finally began looking for a job outside of the hospital while doing that she wondered to what degree sexism and psychiatric fads influence the diagnoses. Later on in the movie Susanna came back to visit Mclean she came to see Georgina she was married. She also had seen Lisa, Lisa had a young child and she moved to the suburb. As Psychology expands till this day, it’s become more specific and detailed. Psychology is relevant to Girl Interrupted because it deals with identity and another where many patients were being diagnosed with a disorder. This movie goes under psychological harassment and mind manipulation, mood disorders, and as well as personality disorders. Psychology harassment can also be referred to as emotional abuse or mental abuse. This leads to behavior problems and may result in psychological trauma. The scene when daisy committed suicide to me shows mind manipulation she listened and believe everything Lisa had to say. Lisa got into Daisy head and Daisy just feeding into Lisa’s and doing everything she says that ended up to death. My other theory was personality disorder; I believe Gerogina is diagnosed with this. A pathological liar is someone who can’t help but lie constantly She was Susanna’s roommate she’s always depressed and unhappy basically emotionless. In the scene when Kaysen pours hot caramel on Georgina and she has/ shows no reaction. I feel she has a compulsive lying disorder as well because she has a habit of lying. In the film she said â€Å"oh my dad is an FBI agent† when he really wasn’t. She didn’t really have a major role in the movie besides that. Towards the end she proved my theory to be correct that that’s what she has to begin with. At the end of the movie, Susanna herself says that she is not sure whether she truly needed to go through what she did, how (or whether) she was sick, and what she needed to get better Kaysen believed diagnoses are often attributable to trends. She felt that every decade sees a popular diagnosis come and go. Through the beginning of the movie Susanna show us cuts on her arm that is a sign that she was feeling emptiness and boredom. .u405842750c96c00198d88719f29fc13d , .u405842750c96c00198d88719f29fc13d .postImageUrl , .u405842750c96c00198d88719f29fc13d .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u405842750c96c00198d88719f29fc13d , .u405842750c96c00198d88719f29fc13d:hover , .u405842750c96c00198d88719f29fc13d:visited , .u405842750c96c00198d88719f29fc13d:active { border:0!important; } .u405842750c96c00198d88719f29fc13d .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u405842750c96c00198d88719f29fc13d { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u405842750c96c00198d88719f29fc13d:active , .u405842750c96c00198d88719f29fc13d:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u405842750c96c00198d88719f29fc13d .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u405842750c96c00198d88719f29fc13d .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u405842750c96c00198d88719f29fc13d .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u405842750c96c00198d88719f29fc13d .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u405842750c96c00198d88719f29fc13d:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u405842750c96c00198d88719f29fc13d .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u405842750c96c00198d88719f29fc13d .u405842750c96c00198d88719f29fc13d-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u405842750c96c00198d88719f29fc13d:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Movie Summary - Do the Right Thing EssayShe told the therapist she didn’t want to end up like her she didn’t want to go to college but that she wanted to pursue her career in journalism. In conclusion the movie â€Å"Girl Interrupted† was a good movie, especially to compare with psychology. It showed me much different diagnosis and what other kinds of disorders there is out there. As well as the term â€Å"normal† really can’t be defined. Normal is based on trends that are presented to you in that present day and moment. All the theories that I came up with seemed to correct and true. Bibliography: Dean, Michelle. Woman, Interrupted: A Great Almost-Novel From Susanna Kaysen. Web. 6 Dec. 2013. Borderline Girlhoods: Mental Illness, Adolescence, and Femininity in Girl, Interrupted.Borderline Girlhoods: Mental Illness, Adolescence, and Femininity in Girl, Interrupted. Web. 29 Oct. 2002. Girl interrupted. (n.d.). Retrieved May 4, 2004, from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0172493/synopsis Thoughts That Spin. (2005, January 15). Retrieved from http://deannatheory.blogspot.com/2011/05/analysis-6.html

Leonardo Da Vinci Essays (964 words) - Giftedness,

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452 in Florence, Italy. Ever since birth he was in love with the study of science and art. Leonardo da Vinci did not only influence his culture with his art work, but with his numerous inventions and his study on the human body. Leonardo was a determined man who changed his culture by going against his society and following his dreams. By following his dreams he did what no man had ever done before. Leonardo introduced a new style of painting and sculpting to his society. From the beginning he broke away from tradition and went with a focus on the natural world. By painting one glaze of oil paint over another he would create a misty look. The mist look would slightly blur the forms in his paintings unlike stiff in traditional paintings. This technique is called sfumato. Most people said that sfumato ruined Leonardo's paintings. He also used light and dark colors next to each other to make a painting look more natural. It was a new concept for Italian culture. He also used oil paints which were new to Italy. During the Renaissance most paintings were either religious scenes or portraits, landscapes were found only in the background of paintings. But painting landscapes as backgrounds only was not good enough for Leonardo. He went against tradition. His first dated drawing is a country landscape entitled "The Valley of The Arno". When Leonardo moved to Milan, his first project was to build a statue of his employer's father. Leonardo had a brilliant plan to make a statue like no-other. The town's people said it could not be done, but Leonardo came through. It took him 11 years to complete a 26-foot high clay sculpture. He was the first to complete such a tedious project, after other artist learned of Leonardo's accomplishments they too tried Leonardo's style, he was a major influence. Leonardo's many finding influenced his culture and taught his people to be unique in their style of painting even though some people didn't agree with it. Leonardo also contributed to the world by his numerous inventions, many of which are still in use today. Some of his contributions were in warfare. He invented the crossbow which is much like our automatic weapons today. Leonardo's thinking was far ahead of his time. In his notebooks his drawings of tanks and fortresses were used almost 450 years later in World War I. Da Vinci's tank was similar to the tank that we use today, but then the people did not accept it and did not trust it therefore they did not use it. Leonardo also invented a fortress, he made it very detailed and made it so nobody could get into it. The fortress was one of the main defense planes in Italy's war against France. Leonardo kept many drawings of his inventions that were never made - such as his helicopter in his notebook with his secret mirror writings. Leonard influenced his culture with all his musical instruments such as the drum and violin-organist. He designed a clarinet type musical instrument called t he woodwind keys. He was also the first person to make an instrument that had more than eight holes. This allowed musicians to play lower notes. Leonardo also invented the life preserver. Unlike the modern life-preserver made of Styrofoam or plastic Leonardo's life-belt was made of leather filled with air but other wise it looked exactly like those of today's, his inventions are still helping us today. Many of Leonardo's inventions made use of the water wheel. For example Leonardo was the first to design a paddle powered boat. Although Leonardo demonstrated that it worked to the people of his town they still would not use it, they were not acceptable to change. All though Leonardo da Vinci was best known as an artist he mainly made his living by his civil engineering. Leonardo invented a retractable bridge for military use. I t was good for protection, Leonardo said "With it you may pursue and at any time flee from the enemy" All of Leonardo's invention influenced culture, by introd ucing a new way to think and by helping