Addiction/Compulsion/Obsession
« Previous EntriesEyelashes: a monograph
Tuesday, June 17th, 2008by Shakotte
(via Flickr Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution License)
Well, here it is: lush eyelashes from a glaucoma med. Maybe a cure for baldness.
I was thinking about eyelashes two (three?) Thanksgivings ago when my friend’s aunt was telling me about her second husband’s father (now deceased) , “Frank the Eyelash.” He was in “the family” [...]
Penn and Teller: Twelve Step Programs Are Bullsh** - I kind of disagree sort of
Monday, June 9th, 2008The recovering alcoholics in my life sometimes act like they’re from Jupiter. (Everyone seems to be a recovering something these days. . . ) Their default position is negative attributional bias -they constantly are attacking based on presumed negative intention of others. They then confabulate to back fill facts to match their [...]
Neuro Literature Review: “Neurotech” in Portfolio.com May 2008 is Great
Saturday, June 7th, 2008How could I have missed this? Here’s a brief review of Portfolio.com May 2008 “neurotech” articles and graphics.
Starting with the graphic (click to go to the article) - it’s pretty telling: the two “neurotech” areas most associated with “character flaws” are the lowest revenue business areas — obesity and addition. (Graphic is modified to [...]
Smoking and drinking genetics update: MAOA is methylated
Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008I’ve been suspicious that most behavior is going to be non-Mendelian as far as genetic influences, (see here and here, and here for example) so here’s another study - this one by Philibert et al. - reporting that methylation dials down a gene linked to behavior — in women who smoke and drink. The [...]
Obesity research: Tesofensine and NS2359 drug family for weight loss - Better to block three receptors than only 5HT2c? Nah.
Friday, May 30th, 2008So far, lorcaserin is the only weight loss drug in the near future that makes commercial sense to me, not to say it is the most wonderful drug in the world and the science is, imo, sort of a yawner.
I keep an eye out for better weight loss drugs on the horizon — so here’s [...]
The Post-Smoking Society: Smokers - quick - band together and sell your genomes.
Wednesday, May 21st, 2008The anti-smoking drug Chantix is in the news for having significant side-effects — which brings up a conundrum: which is worse, the drug or the addiction?
New research shows the nature and the environment: (a) some people are clearly genetically loaded to smoke; and (b) when people quit, they quit in groups of three.
Which brings up [...]
Narcissism Research Round-Up
Tuesday, May 20th, 2008
What’s the latest research on narcissism? Three studies discussed:
1. Narcissists are motivated to achieve a desired outcome (probably further personal glory) but not that motivated to avoid a negative outcome.
2. Depressive symptoms induce paranoid symptoms in narcissistic personalities (but not narcissistic symptoms in paranoid personalities).
3. On-line gamers are reported to be high on the [...]
Drink Green Beer, Not Green Wine
Monday, March 17th, 2008 On St. Patrick’s day, pour yourself a green beer, not a green wine: wine and spirits cause more hippocampal volume loss than does beer (in chronic alcoholics, anyway).
There are probably other good reasons for not drinking green wine, although some clever marketing group will probably market a sauvignon vert . . . [...]
NYT: This is your brain on NASDAQ
Friday, February 8th, 2008 “Dopamine Futures” original art by Swivelchair
(all rights, if any totally waived, copy it all you want).
If you compare a screen shot of on-line gambling with a screen shot of on-line stock trading, they look very similar. That is probably because humans are hard wired for rewards — if you hunt and are successful, [...]
Pathological crying can be caused by brain dysfunction
Tuesday, February 5th, 2008Ricky, don’t cry! You haven’t been Auf’d! [Swivelchair note: Ricky was auf'd] I hope you’re OK - you know, the very basic areas of the brain are involved in crying. If you can’t stop, I hope it’s not a tumor (see abstract below).
J Clin Neurosci. 2008 Jan 10 [Epub ahead of print]
Brainstem compression [...]
