thebraindomain-blog

[thebraindomain-blog]

It's #International #LGBTSTEMday! There have been many #LGBT+ #scientists in history, most of whom have made their contributions silently, living and dying in the closet, unable to be open about who they truly were. Leonardo da Vinci, Alan Turing, Sir Francis Bacon, and Sally Ride to name but a few. Times are moving forward in some places, but there's a long way to go! Same sex relations are still illegal in 74 countries. In 40 countries you can still claim you were provoked into assaulting or murdering someone if they are LGB. And the majority of countries don't even have explicit laws allowing transgender people to change their gender identity. #science 👏 #is 👏 #for 👏 #everyone 👏 #somescientistsaregay #getoverit #pride #gay #trans

[thebraindomain-blog]

New article published! Today we hear from Sophie Waldron about the #psychology that underpins #food #advertising and learn how association makes you eat even when you don't really want to. Next week there's a part 2 from Sophie, so keep an eye out for it! #thebraindomain #neuroscience #publicengagment #science #sciencecommunication #scienceengagement #pavlovianconditioning #foodrelationship (at Cardiff)

[thebraindomain-blog]

Earlier today we told you our social media queen @raeredqueen was featured on another podcast, in which she talks about why she got into neuroscience, and shares some tips for aspiring scientists. You can listen to the episode by visiting ncmh.info/videos-and-podcastsneuroscience 🔬👩🏻‍🔬 #scicomm #sciencecommunication #publicengagment #womeninstem #womeninscience #BNA #podcast #internationalwomensday #womeninstem #iwd #iwd2018 #pressforprogress #pieceofmindpodcast #cardiffuniversity #NMHRI (at Cardiff)

[thebraindomain-blog]

As part of international women's day we want to highlight the incredible women scientists who work behind the scenes of #thebraindomain In this second post, we're highlighting two of our new members: Monika @monikateres and Chiara @chiara5408. They are both PhD students at @cardiffuni Monika came to us from Poland, she works in #neurodevelopment. At the brain domain she does a little bit of everything, and has taken charge of organising and chairing our meetings. When not sciencing, she likes to knit and garden. Chiara came to us from Italy, she works in #neuroimaging. She has taken over a lot of article editing and promotes the brain domain at public engagement events. She was going to become a lawyer, but the brain was just too interesting and now she's one of us! To learn more about these inspiring women visit our website and check out the people pages. #neuroscience #publicengagement #sciencecommunication #iwd2018 #science #inspiringwomen (at Cardiff University)

[thebraindomain-blog]

As part of international women's day we want to highlight the incredible women scientists who work behind the scenes of #thebraindomain In this first post we're highlighting three of our founding members: Rachael @stickray, Rae @Raeredqueen and Kira @kinetickira. They are all PhD students at @cardiffuni Rachael works in #neuroimaging research and has been one of the key editors behind #theneurotransmission. Episode 1 was released today, to hear it follow the link in our bio. She loves wombats and it's her fault we all love them too. Rae is working on models of #schizophrenia, and is our social media queen! She was invited to speak in another podcast released today: NCMH's Piece of Mind. She also squats more than you. And Kira works in the field of #neuroepigenetics. She is one of our main organisers, who keep us on track delivering you content and pushing forwards new ideas. She's called kinetic kira because she doesn't stop, she lifts, dances, climbs silk, is an amateur trapezist, the list goes on, just like her unending energy! To learn more about these inspiring women visit our website and check out the people pages. #neuroscience #publicengagement #sciencecommunication #iwd2018 #science #inspiringwomen (at Cardiff University)

[thebraindomain-blog]

Happy International Women's Day #iwd2018 Here at #thebraindomain we're celebrating #womeninscience with episode 1 of our new #podcast (#theneurotransmission). In this episode we hear from Dr Emma Yhnell, who studies #huntingtonsdisease, and is an active advocate for #sciencecommunication and #publicengagement. Link to the episode in our bio. #neuroscience #science #NMHRI @cardiffneuroscience @cardiffuni @britishneuroscienceassociation @chwaraeteg @researchwales (at Cardiff University)

[thebraindomain-blog]

Our latest picture of The Brain Domain's editorial team! Six of our founders at the back, the new faces at the front. This was taken for our new permanent #cardiffuniversity #NMHRI webpage. You'll find us under #engagement. If you're interested in #publicengagement for #neuroscience and want writing experience, then send us an email to find out how we can help! Link in Bio. #neuro #science #sciencecommunication #bna #wellcometrust #learning (at Cardiff University)

[thebraindomain-blog]

