Fetal Hypothalamus Controls Mother’s Contractions
Wednesday, June 25th, 2008The fetus tells the mother when it is ready to be born when its hypothalamus becomes activated — probably releasing oxytocin, which reacts with the mother’s oxytocin receptors - not in the mother’s brain, but in the womb lining cells. Interesting.
Stimulation of Fetal Hypothalamus Induces Uterine Contractions in Pregnant
Rats at Term
Hisashi Endoh1,2, Takashi Fujioka1, [...]
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 [...]
Psychopaths, platypus, mammalian infants - REM sleep but no dreams may indicate white matter disconnect.
Wednesday, June 4th, 2008Last January I wondered if psychopaths dream — and noted that the only mammal (or maybe one of the few mammals) that doesn’t dream is a platypus. This post follows up, with a discussion of the “Platypus Defense” as part of the murder trial of Hans Reiser. Plus platypus genome and microRNA and transposable elements [...]
Neuroimaging article in Wired
Wednesday, May 21st, 2008Brain Scans as Mind Readers? Dont Believe the Hype
This is just a link to a terrific article in Wired magazine by Dr. Daniel Carlat. Dr. Carlat goes through various types of brain scanning and meets with different neuroimaging experts. He concludes that his own neuroimaging, in its present state, is useless for [...]
People don’t remember you as well when you’re not happy, so put on a happy face (video and lyrics, too)
Friday, March 21st, 2008I lurve experiments where oxytocin is squirted up people’s noses. Oxytocin-up-the-nose affects your ability to recognize people you’ve seen before — and, according to two new reports, this effect is most pronounced if you see them displaying the same emotion that you first saw them displaying. Happy memories are the strongest. So, don’t be [...]
A Psychopath Unplugged
Wednesday, March 19th, 2008This post is about the neural correlates of those who seek power for power’s sake — without any emotional component — but first, a Dateline NBC example:
A 12 year old girl accused her stepfather of sexually abusing her. Because the stepfather felt he was wrongly accused, he built a bunker in the backwoods, and [...]
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 . . . [...]
The 30% of Medicare spent on last-year-of-life care: let’s not forget we’re humans.
Wednesday, March 12th, 2008This post is about health care costs — but let me digress into how end-of-life decision- making came onto my radar. A few years ago, as the Terri (Schindler) Schiavo tragedy played out during prime time, I went to see Bodyworlds, at a museum near the medical school downtown. While leaning over the light table, [...]
Dude, chill - we’re not at war any more. Pass the chips.
Friday, March 7th, 2008Quick post: Why are people who are stoned on pot pretty mellow? (To pull a phrase out of the ’70’s). Answer: The active ingredient in cannabis ( 9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)) reduces amygdala activity in response to social threats. Pot reduces anxiety — and maybe the negative attributional bias that goes along with it.
Can [...]
The Bob Dylan Committee Could Have Been A Delusion Caused By Improper Brain Connectivity
Saturday, March 1st, 2008Exhibit A: A committee of badly disguised Bob Dylan imposters?
As a child, with “Maggies’ Farm” on the record player, I asked an elder sibling why Bob Dylan looked so different on each of his (vinyl) album jackets. She calmly lied through her teeth, and explained that Bob Dylan was a committee, not a [...]
A Few of My Favorite Things - Select Posts from Research Blogging Members
Wednesday, February 27th, 2008
Raindrops on Roses by leobaby 727 on Flickr
Some selected posts from others in Research Blogging that I found of particular interest (thank you fellow bloggers):
Sphere: Related Content
(corrected) Neuro-movie review: Wordplay and brain hemispheres
Monday, February 25th, 2008In honor of the Oscars®, here is a neuro-movie review about a movie that came out in 2006 — Wordplay (here’s the link to the official site, and the link to the Rotten Tomatoes site). (Yes, it was out in 2006, so I’m a year late. ) This post will ultimately be about hemispheric [...]
Brain mitochondria: serotonin transports ‘em, and dopamine messes with ‘em.
Sunday, February 17th, 2008 Wired ran a news report about a Science paper showing how mitochondria are culprits in making heart cells dysfunction. I wondered about brain cells. After all, brain cells need energy too. What about brain cell mitochondria?
Now, the Wired report caught my eye because it was about heart cells, and I generally follow cardiac [...]
Why Dr. Kaczynski may believe there’s nothing wrong with him (anosognosia)
Monday, February 4th, 2008
Theodore Kaczynski
Even though he was holed up in a backwoods cabin containing piles of his feces, writing a manifesto against technological society, in moldy pants he had worn constantly for a year, Dr. Kaczynski was entirely unaware of his mental illness. In fact, he refused treatment of any sort over the better part of his [...]
“Neuromarketing Blog” - New Blogroll Link
Tuesday, January 29th, 2008
Neuromarketing Blog is a blog (affiliated with NeuroscienceMarketing.com) that I try to catch once or twice a week. Professional, polished and clear, its a quick way to scan the neuromarketing up-to-the-minute news.
I’m in the biopharma business, and sometimes deal with marketing or sales folks — so strictly speaking, marketing is not my line [...]
Neuromarketing: Neural Correlates of Conspicuous Consumption in Groups Vulnerable to Social Injustice
Sunday, January 27th, 2008There are lots of studies as to why people purchase luxury goods, but these are mostly directed at individuals in isolation. What about group behavior?
Manhattan, Harlem, Lenox Ave.
Ray Fisman, an economist, has an interesting article in Slate about why African-Americans (and other ethnic minorities) in the US spend disproportionately on status-seeking items. As quoted in [...]
Neuropeptide Y (”NPY”) - cure for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?
Friday, January 25th, 2008Here it is, a substance that prevents brain neuron remodeling in response to stress: Neuropeptide Y, “NPY”. A new report, sponsored in part by Eli Lilly, the manufacturer of Prozac, demonstrates that Neuropeptide Y prevents neurons in the amygdala from remodeling in response to stress, in rodents.
The nomenclature “Neuropeptide Y” always [...]
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 [...]
White matter days: Tantrums and white matter — tracking down clues
Sunday, January 13th, 2008
Tantruming is a behavior found across a variety of conditions — including neurological ones. Is there a basic biological reason that tantruming is a “default” dysfunction?
Adults who tantrum, my theory is, have something going on in their wiring. Low frustrational tolerance, road rage, intermittant explosive disorder — all have some biochemical aspect or a lack [...]