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Category Archives: Mind Building
Perception of touch in the brain
An encouraging pat on the back or a soft sweater on the skin — even things that we do not actively explore with the hands, we perceive with our body perception. “Which brain areas are responsible for this perception of touch, however, is still largely unknown,” says Privatdozent Dr. Burkhard Pleger, neurologist at the Berufsgenossenschaftlichen Kliniken Bergmannsheil in Bochum and co-author of the study. To investigate this question, he and his colleagues from Leipzig examined the brains of 70 patients using structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
As the result of an injury or a stroke, the participants suffered from a disturbed body perception, such as hypoesthesia — a condition in which the pressure and touch perception of the skin is impaired. People who have suffered such damages — called lesions — in the brain are a particularly important group of patients for neuroscientists. By comparing the location of the damage in the brain and the symptoms of the patients with each other, the researchers can draw conclusions about the function of individual brain areas.
In the current study, the scientists identified different areas that were linked to a limited sense of touch. In doing so, they were able to support some findings from a previous lesion study on body awareness and also to find new areas of the brain that had not been associated with the perception of touch before.
The researchers were able to show that not only the somatosensory cortex is involved in the perception of touch, but also parts of the prefrontal cortex and posterior parietal lobe — brain regions that are known to be essential for attention-focusing and body awareness.
“The study shows that the brain network responsible for the perception of skin contact is much more complex than previously thought,” says Pleger.
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Materials provided by Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Bizarre worlds orbiting a black hole?
Theoreticians in two different fields defied the common knowledge that planets orbit stars like the Sun. They proposed the possibility of thousands of planets around a supermassive black hole.
“With the right conditions, planets could be formed even in harsh environments, such as around a black hole,” says Keiichi Wada, a professor at Kagoshima University researching active galactic nuclei which are luminous objects energized by black holes.
According to the latest theories, planets are formed from fluffy dust aggregates in a protoplanetary disk around a young star. But young stars are not the only objects that possess dust disks. In a novel approach, the researchers focused on heavy disks around supermassive black holes in the nuclei of galaxies.
“Our calculations show that tens of thousands of planets with 10 times the mass of the Earth could be formed around 10 light-years from a black hole,” says Eiichiro Kokubo, a professor at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan who studies planet formation. “Around black holes there might exist planetary systems of astonishing scale.”
Some supermassive black holes have large amounts of matter around them in the form of a heavy, dense disk. A disk can contain as much as a hundred thousand times the mass of the Sun worth of dust. This is a billion times the dust mass of a protoplanetary disk.
In a low temperature region of a protoplanetary disk, dust grains with ice mantles stick together and evolve into fluffy aggregates. A dust disk around a black hole is so dense that the intense radiation from the central region is blocked and low temperature regions are formed. The researchers applied the planet formation theory to circumnuclear disks and found that planets could be formed in several hundred million years.
Currently there are no techniques to detect these planets around black holes. However, the researchers expect this study to open a new field of astronomy.
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Materials provided by National Institutes of Natural Sciences. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Cannabis reduces headache and migraine pain by nearly half
Inhaled cannabis reduces self-reported headache severity by 47.3% and migraine severity by 49.6%, according to a recent study led by Carrie Cuttler, a Washington State University assistant professor of psychology.
The study, published online recently in the Journal of Pain, is the first to use big data from headache and migraine patients using cannabis in real time. Previous studies have asked patients to recall the effect of cannabis use in the past. There has been one clinical trial indicating that cannabis was better than ibuprofen in alleviating headache, but it used nabilone, a synthetic cannabinoid drug.
“We were motivated to do this study because a substantial number of people say they use cannabis for headache and migraine, but surprisingly few studies had addressed the topic,” said Cuttler, the lead author on the paper.
In the WSU study, researchers analyzed archival data from the Strainprint app, which allows patients to track symptoms before and after using medical cannabis purchased from Canadian producers and distributors. The information was submitted by more than 1,300 patients who used the app over 12,200 times to track changes in headache from before to after cannabis use, and another 653 who used the app more than 7,400 times to track changes in migraine severity.
“We wanted to approach this in an ecologically valid way, which is to look at actual patients using whole plant cannabis to medicate in their own homes and environments,” Cuttler said. “These are also very big data, so we can more appropriately and accurately generalize to the greater population of patients using cannabis to manage these conditions.”
Cuttler and her colleagues saw no evidence that cannabis caused “overuse headache,” a pitfall of more conventional treatments which can make patients’ headaches worse over time. However, they did see patients using larger doses of cannabis over time, indicting they may be developing tolerance to the drug.
The study found a small gender difference with significantly more sessions involving headache reduction reported by men (90.0%) than by women (89.1%). The researchers also noted that cannabis concentrates, such as cannabis oil, produced a larger reduction in headache severity ratings than cannabis flower.
There was, however, no significant difference in pain reduction among cannabis strains that were higher or lower in levels of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD), two of the most commonly studied chemical constituents in cannabis, also known as cannabinoids. Since cannabis is made up of over 100 cannabinoids, this finding suggests that different cannabinoids or other constituents like terpenes may play the central role in headache and migraine relief.
More research is needed, and Cuttler acknowledges the limitations of the Strainprint study since it relies on a self-selected group of people who may already anticipate that cannabis will work to alleviate their symptoms, and it was not possible to employ a placebo control group.
“I suspect there are some slight overestimates of effectiveness,” said Cuttler. “My hope is that this research will motivate researchers to take on the difficult work of conducting placebo-controlled trials. In the meantime, this at least gives medical cannabis patients and their doctors a little more information about what they might expect from using cannabis to manage these conditions.”
