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A drug that increases dopamine can reverse the effects of inflammation on the brain in depression, Emory study shows

๐€ ๐๐ซ๐ฎ๐  ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ข๐ง๐œ๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ฌ๐ž๐ฌ ๐๐จ๐ฉ๐š๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐ž ๐œ๐š๐ง ๐ซ๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ž๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐ฌ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ข๐ง๐Ÿ๐ฅ๐š๐ฆ๐ฆ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐จ๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐›๐ซ๐š๐ข๐ง ๐ข๐ง ๐๐ž๐ฉ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง, ๐„๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ฌ๐ก๐จ๐ฐ๐ฌ

๐˜ผ๐™ฃ ๐™€๐™ข๐™ค๐™ง๐™ฎ ๐™๐™ฃ๐™ž๐™ซ๐™š๐™ง๐™จ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ฎ ๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™ช๐™™๐™ฎ ๐™ฅ๐™ช๐™—๐™ก๐™ž๐™จ๐™๐™š๐™™ ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™‰๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ช๐™ง๐™šโ€™๐™จ ๐™ˆ๐™ค๐™ก๐™š๐™˜๐™ช๐™ก๐™–๐™ง ๐™‹๐™จ๐™ฎ๐™˜๐™๐™ž๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™ฎ ๐™จ๐™๐™ค๐™ฌ๐™จ ๐™ก๐™š๐™ซ๐™ค๐™™๐™ค๐™ฅ๐™–, ๐™– ๐™™๐™ง๐™ช๐™œ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™˜๐™ง๐™š๐™–๐™จ๐™š๐™จ ๐™™๐™ค๐™ฅ๐™–๐™ข๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™š ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™—๐™ง๐™–๐™ž๐™ฃ, ๐™๐™–๐™จ ๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™–๐™ก ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™ง๐™š๐™ซ๐™š๐™ง๐™จ๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™š๐™›๐™›๐™š๐™˜๐™ฉ๐™จ ๐™ค๐™› ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™›๐™ก๐™–๐™ข๐™ข๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™—๐™ง๐™–๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™ง๐™š๐™ฌ๐™–๐™ง๐™™ ๐™˜๐™ž๐™ง๐™˜๐™ช๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™ฎ, ๐™ช๐™ก๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ข๐™–๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ก๐™ฎ ๐™ž๐™ข๐™ฅ๐™ง๐™ค๐™ซ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™จ๐™ฎ๐™ข๐™ฅ๐™ฉ๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™จ ๐™ค๐™› ๐™™๐™š๐™ฅ๐™ง๐™š๐™จ๐™จ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ.

Numerous labs across the world have shown that inflammation causes reduced motivation and anhedonia, a core symptom of depression, by affecting the brainโ€™s reward pathways.


An Emory University study published in Natureโ€™s Molecular Psychiatry shows levodopa, a drug that increases dopamine in the brain, has potential to reverse the effects of inflammation on brain reward circuitry, ultimately improving symptons of depression.

Past research conducted by the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Emory University School of Medicine has linked the effects of inflammation on the brain to decreased release of dopamine, a chemical neurotransmitter that regulates motivation and motor activity, in the ventral striatum.

Daniel C. Dennett โ€” What is Consciousness?

Consciousness is what we can know best and explain least. It is the inner subjective experience of what it feels like to see red or smell garlic or hear Beethoven. Consciousness has intrigued and baffled philosophers. To begin, we must define and describe consciousness. What to include in a complete definition and description of consciousness?

Free access to Closer to Truthโ€™s library of 5,000 videos: http://bit.ly/376lkKN

Watch more interviews on consciousness: https://bit.ly/30umCPb.

Daniel Clement Dennett III is an American philosopher, writer and cognitive scientist and is currently the Co-director of the Center for Cognitive Studies and Professor at Tufts University.

Register for free at CTT.com for subscriber-only exclusives: http://bit.ly/2GXmFsP

Closer to Truth presents the worldโ€™s greatest thinkers exploring humanityโ€™s deepest questions. Discover fundamental issues of existence. Engage new and diverse ways of thinking. Appreciate intense debates. Share your own opinions. Seek your own answers.

Scientists find a drug that treats obesity, fatty liver, heart disease

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 40% of people living in the U.S. are obese; and 43% of American women over the age of 60โ€”long past menopauseโ€”are considered obese. A recent Johns Hopkins study showed that a drug first developed to treat Alzheimerโ€™s disease, schizophrenia, and sickle cell disease could treat obesity and fatty liver and improve heart functionโ€”without changes in food intake or daily activity.

Toward Singularity โ€” Neuroscience Inspiring AI

Takes a look at how neuroscience is inspiring the development of artificial intelligence. Our amazing brain, one of the most complicated systems we know about, is inspiring the development of intelligence machines. Machines that may well surpass our own intelligence and could birth a new species on the planet. Opportunity and danger lie beyond the singularity!

For those who purchase the video on Vimeo https://vimeo.com/ondemand/towardsingularity there are extended interviews that give further insight into biologically inspired AI technology.

Genre: Documentary.
Duration: 1 hour 6 minutes.
Subtitles: English.
Release: 19th February, 2020
Production: Perfekt Studios.
Director: Matthew Dahlitz.
Director of Photography: Jachin Dahlitz.
Soundtrack: Matthew Dahlitz.

