Lifeboat Foundation

Summary: Neuroinflammation may be a key player in the pathological brain changes produced as a result of chronic opioid use. Microglia is likely responsible for the majority of the changes.

Source: boston university school of medicine.

Prevalence rates of opioid use disorder (OUD) have increased dramatically, accompanied by a surge of overdose deaths–nearly 50000 in the U.S. in 2019. While opioid dependence has been extensively studied in preclinical models, an understanding of the biological alterations that occur in the brains of people who chronically use opioids and who are diagnosed with OUD remains limited.

Stem cell biologist Hugo Vankelecom (KU Leuven) and his colleagues have discovered that the pituitary gland in mice ages as the result of an age-related form of chronic inflammation. It may be possible to slow down this process or even partially repair it. The researchers have published their findings in PNAS.

The pituitary gland is a small, globular gland located underneath the brain that plays a major role in the hormonal system, explains Professor Hugo Vankelecom from the Department of Development and Regeneration at KU Leuven. “My research group discovered that the pituitary gland ages as a result of a form of chronic inflammation that affects tissue and even the organism as a whole. This natural process usually goes unnoticed and is referred to as ‘inflammaging’—a contraction of inflammation and aging. Inflammaging has previously been linked to the aging of other organs.” Due to the central role played by the pituitary, its aging may contribute to the reduction of hormonal processes and hormone levels in our body—as is the case with menopause, for instance.

The study also provides significant insight into the stem cells in the aging pituitary gland. In 2012, Vankelecom and his colleagues showed that a prompt reaction of these stem cells to injury in the gland leads to repair of the tissue, even in adult animals. “As a result of this new study, we now know that stem cells in the pituitary do not lose this regenerative capacity when the organism ages. In fact, the stem cells are only unable to do their job because, over time, the pituitary becomes an ‘inflammatory environment’ as a result of the chronic inflammation. But as soon as the stem cells are taken out of this environment, they show the same properties as stem cells from a young pituitary.”

The way the team made the human–monkey embryo is similar to previous attempts at half-human chimeras.

Here’s how it goes. They used de-programmed, or “reverted,” human stem cells, called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). These cells often start from skin cells, and are chemically treated to revert to the stem cell stage, gaining back the superpower to grow into almost any type of cell: heart, lung, brain…you get the idea. The next step is preparing the monkey component, a fertilized and healthy monkey egg that develops for six days in a Petri dish. By this point, the embryo is ready for implantation into the uterus, which kicks off the whole development process.

This is where the chimera jab comes in. Using a tiny needle, the team injected each embryo with 25 human cells, and babied them for another day. “Until recently the experiment would have ended there,” wrote Drs. Hank Greely and Nita Farahany, two prominent bioethicists who wrote an accompanying expert take, but were not involved in the study.

I’m so thrilled to present to you my debut work in documentary filmmaking! You can now watch my new film Consciousness: Evolution of the Mind in its entirety on major networks, such as Vimeo on demand, worldwide.

*Based on my recent book The Syntellect Hypothesis: Five Paradigms of the Mind’s Evolution. Enjoy!

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/339083

Guys! I’m so thrilled to present to you my debut work in documentary filmmaking! You can now watch my new film Consciousness: Evolution of the Mind in its entirety on major networks, such as Vimeo on demand, worldwide.

High levels of labile iron have been linked to neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s before. Similarly, copper is another mineral typically shielded safely in a protein, yet thoroughly capable of making a mess of our brains in labile form.

Set aside every scrap of iron inside a human body and you might have enough to fashion a nail or two. As for copper, you’d be lucky to extract just enough to make a small earring.

Scarce as they are, these two metals are necessary for our survival, playing essential roles in human growth and metabolism. But one place we wouldn’t expect to find either is clumped inside our brain cells.

Continue reading “Deposits of Copper And Magnetic Iron Found in Alzheimers Patients Brains” »

Last Tuesday, teams from Google and Harvard published an intricate map of every cell and connection in a cubic millimeter of the human brain.

The mapped region encompasses the various layers and cell types of the cerebral cortex, a region of brain tissue associated with higher-level cognition, such as thinking, planning, and language. According to Google, it’s the largest brain map at this level of detail to date, and it’s freely available to scientists (and the rest of us) online. (Really. Go here. Take a stroll.)

“The human brain is an immensely complex network of brain cells which is responsible for all human behavior, but until now, we haven’t been able to completely map these connections within even a small region of the brain,” said Dr. Alexander Shapson-Coe, a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard’s Lichtman Lab and lead author of a preprint paper about the work.

A team of scientists at the University of Sussex have for the first time built a modular quantum brain scanner, and used it to record a brain signal. This is the first time a brain signal has been detected using a modular quantum brain sensor anywhere in the world. It’s a major milestone for all researchers working on quantum brain imaging technology because modular sensors can be scaled up, like Lego bricks. The team have also connected two sensors like Lego bricks, proving that whole-brain scanning using this method is within reach—as detailed in their paper, which is published today in pre-print. This has not been possible with the currently commercially available quantum brain sensors from the United States.

These modular devices work like play bricks in that they can be connected together. This opens up the potential for whole–brain scanning using quantum technology, and potential advances for neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s.

The device, which was built at the Quantum Systems and Devices laboratory at the university, uses ultra-sensitive quantum sensors to pick up these tiniest of magnetic fields to see inside the brain in order to map the neural activity.

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Contains 24 logical fallacies, 24 cognitive biases, 3 Game Cards and 3 Call Out Cards. Perfect for honing critical thinking skills, calling out people you’re arguing with, and spotting actual fake news.

Continue reading “Critical Thinking Cards Deck” »