High Tech Lullabye

Synchronized sounds sharpen sleep

In the study, the researchers exposed the sleepers to light rhythmic noise both in sync and out of sync with their brain's oscillations during deep sleep. The in-sync sounds appear to have strengthened the brain rhythms, the researchers found, while also strengthening memories: volunteers were better able to retain word associations they had learned the night before. The out-of-sync sounds didn't have any effect. 

Huh. I thought that's what snoring did. IntraCranial reverberation.

Lady Parts

Women better off without bras: French study

Women should forget everything they've been told about bras. According to a new French study, published on Wednesday, wearing a bra does nothing to reduce back pain, and the chest supports actually cause increased breast sagging.

Personally, I think they restrict lymphatic flow.   And they pinch the nerves in the shoulders and chest.  Especially in overweight women.   They give me back/neck pain.
I really haven't found a great alternative though. I imagine there might be a strap configuration that would be better.   Hell, they can make noise cancelling headphones, why isn't there a bounce cancelling t-shirt?

I would like to point out the long term commitment of the researcher to this project.  Go figure.

Totally Off-Topic

I have no idea who runs this website, but it has the best pics.

VietNam builds awesome dragon bridge.

Jello Brains

Brains as Clear as Jell-O for Scientists to Explore

Scientists at Stanford University reported on Wednesday that they have made a whole mouse brain, and part of a human brain, transparent, so that networks of neurons that receive and send information can be highlighted in stunning color and viewed in all their three-dimensional complexity without slicing up the organ. 

Very cool.   Animated slide show too.

I know, you're not shocked either

Doctors Not Informed of Harmful Effects of Medicines During Sales Visits

The majority of family doctors receive little or no information about harmful effects of medicines when visited by drug company representatives, according to an international study involving Canadian, U.S. and French physicians. Yet the same doctors indicated that they were likely to start prescribing these drugs, consistent with previous research that shows prescribing behaviour is influenced by pharmaceutical promotion.
The study, which had doctors fill out questionnaires about each promoted medicine following sales visits, was published online today in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. It shows that sales representatives failed to provide any information about common or serious side effects and the type of patients who should not use the medicine in 59 per cent of the promotions. In Vancouver and Montreal, no potential harms were mentioned for 66 per cent of promoted medicines.
"Laws in all three countries require sales representatives to provide information on harm as well as benefits," says lead author Barbara Mintzes of the University of British Columbia. "But no one is monitoring these visits and there are next to no sanctions for misleading or inaccurate promotion."

Suspended De-animation

The man who could bring you back from the dead
This British doctor specialises in resurrection and insists outdated resuscitation techniques are squandering lives that could be saved.

"Most doctors will do CPR for 20 minutes and then stop," he says. "The decision to stop is completely arbitrary but it is based on an instinct that after that time brain damage is very likely and you don't want to bring people back into a persistent vegetative state. But if you understand all the things that are going on in the brain in those minutes – as we now can – then you can minimise that possibility. There are numerous studies that show that if you implement all the various resuscitation steps together you not only get a doubling of your survival rates but the people who come back are not brain damaged."
In Parnia's ideal world, the way that people are resuscitated would first take in the knowledge that machines are much better at CPR than doctors. After that, he suggests, the next step is "to understand that you need to elevate the level of care". The first thing is to cool down the body to best preserve the brain cells, which are by then in the process of apoptosis, or suicide.

I think he's on to something.  This could critically alter critical care.

(And my personal opinion is that memory is stored in the astrocytes. Neurons communicate the signal.  Astrocytes store the information.) 

The Root of the Problem

Why I do not publish in Journals or use online research tools in any way:

Because sooner or later Elsevier will own it.
Elsevier (giant for-profit scholarly publisher) buys Mendeley (free citation manager and discovery tool)

Making my small public domain protest to thwart our Galtian Overlords. 

Old Song of the Day

Ahhh, memories.

He played this live at my college.   Recorded this live album there.
I went to school in Normal Illinois.  Seriously, I did.  Well, sometimes. I did sleep through one semester.
He also had the band bring sheet music so they could play "Lead a Normal Life" for us.  Pretty cool.

Zombie Mummies

Neolithic Iceman Ötzi Had Bad Teeth: Periodontitis, Tooth Decay, Dental Damage

The three-dimensional computer tomography reconstructions give an insight into the oral cavity of the Iceman and show how severely he was suffering from advanced periodontitis. Particularly in the area of the rear molars, Seiler found loss of the periodontal supporting tissue that almost extended to the tip of the root. While Ötzi is scarcely likely to have cleaned his teeth, his abrasive diet contributed significantly to a process of self-cleaning.
Nowadays periodontitis is connected to cardiovascular diseases. Interestingly, the Iceman also displays vascular calcification, for which -- like in the case of the periodontitis -- mainly his genetic make-up was responsible.

 Arthritis, tattoos, wandering around the mountains, getting in fights...

(and he died in the spring with a belly full of einkorn wheat.  Since wheat is harvested in the fall, this suggests that his culture stored grain and was dependent on it for most if not all of the year.)

