Tag Archives: Biology

Annals Graphic Medicine – She Never Woke UpShe Never Woke Up | Annals of Internal Medicine

 

A lovely and moving comic by William Doan originally published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

 

Source: Annals Graphic Medicine – She Never Woke UpShe Never Woke Up | Annals of Internal Medicine

10 Ways to Increase the Dopamine In Your Brain

“Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that helps control the brain’s reward and pleasure centers. Dopamine also helps regulate movement and emotional response, and it enables us not only to see rewards, but to take action to move toward them.”  – Psychology Today

Source: 10 Ways to Increase the Dopamine In Your Brain

The funniest, best-sung song by an epigenetic neuroscientist ever!

The singer, Dr. Rachel Yehuda showed that the gene expression of pregnant Holocaust & 9/11 survivors were altered by the experiences, as were those of their children. But here she’s just having fun!

#Thankful for #Science and “Sciencers” #Thanksgiving

I am thankful for science and people who science. Not just because I have epilepsy and without pharmacology I would sporadically behave like an alien breakdancer. I’m not just thankful for the surgeons who implanted my cyborg hip and Alice in my synthetic hip, Trixie. I’m grateful to the material sciences who developed the titanium and ceramic substances to the engineers figure out the exact angle that the implants should good rest most strongly and snugly within. I’m grateful to the immunologist who rigorously test the parts to make sure my body won’t rejecting it.

And again, through my various surgeries, big love to the pharmacologists for the Dilaudid.

I am specifically grateful to those who science human behavior even more acutely, sciencers of the brain for making it easier to forgive people.

You have to struggle to be mad at someone when you realize their argumentativeness may be nothing more sinister than an overactive insula or their lethargy a mere underproduction of dopamine receptors for their appearance heartlessness a not uncommon malfunction in the either the anterior or posterior pituitary.

Studying the effects of brains on human behavior reminds me best we are all born in the bodies we did not design, into a world we did not create having reactions to which on one can explain.

The writer Evelyn Waugh says to, understand all is to condone all. I do not condone all but hey, I’m still studying here.

The Neuroscience of Conversion Optimization – Neuromarketing

[Guest post by Nick Kolenda] If you’re a digital marketer, then you know the feeling. You poured your heart and soul into a recent campaign, and you can’t wait to see the results. A few days later, you check the […]

Source: The Neuroscience of Conversion Optimization – Neuromarketing

#Neuroplasticity and Training the Older Brain #neuroscience #seniorsrock

brail
Neuroplasticity is the brain and nervous systems ability to evolve and to repair deficits.
At a basic level it represents the ability to learn and develop a structural and functional system to interact with the environment.
The brain’s neuroplasticity is maximized during childhood and adolescence. This adaptability wanes with age. However, some neuroplasticity ability persists in the older brain.
This persistence was highlighted in a study from Hong Kong recently published in the journal Neural Plasticity.
Natalie Leung and colleagues studied a group of older adults with an average age of 70 years. Two hundred nine older adults were randomized to a cognitive training protocol or a control video education intervention.
The cognitive training protocol involved three one-hour training sessions for 13 weeks (39 hours total cognitive training). The training in this protocol was adapted from the Brain Fitness Program of Posit Science. Elements including tasks focusing on reaction time, visual discrimination, verbal memory, attention and working memory. All subjects completed neuropsychological assessment at baseline and at the end of the 13-week trial.
The active training groups demonstrated significant improvement in a variety of cognitive domains compared to the control group including:
  • Higher sustained attention scores on the Seashore Rhythm Test
  • Better performance on working memory digit span tasks
  • Better performance on visual-spatial cognition 
This study did not include a brain imaging component. However, the author’s note their findings suggest sensitive imaging tools might complement their results and provide better understanding of structural and functional elements of neuroplasticity in the older brain.
 
The role of brain training in modifying the effects of aging on the brain is still in early stages of research. However, the current study supports the ability of elderly individuals to respond to cognitive training interventions.
Individuals with more interest in this study can access the full free-text manuscript by clicking on the PMID link below.
Screenshot of frontal lobes in brain is from the iPad Brain Tutor app.