Talk therapy for opioid crisis

Recent study found people who received psychotherapy, such as simplified pain education and cognitive behavioral therapy, had a greater reduction in pain intensity than those who received usual care such as opioids and other pain medications. Opioids are commonly prescribed for chronic pain.

The new study, conducted by researchers from the University of Alabama, suggests talk therapy could provide a new approach to pain management. 'We need more than just medication and surgery for chronic pain because they do not eradicate the problem or increase physical function,' Dr Beverly Thorn, professor of clinical health psychology.

For the study, Dr Thorn and her colleagues collected data from 290 patients. They either received cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), simplified pain education (EDU) or usual care. CBT and EDU therapies were delivered in 10 weekly 90-minute group sessions, with all information and materials modified to be accessible to patients reading at or even below the fifth grade level.

Researchers found that CBT and EDU interventions significantly improved pain and physical function between pre- and post-treatment. Patients enrolled in the talk therapies decreased their pain ratings by 1.5 points, which met the threshold of being a 'clinically meaningful effect.'
These talk therapies were so effective in reducing pain because physical issues are also psychological. Pain involves emotions and thoughts, and all of these are processed by the brain.
          haleplushearty.blogspot.com

How brain regulates fat burning

Scientists have discovered a molecular switch in the brain that regulates fat burning and could provide a way to control weight gain following dieting. Monash University researchers have identified a molecular switch in the brain that potentially controls the human body's capacity to store fat, particularly after long periods of "famine" or weight loss-a process that underlies yo-yo dieting, where the body regain the weight lost caused by dieting.

Being able to control this switch may be a therapy for obesity and other metabolic disorders such as Type 2 diabetes. Associate Professor Zane Andrews and his colleagues at the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute have identified a protein in mice, called carnitine acetyltransferase (Crat), in hunger-processing brain cells that regulate fat storage after dieting.

During dieting, the body burn more fat to provide enough energy. But at the same time the brains fight to conserve energy and, as soon as food becomes available, the body switches from burning to storing fat and instead uses ingested calories from food.

The international research team discovered the Crat protein and developed a mouse that had this protein genetically switched off. These mice, when fasted or fed after a fast, consume their fat reserves at a greater than normal rate.

Repeated dieting, or yo-yo dieting, may lead to weight gain because the brain interprets these diets as short famines and urges the person to store more fat for future shortages. For the first time the Crat protein in hunger-processing brain cells has been identified as the switch that instructs the body to replace the lost weight through increased fat storage.

Manipulating this protein offers the opportunity to trick the brain and not replace the lost weight through increased appetite and storage of fat, regulating this protein can ensure that diet-induced weight loss stays off rather than sneaking back.
          haleplushearty.blogspot.com

How babies develop new skills

Researchers at Penn State are using new statistical analysis methods to compare how infants develop new skills with the unseen changes in electrical activity in the brain, or electroencephalography (EEG) power. They found that most babies appear to learn new skills in irregular bursts, while their EEG power grows steadily behind the scenes.

Child Development supports long-standing but untested beliefs about how infants develop. Behaviors that we can observe in children are non-linear, showing up in spurts. However, underlying forces that help support this observed behavior can be linear. Babies develop in bursts instead of little by little over time. Psychologists have been suggesting that while on the surface development looks like these quick bursts, underneath there may be very continuous, slowly developing mechanisms that one day look like they popped out of nowhere.

A total of 28 six-month-old infants were recruited and brought to the lab once a month until they turned one year old. During each visit, the baby participated in a cognitive test called the "a-not-b task," designed in the 1950s to measure an infant's understanding of object permanence: knowing something exists even if it's out of sight.

 In the task, a researcher put a cardboard box with two wells—A and B—across from the infant. The researcher then hid a toy in one well and covered it with cloth, hiding it from view. The infant was considered successful if they correctly retrieved the toy twice from well A and then once from well B after the researcher hid it.

They have to remember where the ball was moved, which is working memory. They have to know an object exists even though it's out of sight, and they need to track objects moving in space from one place to another. All of this also required them to pay attention. The researchers also measured the infants' EEG at each visit. A cap with six electrodes was placed on the baby's head, with each electrode measuring the electrical activity in different regions of the brain. Readings were taken for two minutes while the infants focused on a spinning wheel.