Yo UK

Maggie Thatcher was your typical righteous maniac.
And so were all the righteous rockers.

Think of this as a teachable moment.
Her fate awaits us.

Surfin' Medline

This hasn't been published yet, but the abstract is up.
A Retrospective Survey of Childhood ADHD Symptomatology Among Adult Narcoleptics.

Joint prevalence calculations of childhood ADHD symptomatology in the Narcolepsy Group were more than 8 to 15 times greater than expected. Among NG, those individuals with a greater score on the WURS, indicative of childhood ADHD symptomatology, also had shorter sleep onsets on the Multiple Sleep Latency Test, a common objective measure of sleepiness. Conclusion: It appears that self-reported childhood ADHD symptomatology history among adult narcoleptics is common. 

It's self reported, subjective data, but when the full article does come out, let's see if they make the next correlation:

Test those people for strep antibodies.

And for the supergeeks-
An orexinergic projection from perifornical hypothalamus to raphe pallidus increases rat brown adipose tissue thermogenesis.
Apparently orexin directly stimulates brown fat production.    Free full text available.

Upon further reflection

On the commencement page of the zombie site I say this:

 "My experience is unusual.  Even for a narcoleptic my progression is pretty extreme."

And you know, it's true for people older than me.   I am sicker than most people my age.   They all seem to be getting the symptoms I did ten years ago.

But it's not true about you younger folks.   They have had you on low fat diets since you were in grade school.    And some of you are deteriorating much faster than I did.

I have women in their late twenties and early thirties telling me they are starting to lose their memory.
Think about that.   If you can.

And so it goes

Sadly, prayer doesn't help either.

Matthew Warren commits suicide.
Rest in peace, young man.

This is Why

Because I have seen the end game.   And it terrifies me.

Rest in Peace dear man.   World Class Everything.
Thanks for fighting the good fight.

Red Nosed Reindeer

Olfactory dysfunction affects sex life    clearly "mature" content.

Apparently, people with impaired sense of smell have less sex partners that better smellers.
Now I can think of a lot of ways a lack of detectors might affect behavior, like via HLA immune molecules, which seem to be olfactory triggers.   And any other number of ways.
But I would just like to make sure you know that olfactory dysfunction preceeds a number of types of devastating neurological diseases.   Like Alzheimers, and Parkinsons.   And narcoleptics seem to have it too.   And alcoholics.  And you got Apnea?   Yeah, you.

Olfactory dysfunction is a symptom of chronic low level infection.
Herpes, strep pyogenes, strep pneumonia, and staph aureus all can colonize the sinuses.
Take care of it.  Wash your nose with saline.   Switch to e cigarettes.   Take vitamin D.

You don't want those nerves to die.   They are a direct interface to your brain.   You kind of need them.

Foxes and Henhouses

As Walgreen Plays Doctor, Family Physicians Bristle

Walgreen's is now providing new services that include “assessment, treatment and management for chronic conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, asthma and others, as well as additional preventive health services.” ...
But some physicians are upset by the expansion, saying it will further splinter an already fragmented health care system and therefore harm quality and patient safety.
...
Walgreens, for example, has formed various affiliations with large hospital systems and doctor-led clinics across the country to create patient-care protocols and other programs. Walgreen has also formed and is joining with larger providers to create accountable care organizations, which organize a collection of medical-care providers to care for a group of patients.
ACOs work to keep patients healthy and out of the more expensive hospital setting. If ACOs are successful and reduce costs, the providers in the organization divvy up the savings with the health plans that are paying them.

This is not about better or more consistent care.  Those doctors are worried about the revenue they are losing.
And it's not about saving money either-  it doesn't save anyone anything.   It just gets pocketed by someone else.  Thus this very fascinating public squabble.   Expect more of this behavior.  (See the ADA.)

I am all for low cost clinics for health maintenance.  But the truly scary part of this one is the conflict of interest.  A drug distributor is now helping write protocols for sick people. 

World Class Obsession

Boy, 17, builds DNA testing machine in his bedroom to find out why his younger sibling has ginger hair

Yo UK.  Heh.  

Through the Looking Glass

Some days I can't tell if I'm dreaming. 

Seattle police return marijuana taken from street dealers

One Step Forward

Discovery in Neuroscience Could Help Re-Wire Appetite Control

They established that a population of brain cells called 'tanycytes' behave like stem cells and add new neurons to the appetite-regulating circuitry of the mouse brain after birth and into adulthood.
Lead researcher Dr Mohammad K. Hajihosseini, from UEA's school of Biological Sciences, said: "Loss or malfunctioning of neurons in the hypothalamus is the prime cause of eating disorders such as obesity."

I just want to say it's a metabolic disorder, not an eating disorder.  (And one set of tanycytes do seem to connect to the lateral hypothalamus where orexin cells are.)
But then there's this-

"The next step is to define the group of genes and cellular processes that regulate the behaviour and activity of tanycytes. This information will further our understanding of brain stem cells and could be exploited to develop drugs that can modulate the number or functioning of appetite-regulating neurons.

