Posted in Basal Ganglia, Caudate nucleus, DAT, Dopamine, Putamen, Substantia nigra, Subthalamic nucleus, tagged ADHD, Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, Basal Ganglia, Brain, Cognition, Development, Frontal lobe, Gene expression, Genetic testing, Genetics, Health, inhibition, Mental disorder, Mental health, Neural network, Personalized medicine, Substantia nigra on March 5, 2010 | 1 Comment »
Image by theloushe via Flickr
I have a little boy who loves to run and jump and scream and shout – a lot. And by this, I mean running – at full speed and smashing his head into my gut, jumping – off the couch onto my head, screaming – spontaneous curses and R-rated body parts [...]
Posted in CNTNAP2, Cerebellum, Frontal cortex, Frontal pole, Fusiform gyrus, Rostral fronto-occipital fasciculus, Thalamus, White matter, tagged 23andMe, Add new tag, autism, Autism spectrum, Brain, Development, Frontal lobe, Functional magnetic resonance imaging, Genetic testing, Genetics, Grey matter, Health, Mental disorder, Mental health, Neural development, Neurodevelopmental, synaptogenesis, White matter on March 5, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Image via Wikipedia
The A-to-T SNP rs7794745 in the CNTNAP2 gene was found to be associated with increased risk of autism (see Arking et al., 2008). Specifically, the TT genotype, found in about 15% of individuals, increases these folks’ risk by about 1.2-1.7-fold. Sure enough, when I checked my 23andMe profile, I found that I’m one [...]
Posted in Cingulate cortex, Hippocampus, Temporal lobe, tagged aging, Alzheimer's disease, Brain, Cognition, default mode network, default network, dementia, E. E. Cummings, Frontal lobe, Functional magnetic resonance imaging, Genetic testing, Health, Hippocampus, Human brain, Japanese poetry, Poetry, Temporal lobe on January 22, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
e. e. cummings via last.fm
***PODCAST ACCOMPANIES THIS POST***
In his undergraduate writings while a student at Harvard in the early 1900’s E. E. Cummings quipped that, “Japanese poetry is different from Western poetry in the same way as silence is different from a voice”. Isabelle Alfandary explores this theme in Cummings’ poetry in her essay, “Voice [...]
Posted in Hippocampus, Hypothalamus, NRXB1, tagged Brain, Bruce McEwen, Chemical synapse, Development, DNA, DNA methylation, Epigenetics, Gene expression, Health, Neural development, Rett Syndrome, Rockefeller University, Stress, synapse, synaptic plasticity on December 4, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
We are all familiar with the notion that genes are NOT destiny and that the development of an individual’s mind and body occur in a manner that is sensitive to the environment (e.g. children who eat lots of healthy food grow bigger and stronger than those who have little or no access to food). In [...]
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Animal, Biology, Development, evolution, Health, Human, Human body, Mammal, Neil Shubin, Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body on September 29, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Am having a wonderful time reading, “Your Inner Fish” by Professor Neil Shubin – an exploration into the deep evolutionary roots of the human body. Amazed to contemplate the embryonic structures known as the branchial arches, or gill arches – which we share with sharks! – and the role of the gcm2 gene that is [...]
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Biology, DNA, Gene, Genetics, Health, Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, Rhesus Macaque, Stress on September 11, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Image by kodomut via Flickr
For humans, there are few sights more heart-wrenching than an orphaned child (or any orphaned vertebrate for that matter). Isolated, cold, unprotected, vulnerable – what could the cold, hard calculus of natural selection – “red in tooth and claw” – possibly have to offer these poor, vulnerable unfortunates?
So I wondered while [...]
Posted in APOE, Frontal cortex, Hippocampus, Middle temporal gyrus, tagged Alzheimer, Alzheimer's disease, APOE, Apolipoprotein E, Brain, Conditions and Diseases, Degeneration, Health, Mental disorder, Personalized medicine, Research on August 4, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
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Few genes have been studies as intensely as apolipoprotein E (APOE). In particular, one of its variants, the epsilon-4 allele has been especially scrutinized because it is correlated with an earlier onset (about 10 years earlier than average) of Alzheimer’s Disease. Among the many roles of APOE – its just a tiny cholesterol [...]
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Health, Nurse practitioner, Physician on May 24, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
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My wife was recently unfortunate to spill hot soup on her hand and ended up with a pretty uncomfortable set of 2nd degree burns. At our fingertips (mine anyway) we had easy online access to guidelines for pain management and infection prevention. The next day at work, she was able to see [...]
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Business, economics, Health, Health insurance on April 30, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
In, The New Financial Order, professor Robert Shiller offers an in-depth analysis of how finance can and should be used to improve the human condition. By appropriately adapting financial instruments with risk, the consequences of many of life’s sudden shocks (natural disaster, loss of job, health crisis etc.) are readily ameliorated. Although [...]