Studies Cite Head Injuries As Factor in Some Social Ills - WSJ.com
Tuesday, January 29th, 2008Studies Cite Head Injuries As Factor in Some Social Ills - WSJ.com
The Wall Street Journal(subscription required for most, but not this) has an article saying that brain injuries are way more common, and account for way more problems, than we appreciate. (See the video either on [...]
Neuroeconomics: Does money play a role in economic crime?
Thursday, January 24th, 2008Does money play a role in economic crime?
This seems so obvious, why even ask the question?
But, for some, the thrill is in the taking — not in the having.
Engdahl, O., “The role of money in economic crime,” British Journal of Criminology (Advanced Online 01.16.08)
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Power trips powered by dopamine
Monday, January 21st, 2008The rewarding effect of aggression is reduced by nucleus accumbens dopamine receptor antagonism in mice.Couppis MH, Kennedy CH.Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2008 Jan 8 [Epub ahead of print]
I sat next to someone the other day wearing a t-shirt that said:
Of course, I had to sit and do the full analysis of that one for a while. I [...]
Moderate fetal alcohol x genetics = trouble
Thursday, January 17th, 2008Kraemer et al., “Moderate Level Fetal Alcohol Exposure and Serotonin Transporter Gene Promoter Polymorphism Affect Neonatal Temperament and Limbic-Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis Regulation in Monkeys,” Biol Psychiatry63: 317-324 (2008).
This is another nature x nurture study. We know that in people, if you are mistreated in childhood, and you have a particular gene which causes your [...]
Genetics: 200 family members having dementia-mutation studied for 13 years
Wednesday, January 16th, 2008Brain. 2008 Jan;131(Pt 1):72-89. Epub 2007 Dec 7., “The tauopathy associated with mutation +3 in intron 10 of Tau: characterization of the MSTD family,” Spina S, Farlow MR, Unverzagt FW, Kareken DA, Murrell JR, Fraser G, Epperson F,Crowther RA, Spillantini MG, Goedert M, Ghetti B., Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Indiana University School [...]
From NYT City Room: Would-Be Jumper Sues Empire State Building
Tuesday, January 15th, 2008
From the NY Times:
N.Y./Region
City Room: Would-Be Jumper Sues Empire State Building
By Anemona Hartocollis
Published: January 15, 2008
The professional parachute jumper who tried to leap off the city’s tallest building in 2006 released a video that shows him struggling with security guards and police officers on the observation deck.
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White matter days: Dyslexia, OCD and Williams’ Syndrome may all involve white matter growth irregularities
Friday, January 11th, 2008
More on white matter month — What happens when one part of the brain is “unplugged”?
Dyslexia, Williams Syndrome, and OCD all involve cognitive processes that seem to go awry. It’s not as though something is necessarily lacking — but rather a particular trait is distorted.
It may be that white matter tracts — the [...]
White matter month: Rehab dating
Saturday, January 5th, 2008Chanraud S, Martelli C, Delain F, Kostogianni N, Douaud G, Aubin HJ, Reynaud M, Martinot JL., Brain morphometry and cognitive performance in detoxified alcohol-dependents with preserved psychosocial functioning, Neuropsychopharmacology. 2007 Feb;32(2):429-38. Epub 2006 Oct 18 PMID: 17047671
Continuing “White Matter Month” — should you date someone you met at Rehab? Or should they [...]
Do Psychopaths Dream?
Friday, January 4th, 2008Updated: 02.02.08
Did you every wake up and say, “Wow. That dream was so real.”
My guess is that psychopaths — at least some — don’t do that. If you want to see if someone has psychopathic tendencies, maybe a one question, binary, yes-or-no question is, “do you dream” ?
I’m researching white matter as part of [...]
January White Matter Days: Pedophiles have deficient white matter in areas relating to sexual cues
Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008In keeping tradition with the department store “white sales” in January, this month will be “January White Matter Days.”
“Woman Ironing,” Edward Degas, 1887, (courtesy National Gallery of Art)
I’m interested in white matter, which is sort of the neural wiring in the brain, connecting the areas of gray matter. I think that the trouble with [...]