Is that sulfuric acid in your sugar, or are you just happy to see me :)
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Friday, May 18, 2012
The Paradox Behind the PRKCA Gene
A guest-post by Phillip Moore
The PRKCA gene is a paradox of sorts in that it has been identified by European researchers to improve memory, but also to increase the risk of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The magazine Nature just recently released a fascinating article that highlights the curse of possessing a good memory in certain traumatic situations. Let's examine the important details of this study conducted by Dominique de Quervain of the University of Basil in Switzerland and then explore future work that must be done to better understand the PRKCA gene.
Brief Details of 3-Part Study
Dominique de Quervain and his colleagues recruited 700 healthy young European volunteers in order to obtain their DNA samples to analyze the sequence of their PRKCA gene. This gene is just one of many known to impact our emotional memories. The researchers displayed emotionally disturbing images to the participants and then soon after asked them to write brief descriptions of the images. The participants either carried two copies of the A allele or two copies of the G allele, both of which are variants within the PRKCA gene. Those participants who carried two copies of the A allele remembered the most details about the traumatic images, while participants who carried two copies of the G allele remembered the least.
The researchers then recruited 394 other participants to perform the same task while undergoing brain imaging. The study also confirmed that variations in the PRKCA gene impact emotional memory. The brain imagine scans revealed that the A allele was affiliated with enhanced activity in the lateral and medial prefrontal cortex, both of which are regions involved in the encoding of memories.
Finally, the researchers explored the distribution of the A allele among the 347 survivors of the 1994 Rwandan genocide who fled the civil war. This results of this study were consistent with the other two studies in that survivors who possessed two copies of the A allele were almost twice as likely to suffer from PTSD.
Moving Forward
The PRKCA gene is just one of many known to influence our emotional memories. It is important to examine the role that other genes play in shaping our memories. Massive genomic studies will likely reveal a multitude of other gene variants associated with the greater risk of developing PTSD. Also, more research must be done to understand exactly why the A allele leads to differences in brain activity during the process of memory encoding.
The research conducted by Dominique de Quervain and his colleagues really demonstrates that a good memory can be both a blessing and a curse.
Phillip Moore is an online instructor and coordinator for The College City. As a molecular biologist, Phillip was very interested in this European based study and wants to conduct his own research on the PRKCA gene.
The PRKCA gene is a paradox of sorts in that it has been identified by European researchers to improve memory, but also to increase the risk of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The magazine Nature just recently released a fascinating article that highlights the curse of possessing a good memory in certain traumatic situations. Let's examine the important details of this study conducted by Dominique de Quervain of the University of Basil in Switzerland and then explore future work that must be done to better understand the PRKCA gene.
Brief Details of 3-Part Study
Dominique de Quervain and his colleagues recruited 700 healthy young European volunteers in order to obtain their DNA samples to analyze the sequence of their PRKCA gene. This gene is just one of many known to impact our emotional memories. The researchers displayed emotionally disturbing images to the participants and then soon after asked them to write brief descriptions of the images. The participants either carried two copies of the A allele or two copies of the G allele, both of which are variants within the PRKCA gene. Those participants who carried two copies of the A allele remembered the most details about the traumatic images, while participants who carried two copies of the G allele remembered the least.
The researchers then recruited 394 other participants to perform the same task while undergoing brain imaging. The study also confirmed that variations in the PRKCA gene impact emotional memory. The brain imagine scans revealed that the A allele was affiliated with enhanced activity in the lateral and medial prefrontal cortex, both of which are regions involved in the encoding of memories.
Finally, the researchers explored the distribution of the A allele among the 347 survivors of the 1994 Rwandan genocide who fled the civil war. This results of this study were consistent with the other two studies in that survivors who possessed two copies of the A allele were almost twice as likely to suffer from PTSD.
Moving Forward
The PRKCA gene is just one of many known to influence our emotional memories. It is important to examine the role that other genes play in shaping our memories. Massive genomic studies will likely reveal a multitude of other gene variants associated with the greater risk of developing PTSD. Also, more research must be done to understand exactly why the A allele leads to differences in brain activity during the process of memory encoding.
The research conducted by Dominique de Quervain and his colleagues really demonstrates that a good memory can be both a blessing and a curse.