Monday morning meeting! Talking about the interest we've had from new writers (we're still recruiting, check out our poster!), and bringing in a vocalist (Lee, pictured) for the upcoming #podcast. #sciencecommunication #science #neuroscience #publicengagement #phdlife #phd #thebraindomain #cardiff #britishneuroscienceassociation #bna #wellcometrust #cardiffuniversity

[thebraindomain-blog]

Just another #mondaymorningmeeting for our lay editor and two of our founding members. Today's discussion was largely about getting our #podcast up and running. #phd #phdlife #science #neuroscience #neuro #sciencecommunication #publicengagement #thebraindomain #cardiff #britishneuroscienceassociation #bna #wellcometrust (at Hoffi Coffi)

[thebraindomain-blog]

WHEN I READ WHAT I’VE WRITTEN THE NIGHT BEFORE

credit: Seb

[thebraindomain-blog]

Ohh brain.

[thebraindomain-blog]

Study shows pain causes older adults to develop more inflammation over a longer period of time

When older relatives complain about their pains, show a little empathy, because new research suggests that as we age, we may all become more sensitive to pain. A small, preliminary University of Florida Health study has suggested for the first time that inflammation may occur more quickly and at a higher magnitude — and stays around longer — when older adults experience pain versus when younger adults experience pain.

This could mean that older adults could be at risk for developing chronic pain and may benefit from taking anti-inflammatories soon after an injury or procedure, according to the researchers.

Older adults often have a certain level of chronic inflammation in their bodies. But UF researchers found that when they induced pain in older adults, proteins associated with inflammation increased more than they did in younger participants and stayed in the bodies of older adults longer. The researchers also found that anti-inflammatory cytokines, proteins that soothe inflammation, peaked later for older adults than younger adults. Their results were published in a previous issue of Experimental Gerontology.

“Older people go through painful procedures more often, and we wanted to research whether this accumulation of painful procedures or more acute pain episodes that older people encounter is bad,” said Yenisel Cruz-Almeida, Ph.D., MSPH, an assistant professor in the UF College of Medicine’s department of aging and geriatric research who also is affiliated with the UF Institute on Aging. “If you have enough of those in a shorter period of time, does this predispose you to have chronic pain?”

When older adults have this kind of elevated inflammatory response, they’re more likely to have pain generated in the periphery of the body — their tissue and limbs outside of the spinal cord and brain, said the study’s senior author Joseph Riley, Ph.D., director of the pain clinical research unit in the UF Pain Research and Intervention Center of Excellence.

“If older adults are more likely to have these pain messages sent through the spinal cord to the brain, and the nervous system is being adapted to go through these changes, they may become more pain prone,” said Riley, also a professor in the UF College of Dentistry’s department of community dentistry and the UF College of Public Health and Health Professions’ department of clinical and health psychology. While the study does not establish whether accumulation of acute pain predisposes older adults to chronic pain, the researchers say their findings suggest this is a possibility, and it’s the first step in pain research to further understand the relationship between pain and aging. The researchers said the study’s sample size, though small, was more than adequate to demonstrate large differences between the older and younger adults they tested. The differences in inflammation within each group varied very little compared with the overall difference between the two groups, which suggests the populations they sampled were very different and there was little chance of sampling error, Riley said.

Cruz-Almeida and Riley studied eight healthy older adults, whose average age was 68, and nine healthy younger adults, whose average age was 21. None of the participants had illnesses such as diabetes or hypertension. During an initial visit, researchers induced pain in the participants in two ways, either using heat applied to the feet or a cold ice bath.

The first session determined how sensitive the participants were to pain. Determining a tolerable temperature allowed the researchers to recreate the same amount of pain for each participant in the subsequent sessions.

Participants rated their pain on a scale from 1 to 10. The researchers were aiming to induce pain to a Level 4 — a level that created the painful stimuli the researchers needed, but didn’t dissuade the participants from returning for the other visits required in the study.

To study inflammation in the blood, the scientists inserted a catheter into each participant before inducing pain. That allowed them to collect the participant’s blood before the pain stimulus and then at three, 15, 30, 45, 60 and 90 minutes after the stimulus. These blood samples allowed the researchers to study inflammatory markers in the blood, finding that older adults had higher levels of inflammation when pain was induced than the younger adults.

Riley said activation of the immune system and increased inflammation are not necessarily harmful, but it’s important to understand how the length of time the immune system is activated affects the body.

“We think that the longer you have the immune system activated, having these elevated inflammatory cytokines, the more this activation can alter the homeostasis of the body. Usually an imbalance like that can be associated with autoimmune disorders, which also increase with age,” Cruz-Almeida said. “But the truth is we don’t know what the direct implications would be. We think low-grade inflammation is related to endocrine abnormalities such as diabetes and the development of heart problems. … We need to keep looking and doing future research.”          

