Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: neuroscience

Mutations in the RAB39B gene cause X-linked intellectual disability (XLID), comorbid with autism spectrum disorders or early Parkinson’s disease. One of the functions of the neuronal small GTPase RAB39B is to drive GluA2/GluA3 α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid receptor (AMPAR) maturation and trafficking, determining AMPAR subunit composition at glutamatergic postsynaptic neuronal terminals. Taking advantage of the Rab39b knockout murine model, we show that a lack of RAB39B affects neuronal dendritic spine refinement, prompting a more Ca2+-permeable and excitable synaptic network, which correlates with an immature spine arrangement and behavioural and cognitive alterations in adult mice. The persistence of immature circuits is triggered by increased hypermobility of the spine, which is restored by the Ca2+-permeable AMPAR antagonist NASPM.

Read more | >

It’s been nearly two decades since medical science has produced a new treatment for Alzheimer’s. Is that drought about to end?

June 7 will be a big day in the life of Jeff Borghoff — not to mention the more than 6 million other Americans living with Alzheimer’s disease.

On that date, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to announce whether it will give its blessing to the first new drug for the treatment of Alzheimer’s since 2003.

Borghoff fervently hopes the answer is yes. The 57-year-old resident of Forked River has been taking the drug for several years now, and he’s convinced it has helped significantly slow the progression of his dementia.

Read more | >

The scale-free complexity associated with the biological system in general, and the neuron in particular, means that within each cell there is a veritable macromolecular brain, at least in terms of structural complexity, and perhaps to a certain degree functional complexity as well—a fractal hierarchy. This means that the extremely simplistic view of the synapse as a single digital bit is misrepresenting the reality of the situation—such as, if we were to utilize the parlance of the neurocomputational model, each ‘computational unit’ contains a veritable macromolecular brain within it. There is no computer or human technology yet equivalent to this.\.

A study published in the journal Science has upended 80 years of conventional wisdom in computational neuroscience that has modeled the neuron as a simple point-like node in a system, integrating signals and passing them along.

Read more | >

A new study by researchers from University of Oklahoma has found that the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus could be causing a secondary medical condition known as Serum Amyloid A (SAA) Amyloidosis.

The proteins Serum amyloid A (SAA) are a family of apolipoproteins associated with high-density lipoprotein (HDL) in plasma. Different isoforms of SAA are expressed constitutively (constitutive SAAs) at different levels or in response to inflammatory stimuli (acute phase SAAs). These proteins are produced predominantly by the liver.

Read more | >

“This study seeks to explore the potential role of the psychoactive brew ayahuasca in settings of intergroup contact to shift the awareness and attitudes related to the relations between groups embedded in ethnopolitical conflicts, including long-term disputes between Jewish Israelis and Palestinians. By doing so, the present study also seeks to 1) understand how psychedelics can affect relational and group-participatory processes and 2) expand knowledge on dynamics between these two groups by focusing on their interactions in a psychedelic group setting.”

Psychedelics are used in many group contexts. However, most phenomenological research on psychedelics is focused on personal experiences. This paper presents a phenomenological investigation centered on intersubjective and intercultural relational processes, exploring how an intercultural context affects both the group and individual process. Through 31 in-depth interviews, ceremonies in which Palestinians and Israelis drink ayahuasca together have been investigated. The overarching question guiding this inquiry was how psychedelics might contribute to processes of peacebuilding, and in particular how an intercultural context, embedded in a protracted conflict, would affect the group’s psychedelic process in a relational sense. Analysis of the interviews was based on grounded theory. Three relational themes about multilocal participatory events which occurred during ayahuasca rituals have emerged from the interviews: 1) Unity-Based Connection – collective events in which a feeling of unity and ‘oneness’ is experienced, whereby participants related to each other based upon a sense of shared humanity, and other social identities seemed to dissolve (such as national and religious identities). 2) Recognition and Difference-Based Connection – events where a strong connection was made to the other culture. These events occurred through the expression of the other culture or religion through music or prayers, which resulted in feelings of awe and reverence 3) Conflict-related revelations – events where participants revisited personal or historical traumatic elements related to the conflict, usually through visions. These events were triggered by the presence of ‘the Other,’ and there was a political undertone in those personal visions. This inquiry has revealed that psychedelic ceremonies have the potential to contribute to peacebuilding. This can happen not just by ‘dissolution of identities,’ but also by providing a space in which shared spiritual experiences can emerge from intercultural and interfaith exchanges. Furthermore, in many cases, personal revelations were related to the larger political reality and the history of the conflict. Such processes can elucidate the relationship between personal psychological mental states and the larger sociopolitical context.