After analyzing the data, the researchers found that performance on the a-not-b task did indeed develop in bursts: with most of the infants, there wasn't a lot of development in the first or last months, but there was a big spike between seven and eleven months. At the same time, the researchers found that EEG power grew at a steady pace throughout the seven months.

Nonlinear growth curve was the best way to describe most of the babies,"Meanwhile, there was significant linear change at all electrode locations. There are association between EEG power in the occipital lobe and performance on the a-not-b task. Infants who had lower levels of occipital power at six months of age had faster increases in a-not-b performance over time.

Infant behavior varies so much from baby to baby, so it's helpful to understand what's going on beneath the surface. The multi-method approach is helpful, because it shows the infants ' behavior and also what's going on in the brain. It gives a better sense of where this variability comes from, and  what's happening in the brain when the infant isn't getting better at the task verses.
          haleplushearty.blogspot.com

High salt diet hobbles the brain

A new study has shown that mice fed with a very high-salt diet experienced declined blood flow to their brain, the integrity of blood vessels in the brain suffered, and performance on tests of cognitive function plummeted.

Researchers found that those effects were not as long has been widely believed, a natural consequence of high blood pressure. Instead, they appeared to be the result of signals sent from the gut to the brain by the immune system.

The study, conducted by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York. The research sheds light on a subject of keen interest to scientists exploring the links between what we eat and how well we think, and the mediating role that the immune system plays in that communication.

This suggests that even before a chronic high-salt diet nudges blood pressure up and compromises the health of tiny blood vessels in the brain, the oversalted gut is independently sending messages that lay the groundwork for corrosion throughout the vital network.

In the small intestines of mice, the authors of the new research found that a very high-salt diet prompted an immune response that boosted circulating levels of an inflammatory substance called interleukin-17. These high levels of IL-17 set off a cascade of chemical responses inside the delicate inner linings of the brain's blood vessels.

The result in mice fed with the high-salt diet: blood supply to two regions crucial for learning and memory-the cortex and hippocampus slowed markedly. And mental performance slid. Compared to mice fed a diet lower in salt, the maze-running skills of the mice who consumed high-salt levels faltered, and they failed to respond normally to whisker stimulation, or a new object in their cage.

In mice, that evidence of cognitive impairment was apparent even in the absence of high blood pressure. The immune system's role in sending signals between brain and gut is also seen in diseases like multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis and inflammatory bowel disease-all disorders that are linked to poor functioning of the brain's blood vessels.
          haleplushearty.blogspot.com

Dangers of using anaesthetics

A new understanding of the complex ways in which general anaesthetics act on the brain could eventually lead to improved drugs for surgery. It remains unclear how general anaesthesia works, even though it is one of the most common medical procedures worldwide.

University of Queensland researcher, Associate Professor Bruno van Swinderen, said his team had overturned previous understanding of what general anaesthetics do to the brain, finding the drugs did much more than induce sleep.

Researchers looked at the effects of propofol - one of the most common general anaesthetic drugs used during surgery - on synaptic release. Synaptic release is the mechanism by which neurons - or  nerve cells - communicate with each other.

From the previous research that general anaesthetics including propofol act on sleep systems in the brain like a sleeping pill. This study discovered that propofol also disrupts presynaptic mechanisms, probably affecting communication between neurons across the entire brain in a systematic way that differs from just being asleep.

 Propofol restricts the movement of a key protein (syntaxin1A) required at the synapses of all neurons. This restriction leads to decreased communication between neurons in the brain. The finding contributed to understanding how general anaesthetics worked, and could explain why people experienced grogginess and disorientation after coming out of surgery.

The discovery has implications for people whose brain connectivity is vulnerable, for example in children whose brains are still developing or for people with Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease.
        haleplushearty.blogspot.com

Eating at the same time regularly may fight dementia

 Regular meals improve gene expression in the region of the brain associated with body control, which often degenerates in Huntington's disease (HD); a form of dementia. Such eating habits also boost sleep quality and heart health, which are related to HD, in mice with the condition. Researchers believe the findings will also apply to humans and may improve the quality of life for patients with such incurable diseases.