Riley said immediate implications of the research for patients could be to attack pain quickly with anti-inflammatory medication.

“Early treatment of an injury even with over-the-counter anti-inflammatories may be a good idea,” Riley said. “It’s those first few days of bombarding the central nervous system with pain signals that has a bigger effect (on the body).”

[thebraindomain-blog]

Our history is important, neuroscience has come on a long way in the last 20 years, let alone the last 116!

TODAY IN THE HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY

Visit –> all-about-psychology.com for free psychology information and resources.

[thebraindomain-blog]

Every time!

by Jim Benton

[thebraindomain-blog]

Gut Feeling: Research Examines Link Between Gut Bacteria, PTSD

Could bacteria in your gut be used to cure or prevent neurological conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety or even depression? Two researchers sponsored by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) think that’s a strong possibility.

Dr. John Bienenstock and Dr. Paul Forsythe—who work in The Brain-Body Institute at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada—are investigating intestinal bacteria and their effect on the human brain and mood.

“This is extremely important work for U.S. warfighters because it suggests that gut microbes play a strong role in the body’s response to stressful situations, as well as in who might be susceptible to conditions like PTSD,” said Dr. Linda Chrisey, a program officer in ONR’s Warfighter Performance Department, which sponsors the research.

The trillions of microbes in the intestinal tract, collectively known as the gut microbiome, profoundly impact human biology—digesting food, regulating the immune system and even transmitting signals to the brain that alter mood and behavior. ONR is supporting research that’s anticipated to increase warfighters’ mental and physical resilience in situations involving dietary changes, sleep loss or disrupted circadian rhythms from shifting time zones or living in submarines.

Through research on laboratory mice, Bienenstock and Forsythe have shown that gut bacteria seriously affect mood and demeanor. They also were able to control the moods of anxious mice by feeding them healthy microbes from fecal material collected from calm mice.

Bienenstock and Forsythe used a “social defeat” scenario in which smaller mice were exposed to larger, more aggressive ones for a couple of minutes daily for 10 consecutive days. The smaller mice showed signs of heightened anxiety and stress—nervous shaking, diminished appetite and less social interaction with other mice. The researchers then collected fecal samples from the stressed mice and compared them to those from calm mice.

“What we found was an imbalance in the gut microbiota of the stressed mice,” said Forsythe. “There was less diversity in the types of bacteria present. The gut and bowels are a very complex ecology. The less diversity, the greater disruption to the body.”

Bienenstock and Forsythe then fed the stressed mice the same probiotics (live bacteria) found in the calm mice and examined the new fecal samples. Through magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), a non-invasive analytical technique using powerful MRI technology, they also studied changes in brain chemistry.

“Not only did the behavior of the mice improve dramatically with the probiotic treatment,” said Bienenstock, “but it continued to get better for several weeks afterward. Also, the MRS technology enabled us to see certain chemical biomarkers in the brain when the mice were stressed and when they were taking the probiotics.”

Both researchers said stress biomarkers could potentially indicate if someone is suffering from PTSD or risks developing it, allowing for treatment or prevention with probiotics and antibiotics.

Later this year, Bienenstock and Forsythe will perform experiments involving fecal transplants from calm mice to stressed mice. They also hope to secure funding to conduct clinical trials to administer probiotics to human volunteers and use MRS to monitor brain reactions to different stress levels.

Gut microbiology is part of ONR’s program in warfighter performance. ONR also is looking at the use of synthetic biology to enhance the gut microbiome. Synthetic biology creates or re-engineers microbes or other organisms to perform specific tasks like improving health and physical performance. The field was identified as a top ONR priority because of its potential far-ranging impact on warfighter performance and fleet capabilities.

[thebraindomain-blog]

Reflections on Dementia

As I look upon my frail friend Bob, lying there in his chair, blanket all wrapped around him as the nurse says “he feels the cold more these days”, I realise I have never been in his room before, despite my visits over the years. I inquired about his routine to another nurse and she said “Robert does not sit in the front room too much these days and generally comes down just for meals.” The last time Bob saw me, although he wouldn’t remember this, he was happily sitting downstairs with others, displaying his usual smile and lighting up the room, actively enjoying the music playing in the background... You can read the rest of the article on our main website here: https://thebraindomain.org/2016/05/30/reflections-on-dementia/

[thebraindomain-blog]

WHEN P=0.06

credit: tennant-jake