“Those who experience do not participate in the world. For the experience is “in them” and not between them and the world.”

-Martin Buber, I and Thou (1923, p 55)

Read more | >

Last July, when her immediate family tested positive for Covid-19, Breanna Aguilar did not fit into any groups considered at higher risk for severe disease.

She is 31 years old, a pet sitter and former fitness teacher who once ran a half marathon. She was, by most measures, healthy.

When Aguilar got Covid-19 she lost her sense of taste, had mild fevers and muscle weakness. She could barely keep anything down yet gained about 30 pounds. Later, she developed pelvic pain, cystic acne, breast tenderness, headaches, brain fog and extreme fatigue.

Read more | >

The continuing miniaturization of electronics is opening up some exciting possibilities when it comes to what we might place in our bodies to monitor and improve our health. Engineers at Columbia University have demonstrated an extreme version of this technology, developing the smallest single-chip system ever created, which could be implanted with a hypodermic needle to measure temperature inside the body, and possibly much more.

From ladybug-sized implants that track oxygen levels in deep body tissues to tiny “neural dust” sensors that monitor nerve signals in real time, scientists are making big steps when it comes to the functionality of tiny electronic devices. The implant developed by the Columbia Engineers breaks new ground as the world’s smallest single-chip system, which is a completely functional electronic circuit with a total volume of less than 0.1 mm3.

That makes it as small as a dust mite, and only visible under a microscope. The tiny chip required some outside-the-box thinking to make, particularly when it comes to the way it communicates and is powered.

Read more | >

In our ongoing search to continuously improve our health, we occasionally pay lip service to the bacteria that live inside our gut. Normally this concern rarely manifests as anything more than occasionally remembering to buy some of those small bottles of pro-biotic yoghurts while shopping for your…

Recent discoveries have led to the conclusion that the gut plays an important role in cognitive function, with a large amount of research into understanding what is known as the gut-brain axis, which is the collective name given to the biochemical signalling pathways which take place between the gastrointestinal tract and the central nervous system. With an ever-increasing understanding of this pathway, along with an expanded understand of the gut flora (which was found to decline with age), researchers started to ask how the gut flora are involved in the ageing process.

In order to test how exactly ageing gut flora effects the gut-brain axis, researchers at the University of East Anglia conducted a faecal transplant from elderly mice into younger mice. Following this transplant, the young mice were then put through a serious of tests to assess their cognitive abilities. The younger mice showed significant changes in their microbial profiles, as well as significantly impaired capacity for spatial learning, as well as a decreased capacity for memorisation. These mice also showed an altered expression of proteins associated with neurotransmission and neuroplasticity, along with changes in the mice’s hippocampus, which is responsible for allowing the mice to memories new information, as well as recalling previous memories.

This research has successfully proven a link between the changing microbiome of the gut and protein expression within the central nervous system. This discovery is exceptionally good news, as not only is the problem potentially fairly easy to fix (with an aforementioned faecal transplant), but it also provides clues as to how we might compensate for this age related change in the gut microbiome with medication tailors to mimic the role of a young microbiome. Either way, the discovery has opened the door to a number of exciting prospects for regenerative medicine, along with maybe highlighting the fact that we should really start considering our gut bacteria as more than just a collection of microorganisms, and more of a collection of symbiotic organisms that benefit us in ways that we are only just beginning to understand.

Read more | >