Study author Professor Christopher Colwell, from The University of California, LA, said: 'HD is a genetically caused disease with no known cure.'  Lifestyle changes does not only improve the quality of life but also delay disease progression for HD patients are greatly needed. One group of mice were given food during a six-hour period when they were most active, which is at night as the animals are nocturnal.

The remainder ate whenever they liked. The quantity of food was the same between both groups. Professor Colwell said: 'In humans, the time of food availability would be during the day when food is normally consumed while the fast would be extended past the normal night. 'Feeding schedules play a role in the treatment of Huntington's disease'. Results reveal regular meal plans improve gene expression in the region of the brain associated with body control, known as the striatum, which often degenerates in HD.

Such eating habits also improve diseased mice's ability to run on a treadmill and balance on a beam, as well as assisting their heart rate, which is a sign of cardiovascular health. After three months of treatment, when mice reached the early disease stage, they showed improvements in their locomotor activity rhythm and sleep awakening time. The eating pattern  improved their heart rate variability, suggesting their nervous system dysfunction was improved.

Treated mice exhibited improved motor performance compared to untreated controls, this suggests feeding schedules could play a role in the treatment of HD and could lead to the development of new treatment options for neurodegenerative disorders. Regular meals boost gene expression in the brain region associated with body control. HD is a genetically caused disease with no known cure.

Lifestyle changes can improve the quality of life and delay disease progression for HD patients. Lifestyle interventions have been suggested to be preventative and therapeutic for diseases associated with ageing, such as type-2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and neurodegenerative disorders.
Caloric restriction can prolong life span and protect against a variety of pathological conditions.
           haleplushearty.blogspot.com

Selenium protects interneurons in the brain

A team led by Dr. Marcus Conrad, research group leader at the Institute of Developmental Genetics (IDG) at Helmholtz Zentrum München, showed for the first time why selenium is a limiting factor for mammals. The scientists have been investigating for years the processes of a novel type of cell death, known as ferroptosis. The enzyme GPX4, which normally contains selenium in the form of the amino acid selenocysteine, plays an important role.

In order to better understand the role of GPX4 in this death process, they established and studied mouse models in which the enzyme was modified.In one of these models, they observed that mice with a replacement of selenium to sulfur in GPX4 did not survive for longer than three weeks due to neurological complications.

In their search for the underlying reasons, the researchers identified a distinct subpopulation of specialized neurons in the brain, which were absent when selenium-containing GPX4 was lacking.
Furthermore, the scientists were able to show that ferroptosis is triggered by oxidative stress, which is known to occur for instance during high metabolic activity of cells and high neuronal activity.

 Selenium-containing GPX4 protects these specialized neurons from oxidative stress and from ferroptotic cell death. Selenoenzymes are essential in some organisms, including mammals, whereas they are dispensable in other organisms, such as fungi and higher plants.
          haleplushearty.blogspot.com

Links between personality trait and depression

Scientists analysed the DNA of over 300,000 people and found many genes linked to neuroticism- characterised by feelings of anxiety, worry and guilt. The genes are also linked to depression. The findings shed light on the causes of depression-which affects one in five people and could provide information to help better diagnosis and treatment for individuals.

Researchers analysed genetic information from a group of people aged from 39 to 73, whose levels of neuroticism had been measured by a personality questionnaire. DNA analysis combined with the personality data uncovered 116 gene variations linked to neuroticism.

Researchers from the University found that genes associated with neuroticism had some overlap with genes linked to a susceptibility to depression and some other psychiatric conditions. More than half of the genetic variations associated with neuroticism are expressed in the brain.
         haleplushearty.blogspot.com

Smartphone addiction creates imbalance in brain

Researchers have found an imbalance in the brain chemistry of young people addicted to smartphones and the internet. More people are becoming increasingly dependent on smartphones and other portable electronic devices for news, information, games, and phone call.

Along with a growing concern that young people, in particular, may be spending too much time staring into their phones instead of interacting with others, come questions as to the immediate effects on the brain and the possible long-term consequences of such habits.

Researchers used magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) to gain unique insight into the brains of smartphone - and internet-addicted teenagers. MRS is a type of MRI that measures the brain's chemical composition. The study involved young people diagnosed with internet or smartphone addiction and gender- and age-matched healthy controls.

