While getting ready for bed tonight, I mused about how my younger brother had such an idealized postmortem view of our father. As he expressed six years ago in an obituary for our high school Literature teacher: “I’ll remember my favorite teacher and how much he’s meant to my life. My father and Martin Obrentz … Continue reading We believe what we need to believe
Yesterday’s team meeting at work provided one display after another of a person’s need to feel important. These eye-openers were the reason the scheduled 30-minute meeting lasted 45 minutes. Although half of the forty or so attendees are under the age of 40, curiously, only two of them spoke during the meeting. I wasn’t among … Continue reading Your need to feel important will run your life, and you’ll never feel satisfied
A coauthor of the studies referenced in: Advance science by including emotion in research; and Empathy, value, pain, control: Psychological functions of the human striatum offered an opinion piece in A Paper a Day Keeps the Scientist Okay entitled “Do We Need To Study The Brain To Understand The Mind?” “The emerging consensus appears to … Continue reading Do we need to study the brain to understand the mind?
A magazine article New Clues to How the Brain Maps Time reviewed the findings of a 2015 Boston rodent study During Running in Place, Grid Cells Integrate Elapsed Time and Distance Run. The article’s information was mixed such that when the reader arrived at this phrase: “Moreover, time cells rely on context; they only mark … Continue reading Publicly-funded researchers need to provide unqualified free access to their studies
This 2014 wild chimpanzee study demonstrated how necessary it was to have a mother’s “nourishment, transportation, warmth, protection, and socialization,” in other words, a mother’s love, during infancy and early childhood. http://www.pnas.org/content/111/51/18189.full “Early social exposure in wild chimpanzees: Mothers with sons are more gregarious than mothers with daughters”
I was recently asked about taking rapamycin for its effects on mTOR. I replied that diet could do the same thing. Here’s a 2021 review outlining such effects: “As common, progressive, and chronic causes of disability and death, neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs) significantly threaten human health, while no effective treatment is available. Recent studies have revealed … Continue reading Natural products vs. neurodegenerative diseases
This 2021 review highlighted effects of processing oat products: “Starch contents in oats ranges from 51% to 65%. Resistant starch (RS) accounts for 29.31% of starch content in raw granular form of oat starch. RS in raw oat starch is RS2 starch, where its slow digestion is mainly due to the compact nature of starch … Continue reading Eat oats for β-glucan and resistant starch
This 2020 review covered interactions of gut microbiota, intestinal mucus, and dietary fibers. I’ve outlined its headings and subheadings, and ended with its overview: “I. Dietary fibers and human mucus-associated polysaccharides: can we make an analogy? I.1 Brief overview of dietary fibers and mucus polysaccharides structures and properties I.I.1 Dietary fibers Dietary fiber intake and … Continue reading Preventing human infections with dietary fibers
Three human studies investigated strains within microbiota species. The first from 2021 had obese child subjects: “Dietary intervention is effective in human health promotion through modulation of gut microbiota. Diet can cause single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to occur in gut microbiota, and some of these variations may lead to functional changes in human health. Compared with … Continue reading Gut microbiota strains
This 2021 human study evaluated associations among epigenetic clocks and socioeconomic status: “We conducted a comprehensive, comparative analysis of associations between various dimensions of socioeconomic status (SES) (education, income, wealth, occupation, neighbourhood environment, and childhood SES) and eight epigenetic clocks in two well-powered US ageing studies: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA); and The Health … Continue reading If you aren’t where you want to be, change yourself
Continuing from Part 2, my 7/15/2021 sample found that no bad bacteria needed work. Top three reasons why this may be are: 1. I’ve eaten microwaved broccoli sprouts every day for 68 weeks now. Relevant research: Curated Eat broccoli sprouts instead of antibiotics back in May after adding red cabbage sprouts and mustard sprouts; and … Continue reading Part 3 of Make your gut microbiota happy
A trio of papers, with the second and third citing a 2013 review: “The relationship between pain and hypertension is potentially of great pathophysiological and clinical interest, but is poorly understood. Perception of acute pain initially plays an adaptive role, which results in prevention of tissue damage. The consequence of ascending nociception is recruitment of … Continue reading Blood pressure and pain
This 2021 rodent study investigated post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) susceptibility: “PTSD is an incapacitating trauma-related disorder, with no reliable therapy. We show distinct DNA methylation profiles of PTSD susceptibility in the nucleus accumbens (NAc). Data analysis revealed overall hypomethylation of different genomic CpG sites in susceptible animals. Is it possible to treat PTSD by targeting … Continue reading PTSD susceptibility?
I often reread blog posts that you read. Yesterday, a reader clicked Treat your gut microbiota as one of your organs. On rereading, I saw that I didn’t properly reference the parabrachial nucleus as being part of the brainstem. A “parabrachial nucleus” search led me to a discussion of two 2020 rodent studies: “Nociceptive signals … Continue reading The brainstem’s parabrachial nucleus
This 2020 rodent study demonstrated benefits from daily cooked broccoli intake, even when it contained no myrosinase enzyme and no sulforaphane: “Broccoli consumption by rats influenced several metabolic pathways that impact liver health. Plasma metabolite changes are potential biomarkers of liver health, and also monitor broccoli benefits. Rats fed a broccoli diet exhibited an enhanced … Continue reading Eat broccoli sprouts every day
