Practice Makes a Perfect Liar

http://bodyodd.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/27/15488245-practice-makes-the-perfect-liar?lite

Are you one of those people who suck at lying? Can everyone tell when you're lying because you can't keep a straight face? According to this article, with enough practice anyone can become a perfect liar. While I don't think I exactly agree with the methods presented in this article, I still found it to be very interesting. Researcher Hu and his team claimed that after 20 minutes of training their subjects were very efficient at lying and it was no longer possible to distinguish between the lie and the truth. Participants were given a new false identity and instructed to remember three fact: their new name, new hometown, and new date of birth. The liars were tested and instructed to press yes for every fact appearing about their false identity and no for facts about their true identity.

While I don't think this method of testing was extremely strong, I definitely think it's a start, and something that could become incredibly useful, especially for improving EEG and polygraph tests. However, I think there is a huge field of lying to be covered. In this test participants were simply asked to lie about themselves, and were given no motivation other than lying is wrong. In terms of criminals they have a HUGE motivation to become skilled liars, as it may keep them from getting in trouble. I think motivation should definitely become a factor in new studies, and perhaps asking about other items such as events rather than personal items. I also think the idea of "practice" can be expanded. Certainly rehearsing a lie over and over for a specific instance will make you a skilled liar about that subject, but it does not make you a skilled liar overall. You could easily still give yourself away on many other topics.

This article also raises a question of morality to me. Is this something we really want to be investigating and improving? Giving people the tools to learn how to lie better? Or is it something essential, a topic that we should be proactive about to prevent catastrophes later on?

Mouse Brain Cells Activated, Reactivated in Learning and Memory

"Mouse Brain Cells Activated, Reactivated in Learning and Memory"
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/12/121213121345.htm

Humans store episodic memories about events in our lives in the hippocampus, which drives the reactivation of neurons in the cortex. When remembering an event from your life the hippocampus is able to recreate the pattern of cortical activity that was there at the time. Damage to the hippocampus caused patients to lose their memories because they can't recreate the activity in the cortex from when the memory was made. Learning activates a group of neurons that undergo changes, making new connections to store the memory. Retrieving the memory reactivates the exact network used when creating the memory.


To examine what neurons were involved an experiment with mice was set up. The mice were put into a new cage with an unfamiliar odor and given a few minutes to explore. Then they were given a mild electrical shock through the cage floor. When returned to the cage a couple of days later, the mice would remember the shock and stay frozen in one place. When the brains were examined, the researchers could see which cells had been activated initially to form the memory and which were reactivated later to recall it.


Researchers use imaging techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging, fMRI, to see which areas of the brain are switched on and off in learning and retrieval but cannot pick out an object as small as a single cell. Wiltgen and University of Virginia graduate student Kaycie Tayler used a genetically modified mouse that carries a gene for a modified green fluorescent protein which causes fluorescence in neurons. This would allow researchers to determine individual cells which were involved in learning and retrieving memories.

About 40 percent of the cells in the hippocampus that were tagged during initial memory formation were reactivated when the memory was recalled. There was also reactivation of cells in parts of the brain cortex associated with place learning and in the amygdala, which is important for emotional memory. There was no evidence of reactivation when the mice were tested in a new environment that they did not remember according to Wiltgen.

In future work, Wiltgen's team plans to examine the role of the hippocampus and other brain regions in forming memories and explore new ways to activate or block memories.

Fragile X Protein Linked to Autism

"Fragile X Protein Linked to Nearly 100 Genes Involved in Autism" http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/12/121212134052.htm 

I remember that a few days in class we were talking about both autism and fragile X syndrome and someone made a statement that they knew someone with fragile x syndrome that had a lot of the same symptoms as autism, but they hadn't been diagnosed with autism at this point and that made me wonder how much these two actually correlated.

Fragile X syndrome causes a person to produce too little or none of the FMRP protein, fragile X mental retardation protein. FMRP plays an important role controlling production of other proteins in the brain and other organs. Additional proteins FMRP would normally regulate are made in the wrong place and at the wrong time when a person suffers from fragile X syndrome. Two to six percent of children with autism are also diagnosed with fragile X and about one-third of fragile X patients also meet the criteria for autism.

Thomas Tuschl and Uwe Ohler discovered that FMRP directly controls at least 93 genes that have been independently linked to autism, as well as Angelman, Prader-Willi, Rett and other neurologic syndromes that have overlapping features with autism.

The next step for researchers is to examine the common molecular pathways leading to all forms of autism. By knowing these pathways scientists can better target treatments for both fragile X and autism.

The Riddle of Too Much Sleep

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324478304578171221462816296.html?KEYWORDS=unraveling

It is a common known fact that not getting enough sleep can be detrimental to your health. However, newer studies are revealing that too much sleep may also begin to cause some problems.

Different health issues such as diabetes, depression, low thyroid, or obstructive sleep apnea, can all induce the urge to sleep.  Now, when all these problems are ruled out, the next diagnosis is usually primary hypersomnia. It is found that patients with this problem have a substance in their cerebrospinal fluid that causes the brain to sedate itself. Symptoms of this condition hit people who are usually in their early 20’s.