Twelve of the addicted youth received nine weeks of cognitive behavioral therapy, modified from a cognitive therapy program for gaming addiction, as part of the study. Researchers used standardized internet and smartphone addiction tests to measure the severity of internet addiction.

Questions focused on the extent to which internet and smartphone use affects daily routines, social life, productivity, sleeping patterns and feelings. The higher the score, the more severe the addiction. Smartphone addiction creates an imbalance in brain. Addicted teenagers had significantly higher scores in depression, anxiety, insomnia severity and impulsivity.

The researchers performed MRS exams on the addicted youth prior to and following behavioral therapy and a single MRS study on the control patients to measure levels of gamma aminobutyric acid, or GABA, a neurotransmitter in the brain that inhibits or slows down brain signals, and glutamate-glutamine (Glx), a neurotransmitter that causes neurons to become more electrically excited.

Previous studies have found GABA to be involved in vision and motor control and the regulation of various brain functions, including anxiety. The results of the MRS revealed that, compared to the healthy controls, the ratio of GABA to Glx was significantly increased in the anterior cingulate cortex of smartphone- and internet-addicted youth prior to therapy.

The ratios of GABA to creatine and GABA to glutamate were significantly correlated to clinical scales of internet and smartphone addictions, depression and anxiety. Having too much GABA can result in a number of side effects, including drowsiness and anxiety.
           haleplushearty.blogspot.com

Menopause linked to changes in brain energy use

Researchers have found that women's brains use less energy during the menopause. The reduction in energy use by the brain was found to be similar to what is seen in people with Alzheimer's disease.

Alzheimer's is characterised by changes in the brain beyond those associated with normal ageing and current research shows that women are more likely to develop Alzheimer's than men.
Menopause can have widespread effects on women, including changes in behaviour, mood and sleep patterns.

Researchers studied changes in energy use in the brains of women before and during menopause. They examined healthy women between the ages of 40 to 60 and used an imaging technique known as PET scanning to assess levels of glucose, one of the major energy sources for the brain.

The team saw reductions in the use of energy in women during menopause. Menopausal women also scored lower on memory tests compared to those who had not gone through menopause, even after accounting for their slightly older age.

The researchers made the observation that those areas of the brain where energy use had dropped in menopause were similar to those seen in people with Alzheimer's disease. Menopause has impacts on a woman's life, it can lead to changes in the brain.

          haleplushearty.blogspot.com

Brain operates like global positioning system

Brain performs a complex calculation that works like the Global Positioning System, the brain is organized to help us move to different direction in life. The parietal cortex is the part of the brain that takes decisions and implements it. It integrates information coming in from various senses and helps us to understand what action to take.

Single cells in parietal cortex take in streams of sensory information to help us get oriented, but those individual cells also cluster together in larger modules that work together. Those modules in the parietal cortex generate a physical response and, at the same time, are able to reconfigure themselves as we learn and make memories.

These different modules are communicating to each other and seem to be changing their connections just like single cells change their connections. Large groups of cells are connected in different ways as we learn and remember how to take series of actions every day.

Brain always links previous actions with certain places, that is why it is easy to locate a place you have visited before, breaking down of this process leads to Alzheimer's disease and neurological disorders.
          haleplushearty.blogspot.com

Links between gut bacteria and autism

According to the latest research, gut bacteria could cause spectrum disorder. Pathogens in the stomach alter the brain's development and may increase risk of suffering from the spectrum disorder.

Links between the brain, gut and stress hormone cortisol can influence how messages are passed in the body, which may cause autistic symptoms.

Changes in neurometabolites in childhood can have dangerous effects on brain development. Collection of bacteria, fungi, and viruses living in humans gut may be responsible for the disorder.

Autism may be corrected by changing of diet, taking probiotics and adopting a gluten-free lifestyle which may improve social behaviour and ability to express emotions in autistic people.

Leaky gut releases toxins and even undigested food enter the bloodstream and travel to the brain, which may cause autism symptoms. Probiotics can change this by enhancing the gut's lining.
          haleplushearty.blogspot.com

Sugar is as addictive as cocaine

Sugar can cause cravings, binges and withdrawal symptoms similar to a drug addiction. Sugar could be just as addictive as cocaine, cocaine and sugar have similar effect on the brain.