Phillip Moore is an online instructor and coordinator for The College City. As a molecular biologist, Phillip was very interested in this European based study and wants to conduct his own research on the PRKCA gene.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Brian Greene asks - what is space?
Watch The Fabric of the Cosmos: What Is Space? on PBS. See more from NOVA.
Monday, May 14, 2012
Corn, Beans, and Squash - Three Sisters
Planted together corn, beans, and squash form a "holy trinity" of cooperative growth. By living in close quarters they provide each other with physical protection and nutritional abundance. As the corn emerges high above the others the stalk provides a living scaffold the beans can coil their vines around as they seek the sun. Meanwhile at ground level the squash act as living mulch by preserving moisture under shady leaves and monopolizing sunlight that might otherwise go to nefarious weeds. The prickly stems of the squash provide a defense system against raccoons and other pests that might otherwise "help" harvest the corn.
Underneath the soil the balancing act continues.
The beans are legumes - famous for their ability to reduce nitrogen to nitrates by using their root nodules filled with nitrogen fixing bacteria. Corn is notorious for sucking nitrates from soil at a high rate. In the context of large scale farming, corporations get around this by dumping tons of nitrate fertilizers on the corn fields. To fix nitrogen artificially fertilizer producers need to use copious amounts of fossil fuels. This demonstrates that our current food supply relies on ever-evaporating cheap fossil fuels. Another pressing reason to remember and respect the wisdom of the three sisters.
The origin of this wisdom is not a university laboratory but the pre-Columbian fields of present day New York State. The Iroquois or Ho-de-no-sau-nee stumbled upon this beautiful triumvirate sometime during the millenia they lived and played there. So central was this horticultural combination to their sustenance that it became intertwined with their spiritual world-view.
Lewis Henry Morgan writes in League of the Iroquois (First published 1851).
"These plants were regarded as a special gift of Ha-wen-ne-yu (The Great Spirit); and they believed that the care of each was entrusted, for the welfare of the Indian, to a separate Spirit. They are supposed to have the form of beautiful females, to be very fond of each other, and to delight to dwell together. This last belief is illustrated by the natural adaptation of the plants themselves to grow up together in the same field, and perhaps from the same hill. Their apparel was made of the leaves of their respective plants; and in the growing season they were believed to visit the fields, and dwell among them. This triad is known under the name of De-o-ha-ko, which signifies Our Life, or Our Supporters. They are never mentioned separately, except by description, as they have no individual names."
Depending on where you live the time to plant these varies but on average the span between April 20th and mid May marks the optimal planting window. As an added bonus cultivating a garden in your yard or containers in your apartment with your children boosts their veggie intake and physical activity.
Did you like this article? If so please help out my blog however you can. You can donate as much or as little as you like, even just a few pennies. By supporting Tom Paine's Ghost you are helping me bring interesting topics to your beautiful eyes :) Click the MuCash button below. Thanks!
For a much more in-depth look at the practical aspects of cultivating the three sisters see this article by the homesteader John Vivian.
Tom Vilsack can't be all bad if he appreciates this wisdom.
HERMANN, J., PARKER, S., BROWN, B., SIEWE, Y., DENNEY, B., & WALKER, S. (2006). After-School Gardening Improves Children’s Reported Vegetable Intake and Physical Activity Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 38 (3), 201-202 DOI: 10.1016/j.jneb.2006.02.002
Underneath the soil the balancing act continues.
The beans are legumes - famous for their ability to reduce nitrogen to nitrates by using their root nodules filled with nitrogen fixing bacteria. Corn is notorious for sucking nitrates from soil at a high rate. In the context of large scale farming, corporations get around this by dumping tons of nitrate fertilizers on the corn fields. To fix nitrogen artificially fertilizer producers need to use copious amounts of fossil fuels. This demonstrates that our current food supply relies on ever-evaporating cheap fossil fuels. Another pressing reason to remember and respect the wisdom of the three sisters. The origin of this wisdom is not a university laboratory but the pre-Columbian fields of present day New York State. The Iroquois or Ho-de-no-sau-nee stumbled upon this beautiful triumvirate sometime during the millenia they lived and played there. So central was this horticultural combination to their sustenance that it became intertwined with their spiritual world-view.