Drugs drugs, druggy druggy drugs.   It's always about the drugs.

I spent about a minute searching and found this:

In adult mice, tanycytes give rise to hypothalamic regulatory neurons in response to a high-fat diet.
Now, I'm not saying that's applicable to humans, but it does seem those cells are diet sensitive.

Correlation Games

Laser Therapy Switches Cocaine Addiction On and Off in Rats

Rats addicted to cocaine lost the craving when researchers used laser light to stimulate a specific part of their brains.
The same team of scientists also used the laser technique to trigger new cocaine addictions in rats. They say the therapy -- which targets the prefrontal cortex of the rat brain -- could point the way to a new method of treating the addiction in humans.
"When we turn on a laser light in the prelimbic region of the prefrontal cortex, the compulsive cocaine seeking is gone," study co-researcher Dr. Antonello Bonci, adjunct professor of neurology at the University of California, San Francisco, said in a university news release.

Guess which neurotransmitter stimulates the prelimbic region of the prefrontal cortex.

I'm Shocked, I tell you

Urinary Tract Infections 29 Times More Likely in Schizophrenia Relapse

The study comparing UTI rates in 57 relapsed hospitalized patients, 40 stable outpatients and 39 healthy controls showed that 35 percent of the relapsed patients had UTIs versus 5 and 3 percent, respectively, of the other groups.
While it's too early to know which comes first, the UTI or acute schizophrenia relapse, the association means relapsed patients should be tested for a UTI, said Miller, corresponding author of the study in Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.
Relapse can produce delusions and symptoms that can impede good hygiene and adequate hydration, increasing the risk of UTIs. However Miller, who pursued the study because he's seen improvement in patients' psychiatric condition simply by treating them with antibiotics for a UTI, said UTIs could be the trigger.

It's amazing what happens when you treat sick people for their actual illnesses instead of blaming them for their mental symptoms.

(and for some reason Charlie Sheen suddenly comes to mind...)

oh and this post too.

Orexin in the News

Is a Better Sleeping Pill on the Way?

These new medications -- known as dual orexin receptor antagonists (DORA) -- target a more specific region of the brain than popular sleep drugs such as Ambien and Lunesta, promoting sleep without affecting learning and memory (also called "cognition"), according to the new research.
"We've shown that these compounds improve sleep at doses that don't impact cognition," said Jason Uslaner, lead author of a study published in the April 3 issue of Science Translational Medicine.
...
DORA-22 did not lead to the same mental impairments as the other three drugs. Rhesus monkeys and rats performed just as well on memory and attention tasks shortly after being administered DORA-22 as they did on an inactive placebo.

Yes well that's very nice and all, but the cognitive effects of orexin depletion don't manifest for a couple decades. And monkeys can't tell you they want to commit suicide.

Dr. Siegel agrees- this drug will likely cause depression in patients using it.

Siegel noted that orexin antagonists are now being developed by several drug companies for use as sleeping pills. The current work suggests that these drugs will alter mood as well sleep tendency.

Hopefully someone will get a clue before it's approved and a bunch of unsuspecting people kill themselves. Like Chantix.

It's a travesty for sure

A.D.H.D. Seen in 11% of U.S. Children as Diagnoses Rise

Nearly one in five high school age boys in the United States and 11 percent of school-age children over all have received a medical diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, according to new data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These rates reflect a marked rise over the last decade and could fuel growing concern among many doctors that the A.D.H.D. diagnosis and its medication are overused in American children. 

They are worried about overdiagnosing.  I am more concerned with mis-diagnosis.   I actually think these numbers are low.   I think the overall streptococcal autoimmune rate is about 30%, it's just that boys have more typical hyperactivity symptoms (girls get cranky and gain weight). 
They are also worried about overmedication.  I am more concerned with mis-prescribing.   A little less sugar and little more antibacterial mouth rinse is probably what those kids need.  Treat the problem, not the symptoms.

Tweet of the Day

From PourMeCoffee-

All humans seem to be evolving is a greater sense of outrage. Why can't we get wings or night vision? This blows.

Big Win for Our Side

Novartis denied cancer drug patent in landmark Indian case

The Indian supreme court has refused to allow one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies to patent a new version of a cancer drug, a decision campaigners hailed as a major step forward in enabling poor people to access medicines in the developing world.
Novartis lost a six-year legal battle after the court ruled that small changes and improvements to the drug Glivec did not amount to innovation deserving of a patent. The ruling opens the way for generic companies in India to manufacture and sell cheap copies of the drug in the developing world and has implications for HIV and other modern drugs too.
Campaigners were jubilant. A ruling in favour of Novartis would have reduced access to the drug for the poor, said Jennifer Cohn, of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). She added: "The fact that India says patents are to reward innovation as opposed to small changes does stay true to the concept of what a patent should be."

I am jubilant too..  Funny what happens when health of their people is a real concern of  a society.