Cutting sugar out may lead to depression and behavioural disorders such as ADHD, refined sugar and opioid drugs trigger a similar response from the brain's reward system, both releasing dopamine and other pleasure-inducing chemicals.

Getting used to this feeling leads to craving for more to get the same response, leading to addiction.
Consuming sugar produces effects similar to that of cocaine, altering mood by inducing reward and pleasure

Experiments on rats showed that sugar was more addictive than opioid drugs.
Withdrawal symptoms can include behavioural problems or depression. Lack of dopamine in the brain during periods between sugar consumption has lead to ADHD-like symptoms.

During off sugar period, a mild state of depression may ensue due to dopamine deficiency, which can be temporarily relieved by consuming more sugar.
          haleplushearty.blogspot.com

Activating brain region creates desire for cocaine

Researchers have identified a part of the brain that intensifies desire for rewards like addiction to cocaine. Activating part of the amygdala, an almond-shaped brain region, intensifies motivation to consume cocaine far beyond ordinary drug levels, similar to its ability to intensify motivation for sweet foods like sugar.

Amygdala plays a key role in drug addiction. For addicts, drugs become so attractive as to cause intense motivation focused entirely on obtaining drugs at the expense of other normal life enjoyment. Researchers implanted rats with a catheter that allowed them to earn doses of cocaine, activating brain region creates intense desire to use cocaine.

Researchers implanted rats with a catheter that allowed them to earn doses of cocaine by poking their noses into small holes in the wall. Whenever rats would poke their nose into one particular hole to earn intravenous cocaine, a laser light would also activate the neurons in the central amygdala at the same time

Poking their nose into a different hole earned identical cocaine, but never activated the amygdala. Rats focused only on the port that earned cocaine together with amygdala-activating laser, consumed much more cocaine than rats without amygdala activation, and avidly nibbled around the laser-cocaine hole for more.

The amygdala activation intensified motivation when cocaine was also present. By contrast, when the researchers temporarily inactivated the amygdala using a painless drug infusion, rats completely stopped responding for cocaine.
          haleplushearty.blogspot.com

Powerful potential pain reliever drug

Pain signals travel from the injured area to spinal cord and to the brain, chronic pain is different from typical pain. Chronic pain is an experience of continuous pain even after an injury heals and it may last for weeks. The pain may be sharp or dull, causing a burning or aching sensation in the affected areas. It may be steady or intermittent.

Chronic pain occurred when nerves in the central nervous system are damaged, it can occur in any part of the body. Some of the most common types of chronic pain are: headache, post-trauma pain, lower back pain, arthritis pain, neurogenic pain and psychogenic pain.

The synthetic compound, called UKH-1114, is effective at relieving neuropathic pain in injured mice as a drug widely used for pain relief called gabapentin, but it works at a much lower dose, with longer duration of action.

UKH1114 binds to a receptor on cells throughout the central nervous system called the sigma 2 receptor. Researchers tested UKH-1114 on mice with nerve damage and found that it alleviated pain at a much lower dose and was effective much longer.
          haleplushearty.blogspot.com

Food preservatives interfere with hormone and cause obesity

Food preservatives are added to foods to preserve them for long-term use.
Scientists tested the effects of endocrine disruptors on humans. The three chemicals tested are: Butylhydroxytoluene BHT, Perfluorooctanoic acid PFOA and tributyltin TBT.

Butylhydroxytoluene BHT, is an antioxidant commonly added to breakfast cereals and other foods to protect nutrients and keep fats from turning rancid.

Perfluorooctanoic acid PFOAis a polymer found in some cookware, carpeting and other products.

Tributyltin TBT is a compound in paints that can make its way into water and accumulate in seafood.

Scientists used hormone-producing tissues grown from human stem cells to demonstrate how exposure to these chemicals can interfere with the digestive system and the brain.

 These chemicals enable people to continue eating, causing them to gain weight. Each of these chemicals damaged hormones that communicate between the gut and the brain.

 BHT produced some of the strongest detrimental effects, these compounds can disrupt hormones that are critical to gut-to-brain signaling and preventing obesity.

