2011-07-31
KevinMD.com- How positive thinking affects patients with serious illnesses
Check out this post: http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2011/06/positive-thinking-affects-patients-illnesses.html
2011-07-03
Dendritic Spines Respond to Stress
June 23, 2011 on 16th Annual International "Stress and Behavior" Neuroscience and Biopsychiatry Conference, R.F. Mervis, PhD, from the Center of Excellence for Aging and Brain Repair at the University of South Florida College of Medicine in Tampa, explained that dysmorphic alterations in various dendritic measures include both atrophic and neuroplastic changes that can influence the transfer of information, which in turn will be reflected by changes in learning, memory, or behavior.
The dendritic arbor of a typical neuron makes up over 95% of the volume of the neuron.
Most synapses are directly located on dendritic spines. Therefore, morphologic changes in dendritic branching and spines will sensitively reflect the earliest changes associated with alterations or disruptions of neural circuitry.
Golgi impregnation can evaluate neurons from cortex, hippocampus, cerebellum, striatum and other regions. It yields a picture of dendritic branching (estimated total dendritic length, amount and distribution of dendritic arbor, and complexity of dendritic tree), determines dendritic spine density and configuration, and defines the total branching and spine microcircuitry network for a given cell population and brain region.
The dendritic arbor of a typical neuron makes up over 95% of the volume of the neuron.
Most synapses are directly located on dendritic spines. Therefore, morphologic changes in dendritic branching and spines will sensitively reflect the earliest changes associated with alterations or disruptions of neural circuitry.
Golgi impregnation can evaluate neurons from cortex, hippocampus, cerebellum, striatum and other regions. It yields a picture of dendritic branching (estimated total dendritic length, amount and distribution of dendritic arbor, and complexity of dendritic tree), determines dendritic spine density and configuration, and defines the total branching and spine microcircuitry network for a given cell population and brain region.
2011-05-23
Paralyzed Man Stands and Steps With Epidural Stimulation
Continual direct epidural stimulation of the spinal cord and extensive task-specific locomotor training enabled a young man paralyzed below the waist to stand up from his wheelchair and bear his full weight with assistance provided only for balance.
With continuous epidural stimulation, the patient, Rob Summers, now 25 years old, also took a few assisted steps on a treadmill and has recovered some voluntary leg movement.
This approach, tested extensively in animal models of spinal cord injury, "might reactivate previously silent spared neural circuits or promote plasticity," investigators say in their report published online May 20 in The Lancet.
The 11-member research team was led by neuroscientists Susan Harkema, PhD, of the Kentucky Spinal Cord Research Center, University of Louisville, and V. Reggie Edgerton, PhD, of the David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles.
"These interventions could be a viable clinical approach for functional recovery after severe paralysis," they conclude.
With continuous epidural stimulation, the patient, Rob Summers, now 25 years old, also took a few assisted steps on a treadmill and has recovered some voluntary leg movement.
This approach, tested extensively in animal models of spinal cord injury, "might reactivate previously silent spared neural circuits or promote plasticity," investigators say in their report published online May 20 in The Lancet.
The 11-member research team was led by neuroscientists Susan Harkema, PhD, of the Kentucky Spinal Cord Research Center, University of Louisville, and V. Reggie Edgerton, PhD, of the David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles.
"These interventions could be a viable clinical approach for functional recovery after severe paralysis," they conclude.
2011-02-21
Animal intelligence: sheep are raising the baa
Monkeys are considered an intelligent species. However according, sheep can actually pass psychological tests that monkeys would fail...
Dr Laura Avanzo and Dr Jennifer Morton from University of Cambrdige Scientists, were studying neurodegeneration, focusing on Huntington’s disease, and as part of their research, they were testing a new breed of sheep that was genetically modified (by carrying a defective gene that causes Huntington’s disease in humans) and were comparing data with normal sheeps as a control.
The sheep learned to recognize different color patterns - food signals, and easily changed theirs
behavior according to the pattern that they looked at.
This type of behavior depends on prefrontal cortex, and only humans and other primates were supposed to be able to solve these kinds of tasks.
Dr Avanzo and Dr Morton believed that sheep, like humans, behave differently when in a flock compared to while they are alone, and this problem was underlying theirs research.
Dr Morton:...Sheep live in a flock, and in a flock they’re rather silly. When you work with them as individuals, they behave very differently...”
Dr Laura Avanzo and Dr Jennifer Morton from University of Cambrdige Scientists, were studying neurodegeneration, focusing on Huntington’s disease, and as part of their research, they were testing a new breed of sheep that was genetically modified (by carrying a defective gene that causes Huntington’s disease in humans) and were comparing data with normal sheeps as a control.
The sheep learned to recognize different color patterns - food signals, and easily changed theirs
behavior according to the pattern that they looked at.
This type of behavior depends on prefrontal cortex, and only humans and other primates were supposed to be able to solve these kinds of tasks.
Dr Avanzo and Dr Morton believed that sheep, like humans, behave differently when in a flock compared to while they are alone, and this problem was underlying theirs research.
Dr Morton:...Sheep live in a flock, and in a flock they’re rather silly. When you work with them as individuals, they behave very differently...”
2010-12-07
Tracing the Spark of Creative Problem-Solving
...In a series of recent studies, Dr. Beeman at Northwestern and John Kounios, a psychologist at Drexel University, have imaged people’s brains as they prepare to tackle a puzzle but before they’ve seen it. Those whose brains show a particular signature of preparatory activity, one that is strongly correlated with positive moods, turn out to be more likely to solve the puzzles with sudden insight than with trial and error (the clues can be solved either way)...
2010-10-05
A Perk of Our Evolution: Pleasure in Pain of Chilies
Dr. Paul Rozin, University of Pennsylvania, tested chili eaters by gradually increasing the pain, or, as the pros call it, the pungency, of the food, right up to the point at which the subjects said they just could not go further. When asked after the test what level of heat they liked the best, they chose the highest level they could stand, “just below the level of unbearable pain.” As Delbert McClinton sings (about a different line of research), “It felt so good to hurt so bad.”
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