Lewis Henry Morgan writes in League of the Iroquois (First published 1851).
"These plants were regarded as a special gift of Ha-wen-ne-yu (The Great Spirit); and they believed that the care of each was entrusted, for the welfare of the Indian, to a separate Spirit. They are supposed to have the form of beautiful females, to be very fond of each other, and to delight to dwell together. This last belief is illustrated by the natural adaptation of the plants themselves to grow up together in the same field, and perhaps from the same hill. Their apparel was made of the leaves of their respective plants; and in the growing season they were believed to visit the fields, and dwell among them. This triad is known under the name of De-o-ha-ko, which signifies Our Life, or Our Supporters. They are never mentioned separately, except by description, as they have no individual names."
Depending on where you live the time to plant these varies but on average the span between April 20th and mid May marks the optimal planting window. As an added bonus cultivating a garden in your yard or containers in your apartment with your children boosts their veggie intake and physical activity.
Did you like this article? If so please help out my blog however you can. You can donate as much or as little as you like, even just a few pennies. By supporting Tom Paine's Ghost you are helping me bring interesting topics to your beautiful eyes :) Click the MuCash button below. Thanks!
For a much more in-depth look at the practical aspects of cultivating the three sisters see this article by the homesteader John Vivian.
Tom Vilsack can't be all bad if he appreciates this wisdom.
HERMANN, J., PARKER, S., BROWN, B., SIEWE, Y., DENNEY, B., & WALKER, S. (2006). After-School Gardening Improves Children’s Reported Vegetable Intake and Physical Activity Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 38 (3), 201-202 DOI: 10.1016/j.jneb.2006.02.002
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Fair & Balanced? Good Grief!
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Extra Soma, Extended Phenoptype
How do you think technology projects our respective genotypes? Is this blog part of my extra soma? My extended phenotype? If you comment is it part of yours?
Thanks be to Matteo for showing me this video and introducing me to Jason Silva.
Thanks be to Matteo for showing me this video and introducing me to Jason Silva.
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Charter Schools - Opinion
By Kristopher Hite
When I say I do not like charter
schools I mean it. I mean it because I see their proliferation as a shift towards
privatization in general. I perceive privatization as an all-encompassing
ideological philosophy of many politicians; Margaret Spellings, George
W. Bush, and Donald Rumsfeld to name a few. I agree with the Democrats who were
outraged at W for slipping in "school vouchers" to his last re-signings
of No Child Left Behind (NCLB).
From the Washington Post -
"Democrats in Congress assailed the plan -- which also would allow low-performing schools to override union contracts or become charter schools despite state laws limiting their creation -- and expressed concern that the politically charged proposals could delay the reauthorization, which is scheduled for this year." ~ from July 2007.
I see school vouchers as a more extreme
version of charter schools - a move away from public schooling as traditionally understood. While
reading about NCLB I came across several provisions of the act leading to
increased number of charter schools.
"A fifth year of failure results in planning to restructure the entire school; the plan is implemented if the school fails to hit its AYP targets for the sixth year in a row. Common options include closing the school, turning the school into a charter school, hiring a private company to run the school, or asking the state office of education to run the school directly."
It seems as though all roads out of NCLB lead to a privatized world which upsets me. To me, many of the most powerful Republicans
somehow swoon over the teachings of a man with whom I vehemently
disagree - Milton Friedman.
From the school voucher wiki -
"Nobel Prize winning economist Milton Friedman argued for the modern concept of vouchers in the 1950s, stating that competition would improve schools and cost efficiency. The view further gained popularity with the 1980 TV broadcast of Friedman's series Free to Choose for which volume 6 was devoted entirely to promoting "educational freedom" through programs like school vouchers. In some Southern states during the 1960s, school vouchers were used as a method of perpetuating segregation. In a few instances, public schools were closed outright and vouchers were issued to parents. The vouchers, in many cases, were only good at privately segregated schools, known as segregation academies. Today, all modern voucher programs prohibit racial discrimination."
This brings me full circle to my stance on
charter schools vouchers and NCLB in general. I perceive NCLB as a well
intentioned act of congress carrying a Trojan horse filled with little
pro-privatization Milton Friedman time-bombs. I see these privatization
ideals as detrimental to communities throughout our educated democracy.
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