Researches at Emory University believe that the substance in the cerebrospinal fluid that acts as a sleep agent (somnogen), supercharges a sleep-inducing brain chemical called GABA. A patient with this condition was treated with flumazenil, a drug that is administered to counteract an overdose of sedatives, and began to feel more “alive” several days later.

Although the actual chemical that causes this brain sedation has not yet been discovered, it is believed that it can be the cause of many other conditions that involve excessive drowsiness. Doctors have been able to find that same sleep-inducing spinal fluid in patients that have narcolepsy and a rare form of hypersomnia called Kleine-Levin syndrome.

Ever since this new research has come about, many patients have been contacting their doctors and several sleep clinics to discuss the possibility of having the condition. Because many factors can cause excessive drowsiness, such as simply not getting enough sleep at night, many patients have gone undiagnosed and are now looking for answers. The drug that helps counter the excessive drowsiness, flumazenil, is in low supply, and the search to find alternatives that would provide the same effect is now in effect.

Of course if, take for an example, a patient regularly sleeps for more than a day a problem is apparent, in comparison to a patient who may sleep more than a day due to lack of sleep the night before. Taking this into consideration, how do you draw the line between a health condition and a simple routine issue? Do you think people who are just not getting enough sleep and feeling drowsy all the time are going to take advantage of this condition to get personal pardons?

Take drugs get pneumonia

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/popular-sedatives-may-raise-risk-for-pneumonia-a-study-says/2012/12/10/57c01042-6a25-11e1-acc6-32fefc7ccd67_story.html

Xanax and Valium are common prescriptions in our society for people who struggle with anxiety. While these drugs can calm you down and make you relax they also increase your risk of contracting pneumonia. They also increase your risk of death once you contract pneumonia. This study analyzed data from 34,000 people, about 5,000 had pneumonia and about 5,000 took benzodiazepines. Those who took benzodiazepines were 54% more likely to develop pneumonia than those who didn't. The chance of dying was 22% higher for those who took the drugs than those who didn't.

This study did not set out to prove cause and effect. However, 54% is a very significant percentage. I think they should look closer to the demographics of the people who were contracting pneumonia. I also would want to know more about what happened to the immune system to weaken it and allow pneumonia to happen more easily.

Texas Board Approves Rules on Use of Stem Cells

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/14/us/new-rules-on-adult-stem-cells-approved-in-texas.html?_r=0



While this article focuses on the use of stem cells, the rules that were approved in Texas are not applicable to the use of embryonic stem cells which has been the root of heated debate for a good while. The article reports that in Texas it is not acceptable for doctors to perform a slew of stem cell procedures as long as they are research based and are approved by a institutional review board. This marks a very dramatic shift in views of the state. From my understanding, the patients opt for this treatment and are not charged for the use of the stem cell treatments as they are being done on a research basis. Naturally the mere topic of stem cell use is going to cause debate and uproar from people who deem themselves religious. As I interpreted it, there really is no form of true regulation on this new piece of legislature. It sounds like you can go into a research facility and say "I have this problem, give me stem cells to fix it." As long as there is approval from a medical review board you are set to go. The medical board that was set to review and approve or deny the new regulations were put into a tough spot as the rules had already been printed into the Texas register and a act of approval or denial was all that the board could do.

Normally this is something that I would be a large proponent of, as the use of stem cells, specifically embryonic stem cells has the ability to make almost all of the "incurable" diseases and conditions we know of things of the past. However, the way that Texas has set this up and the way that this article presented these new pieces of "Legislation" is really quite sketch to me. This may be a biased article, but the facts appear to be sound to me and it kind of makes me worry for people that opt to have these studies performed on them. There is no period of pretesting or waiting to see possible after effects or anything. I think that what Texas is doing with this is an attempted step in the right direction for the wide spread use of stem cells medicinally, but I fear that this is really going to blow up in their face sending thoughts of stem cell use to the trash can. There are no rules or regulations on it! Like what are you doing? Good intentions, horrible idea.

Mom's Depression and Baby's Language

http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/08/does-moms-depression-affect-babys-language/

Language is basically an inborn trait. Our brains are wired to understand language from birth. At 6 months old babies can differentiate between sounds in different languages that sound the same to someone who only speaks one language. They can also differentiate between languages based on mouth shapes and rhythms of what is being said. However, at 10 months old infants lose this ability, which indicates that there is a critical period for language. They become better at their native language and don't need to be sensitive to non-native languages. This study investigated the critical period of language in infants and the relation to mother's depression and use of antidepressants, specifically serotonin reuptake inhibitors. There is a large percentage of women who experience depression while pregnant and some take antidepressants during this time period.

A study was done to see if there is a connection between depression, anti-depressants, and baby's language perception at 6 months and 10 months. One group was made up of women who were depressed but didn't use antidepressants. The second group was women who were both depressed and used antidepressants. The control group was women who were neither depressed nor on medication. The researchers tested the babies at 6 months and 10 months to see if they could tell the difference between letters in different languages. The control babies passed at 6 months and failed at 10 months. The depressed but not on medication group failed at 6 months and passed at 10 months which means their language critical period was delayed. The depressed and medicated group failed both times.

The article offers a few possibilities to explain why this happened. Maybe the chemicals in the medication affected the fetus' brain development, but it's interesting that they didnt have any other symptoms. It doesn't appear to have long term affects on the babies, however I would be nervous to take medicine that alters my brain chemistry while I was pregnant.