CHAPTERS:
00:00 Introduction.
02:41 Our Amazing Brain.
08:13 Brain Inspired AI
16:23 Current AI
24:00 Smart Robots.
31:37 Integration.
34:33 Concerns.
37:19 Toward AGI
44:06 Dangers.
51:52 The Future.
01:02:32 Close & Credits

Neuroimaging study offers new insight into brain activity patterns linked to PTSD

A new neuroimaging study showed that people suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) exhibited increased activation in the amygdala region of the brain when shown surprised and neutral facial expressions. The same phenomenon was observed in identical twins of these individuals who did not suffer from PTSD.

The study, which was published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research, sheds new light on the neural mechanisms underlying the development of PTSD.

PTSD is a condition that develops in approximately 20% of individuals exposed to psychological trauma in their lifetime. It is defined by wide clusters of symptoms that include intrusive memories, negative alterations in mood, heightened levels of arousal, and other symptoms. Currently, there are many treatment options available for PTSD; however, for some patients, the treatments offered do not provide clinical relief.

Cognition after the representation war (part 2) โ€” 4E Cognition

Through the issue of mental representation addressed in the previous article, it is possible to get a first idea about the theoretical discontinuity between traditional cognitive science and more recent approaches gathered under the umbrella of so-called 4E Cognition. In fact, in many cases those latter reflect โ€” directly or in a collateral way โ€” the attempt to overcome the problem of representation in human cognition, even thought, as weโ€™re going to say, this doesnโ€™t entail a unite consensus at all.

4E Cognition has not to be seen as a specific and well-defined theoretical system, rather, it is a term referring to all those works (hypothesis, theories, experiments, etc.) which deviate from the traditional representational-computational model of cognition (see part 1), taking a dynamic and enactive approach, namely, conceiving cognition as embodied, embedded, enactive and extended (thatโ€™s why 4E). In a nutshell, mental states and cognitive processes would be: embodied when they are partly constituted by bodily processes; embedded when there is an essential causal dependence between such states and processes and the environment; enacted when the actions of the subject can partly constitute these states and processes; and extended when objects or processes in the environment can partly constitute those states and processes [4].

Here you can find a quick conversational introduction to 4E cognition made by professor Shaun Gallagher:

My Anti-Aging Protocol Broke a World Recordโ€ฆ โ€” YouTube

Bryan Johnson releases his rejuvenation protocol:


Blueprint is a public science experiment to determine whether itโ€™s possible to stay the same biological age. This requires slowing down aging processes as much as possible and then reversing the aging that has happened. Currently my speed of aging is .76 (DunedinPACE). That means for every 365 days each year, I age 277 days. My goal is to remain the same age biologically for every 365 days that pass.

I openly share (for free!) my diet, exercise and other protocols so that others can benefit and try to improve upon what Iโ€™m doing. I also openly share my health data as data is better than human opinion at guiding decision making. You can find everything here: https://blueprint.bryanjohnson.co/

This video is a whirlwind tour of what my daily life looks like as my team and I are on this adventure.

On the surface, Blueprint may seem like something about health, wellness and aging. To me, itโ€™s a philosophy.

Twelve-hour rhythms in transcript expression within the human dorsolateral prefrontal cortex are altered in schizophrenia

Twelve-hour (12 h) ultradian rhythms are a well-known phenomenon in coastal marine organisms. While 12 h cycles are observed in human behavior and physiology, no study has measured 12 h rhythms in the human brain. Here, we identify 12 h rhythms in transcripts that either peak at sleep/wake transitions (approximately 9 AM/PM) or static times (approximately 3 PM/AM) in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, a region involved in cognition. Subjects with schizophrenia (SZ) lose 12 h rhythms in genes associated with the unfolded protein response and neuronal structural maintenance. Moreover, genes involved in mitochondrial function and protein translation, which normally peak at sleep/wake transitions, peak instead at static times in SZ, suggesting suboptimal timing of these essential processes.

How the brain finds meaning in metaphor

You can grasp a hand. You can also grasp a concept. One is literal. One is metaphorical. Our brains know the difference, but would we be able to understand the latter without the former?

Previous studies have suggested that our understanding of metaphors may be rooted in our bodily experience. Some functional MRI, o fMRI, brain imaging studies have indicated, for example, that when you hear a metaphor such as โ€œshe had a rough day,โ€ regions of the brain associated with tactile experience are activated. If you hear, โ€œheโ€™s so sweet,โ€ areas associated with taste are activated. And when you hear action verbs used in a metaphorical context, like โ€œgrasp a concept,โ€ regions involved in motor perception and planning are activated.

A study by University of Arizona researcher Vicky Lai, published in the journal Brain Research, builds on this research by looking at when, exactly, different regions of the brain are activated in metaphor comprehension and what that tells us about the way we understand .

โ€˜Mysteryโ€™ condition causing โ€˜terrifyingโ€™ hallucinations in one million Britons

More than one-third of UK health experts are not aware of Charles Bonnet syndrome โ€” CBS โ€” a condition which can cause vivid, and sometimes frightening, hallucinations.

A poll of 1,100 health experts โ€” including GPs, doctors and optometrists โ€” found 37 per cent were not aware of CBS.

The condition is not caused by mental health problems or dementia. It is purely due to a loss of sight โ€” 60 per cent or more โ€” which reduces or stops the regular messages from the eye to the brain.