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Materials provided by Washington State University. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Health24.com | Man dies after being licked by his dog
An unidentified 63-year-old man died after catching a rare infection from being licked by his dog.
The bacteria called Capnocytophaga canimorsus can be found in animal saliva and is usually transmitted through a bite. In this case, however, a lick was enough to cause a deadly infection.
According to the case study published in the European Journal of Case Reports in Internal Medicine, bite infections caused by these bacteria are usually only reported in patients with a compromised immune system.
The 63-year-old man was, however, healthy, with no pre-existing medical conditions. He presented with flu-like symptoms and struggled to breathe. After a period of two-weeks, his condition worsened. An infection similar to sepsis caused pneumonia and an extremely high fever of 41°C.
Doctors diagnosed him with severe sepsis and he was moved to intensive care. A condition known as purpura fulminans also caused him to develop a bruise-like rash all over his face and legs – as a result of his vascular system shutting down.
Despite valiant efforts from his medical team, the infection spread to his vital organs, causing his kidneys and liver to shut down. He eventually suffered cardiac arrest and was put on life support.
His condition kept on deteriorating, with fungus developing on his lungs, blisters all over his body, as well as fluid-build up on his brain, which resulted in permanent damage. His family agreed to have his life support switched off, as there was nothing more they could do for him.
How does a rare infection cause death in a healthy man?
Medical experts were perplexed by this case. Doctors stated that only people with severely constrained immune systems are likely to develop an infection from C. canimorsus, and if so, an infection would far more likely result from a bite than a lick.
According to a Netherlands study, these bacteria are so rare that they only affect one in every 1.5 million people and only cause death in 31% of cases.
There was no open wound or predisposition that could lead to an infection in the first place, doctors reported.
While such bizarre events are extremely rare, doctors urge pet owners to always take care. Dr Naomi Mader, who led the team, stated: “Pet owners with flu-like symptoms should urgently seek medical advice when their symptoms exceed those of a simple viral infection. Physicians confronted with such patients should ask about contact with dogs and cats.”
There’s no need for immediate panic when Fluffy gives you his signature slobbery kisses, but always consult a doctor when presenting with symptoms other than those of ordinary viral flu.
Image credit: iStock
Health24.com | Does having heart disease alter the bacteria in your spit?
Bacteria in the saliva of people with clogged arteries appears to be different from that of healthy people, according to a small study. The finding could open the door for new strategies to fight heart disease.
The preliminary research, presented this week at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions, comes in the wake of past research showing oral bacteria is associated with atherosclerosis, fatty deposits that clog arteries and increase the risk for heart attacks and strokes.
Importance of oral flora
Other studies have shown bacteria in the intestines influences heart health. Researchers of the new study wanted to see if bacteria in the mouth also might play a role in cardiovascular health.
They took saliva samples from 39 older Japanese people with atherosclerosis and compared the results to a group without the condition. Researchers found bacteria present in the saliva of those with the disease differed significantly.
“The study demonstrates the importance of oral flora as well as intestinal flora,” said the study’s lead investigator, Dr Masaaki Hoshiga, a professor of cardiology at Osaka Medical College in Japan. “It indicates the potential of salivary microbiota as a biomarker of atherosclerotic disease … and it sends a message to doctors regarding the importance of oral care.”
Hoshiga said the study was limited by its small size, and it is unclear why salivary bacteria would differ in people with atherosclerosis. He called for future research that can clarify exactly how bacteria in the mouth impacts heart disease.
Cardiovascular researcher and molecular geneticist Hooman Allayee said this type of study has not been widely done before.
Larger sample sizes needed
“It opens up a new area of research that could lead to something important,” said Allayee, a professor of preventive medicine, and biochemistry and molecular medicine at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine. He was not involved in the study.
Even so, Allayee said, quantifying each type of bacteria, even with modern genetic techniques, is still “really difficult” – in part because people eat such different diets, which can affect bacteria.
“You really do need large sample sizes in order to rise above the noise,” he said.
Still, he said, the study furthers the possibility that salivary bacteria might travel to the intestines and influence cardiovascular disease.
If these latest results are replicated elsewhere, it could lead to medications or lifestyle changes to reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases, similar to how people with high cholesterol take medicine to lower their risk, Allayee said.
‘Awesome’ treatment
“Is there a way to kill off the bacteria that promotes heart disease? It’s a novel concept.”
The best-case future scenario, he said, would be to get rid of problematic salivary bacteria without a pill.
“If all of this is validated, imagine a treatment that wouldn’t even have to go in your body, like a mouth rinse that kills off certain bacteria, and then you just spit out,” he said. “That’s a pie-in-the-sky ultimate treatment, but wouldn’t it be awesome?”
Image credit: iStock
Lassa fever ‘at risk’ Britons sent home from Sierra Leone
UK officials says it is a precautionary measure to contain the virus, which is circulating in Sierra Leone.
Health24.com | 5 ways to increase your productivity
25 November 2019
5 ways to increase your productivity
Every now and then, we struggle with productivity, but there are ways to help get you back on track.
Stringr
Do you feel like there’s a steady decline in your drive and desire to get things done – whether it’s in the workplace or at home?
Image credit: iStock
Living near busy road can stunt children’s lung growth, study says
A King’s College London study finds children’s lung development can be reduced by up to 14%.
Cancer survivors ‘have higher heart risk’
More than 10% of patients in an extensive study died from cardiovascular disease – not their cancer.