Scientists obtained blood samples from adults, and then, by introducing reprogramming genes, converted the cells into induced pluripotent stem cells.

 Then, using these stem cells, they grew human epithelium tissue, which lines the gut, and neuronal tissues of the brain's hypothalamus region, which regulates appetite and metabolism.

Scientists exposed the tissues to BHT, PFOA and TBT, one by one and also in combination, and discovered that the chemicals disrupted networks that prepare signaling hormones to maintain their structure and be transported out of the cells, thus making them ineffective.

The chemicals also damaged the cellular structures that convert food and oxygen into energy and drive the body's metabolism. Because the chemical damage occurred in young cells, a defective hormone system could impact a pregnant mother and her fetus.
          haleplushearty.blogspot.com

Salty foods can damage the heart

Excess salt intake increases strain on the heart's muscle and increases its beating rate. This can leads to heart damage.

 Researchers examined urine samples from different adults to detect the links between excess salt intake and heart damage.

The ultrasound tests of the heart of adults tested after taking their urine samples showed that excess salt increases muscle strain and heart rate, and this increases heart chambers.

Excess salt intake causes bodies to retain water, which leads to a rise in blood pressure. High blood pressure puts a strain on the heart, arteries, and brain, which can lead to heart attacks and strokes.

Eating too much salt can increase calcium in the urine, this increases the risk of having kidney stones and this can leads to kidney damage.
          haleplushearty.blogspot.com

Brain cells control aging

Scientists have discovered that stem cells in the brain's hypothalamus control how fast aging occurs in the body. This discovery could lead to new method of preventing diseases and increasing lifespan.

The hypothalamus regulates growth, development, reproduction, metabolism and aging. The number of hypothalamic neural stem cells naturally declines and this accelerates aging.
Replenishing stem cells can slow down the process of aging but the loss are not irreversible.

Researchers disrupted the hypothalamic stem cells in middle-aged mice and discovered that disruption accelerated aging. They injected hypothalamic stem cells into the brains of middle-aged mice whose stem cells had been destroyed as well as into the brains of normal old mice.

The treatment showed different measures of aging in both groups. Hypothalamic stem cells exert their anti-aging effects by releasing microRNAs (miRNAs).

The researchers extracted miRNA-containing exosomes from hypothalamic stem cells and injected them into the cerebrospinal fluid of middle-aged mice whose hypothalamic stem cells had been destroyed and normal middle-aged mice.

This treatment slowed aging in both groups of animals as measured by tissue analysis and behavioral testing that involved assessing changes in the animals' muscle endurance, coordination, social behavior and cognitive ability.
          haleplushearty.blogspot.com

Dangers of high fat diet in pregnancy

High-fat diet during pregnancy affects the development of the brain and endocrine system of fetus. Unhealthy diet during pregnancy can increase the risk of mental health disorders like anxiety and depression in children.

 Fetuses exposed to a high-fat diet will have greater cases of anxiety, high fat exposure impaired the development of neurons containing serotonin, a neurotransmitter that's critical in developing brains.

High fat diet in pregnancy contributes to neuropsychiatric disorders like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ADHD spectrum disorders, bipolar
disorder, depression, eating disorders, schizophrenia, anxiety and depression in children.
           haleplushearty.blogspot.com

Dementia risk factors

Dementia is caused when the brain is damaged by diseases like Alzheimer’s disease or a series of strokes. Healthy lifestyle can reduce the risk of developing dementia.

Older people suffering from Alzheimer's disease are prone to dementia disease because of irregular blood supply to the brain.

Drinking of alcohol regularly increases the risk of dementia. Alcohol can damage the brain directly as a neurotoxin and by reducing nutrients that get to the brain.

The accumulation of fats and cholesterol in the lining of arteries can prevents blood flow to the brain.

Poor management of diabetes can leads to too much sugar in the blood which can damage brain and different organs in the body.

Genetics- Having more than one family member that have the disease increases the risk of developing it.

High blood pressure affects the white matter regions of the brain, and this can leads to dementia.

Depression has been associated with mild mental impairment and cognitive function decline.

Smoking exposes brain to toxins and hinders blood flow, smokers are prone to diseases that reduce blood flow to the brain.
          haleplushearty.blogspot.com