What Makes You Stop Unwanted Thoughts?

Posted on November 21, 2017 by | Leave a comment

Pending assignments, midterms on rainy days, that second serving of dessert – disengaging from unwanted thoughts is a part of daily life. But for people with many psychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia, anxiety, depression, PTSD, etc. this can take the form of intrusive memories, hallucinations, rumination, and more. In November 2017, Chemists and Neuroscientists from University of Cambridge led by Dr Taylor Schmitz identified a specific multi-level mechanism that inhibits out unwanted thoughts.

The researchers recruited 30 healthy participants to do “Think/No-Think” tasks where they learned to associate logically unrelated words, for example, moss/north. The participants then saw the word on a screen and received a green or red cue to think or not think of the associated word, respectively. In other words, if you see moss and the cue is green, you should think of north but suppress that thought if the cue is red. Throughout the experiment, the scientists monitored the activity of brain regions through fMRI and the compositions of the chemicals involved through 1H NMR spectroscopy.

fMRI machine used to measure brain activity.  Source: Wikimedia Commons

The researchers discovered that the neurotransmitter (a chemical messenger) GABA, specifically in the hippocampus, a vital area for memory, suppressed unwanted thoughts by limiting activity in neighbouring cells. They also found that our ability to inhibit unwanted thoughts and prevent them from returning increases with the concentration of GABA (Gamma-aminobutyric acid) present in our hippocampus at rest. The results indicated that this relationship is not observable in GABA concentration from other brain regions such as the visual cortex and the prefrontal cortex, which were previously assumed to play a key role in memory/thought suppression as well.

Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) molecule.  Source: self

Hippocampus: key area associated with memory.
Source: Wikimedia Commons

Although the paper did not focus on possible treatments using pharmaceutical methods to regulate GABA, the findings have immense potential in treating a wide range of psychiatric conditions marked by intrusive thoughts. This makes it a monumental finding for neuroscience and this paper has been tweeted about 255 times and appeared on 76 news articles since its release 2 weeks ago on Nov 3, creating a ripple in the neuroscience community.

To me, the specificity of the finding is the most fascinating aspect of this research. Neuroscience research heavily relies fMRI and MRI methods that can only indicate the areas of the brain active from which researchers then infer the likely neurotransmitters involved. However, these methods do not tell us how these chemicals interact with each other or the mechanism by which they influence behaviour. This basic but fundamental knowledge discovered by the Cambridge researchers was made possible by combining conventional neuroscience approach with spectroscopic methods. Interestingly, this highlights the growing need for interdisciplinary research to solve more complex mysteries in science, which is currently a critical issue in the scientific community.

Mia Hasan

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Meditation: Living With Awareness

Posted on November 21, 2017 by | 1 comment

Meditating in Nature (Photo Credit: Maxlkt)

Zen master, poet, and global peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh once said,

“We are very good at preparing to live, but not very good at living. We know how to sacrifice ten years for a diploma, and we are willing to work very hard to get a job, a car, a house, and so on. But, we have difficulty remembering that we are alive in the present moment, the only moment there is for us to be alive.”

In an age where we are constantly chasing after the next destination, we have forgotten how to enjoy and live in reality. My dear friend and therapist introduced me to meditation, the practice of bringing awareness, without judgement, to what the present moment has to offer. In my sessions, we focus on the in-and-out breath, acknowledge any physical sensations, and notice and let all thoughts and worries pass by like clouds.

Many people find comfort and meaning in their everyday lives through meditation. From chemical and biological perspectives, how do we reach this gentle state of mind? What changes in the brain when we meditate?

Meditation alters the levels of neurotransmitters in the brain that are associated with stress and anxiety. Neurotransmitters are “chemical messengers” that control and are controlled by our thoughts and emotions. A meta-analysis found that those who meditate have higher levels of serotonin, gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), and dopamine neurotransmitters. Serotonin regulates mood, GABA communicates messages between nerve cells, and dopamine affects motivation, learning, and pleasure. The study also found that there is a lower level of norepinephrine, the hormone and neurotransmitter that activates the body’s experience of stress.

Another study found that meditation significantly changes the amount of grey matter in different parts of the brain. Grey matter refers to the main, body component of nerve cells that determines the function of the brain. The research shows that meditation increases grey matter in the hippocampus, the memory and emotion region of the brain, and decreases grey matter in the amygdala, the part of the brain associated with fear.

Group Meditation (Photo Credit: Suc)

In the words of my health psychology professor, often times, the simplest things have the greatest impact on our lives. I have found my genuine happiness and peace in this journey of meditation. I hope everyone finds theirs, too.

~Shanna

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How Does Technology Use Correlate with Our Mental Well-Being?

Posted on November 20, 2017 by | 1 comment

Source: https://www.inc.com/issie-lapowsky/inside-massive-tech-land-grab-teenagers.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

The advancement of technology is increasing at a dramatic rate with new technological breakthroughs every year. Nowadays, it’s quite difficult to find someone who doesn’t use technology at all. Every year, the percentage of the population using technology increases. This is shown in a study conducted by Pew Research Center in 2017 where in America, about 95% of the population owns a cellphone of some kind compared to only 35% of the population in 2011. That is about a 10% increase in cellphone ownership every year!

Also, the amount of time adolescents spend online has more than doubled from an average of 8 hr per week in 2005 to 18.9 hr per week today!

This goes to show just how dependent we are on cellphones, computers, television, etc. So, the question here, asked by all parents is: “does modern technology improve or degrade the mental well-being of the younger generation?”. Although some studies have been conducted, none have been rigorously examined.

The answer to this question was found in a study conducted by Andrew Przybylski, a psychologist at the University of Oxford and Netta Weinstein, a psychologist at Cardiff University in Wale. Andrew and Netta wanted to determine the correlation between digital-screen time and mental well-being of adolescents. They used the digital “Goldilocks” hypothesis where it describes that “too little” tech use deprives young people of important social information and peer pursuits, whereas “too much” may displace other meaningful activities.

They surveyed 120,000, 15-year-old participants across England. The survey asked the participants about their engagement in different kinds of digital activities during their free time and about their life satisfaction and happiness over the past 2 weeks.

Surprisingly, the results they found was quite the opposite to many contrary beliefs.

Figure 1. Mental well-being as a function of daily digital-screen time on weekdays and weekends. Results are shown for time spent (a) using smartphones, (b) playing video games, (c) using computers, and (d) watching TV and movies

From the figure above, the results show that moderate use of technology correlates with improved mental well-being. However, the longer the technology is used, the teens’ well-being starts to decline.

This study indicated that moderate use of technology in the modern world actually may not be so harmful and may actually be advantageous in a very online connected world that we live in today.

So, to all parents out there, there is no harm for your children to spend some time on their cellphone or laptop. And to all teens out there, although it’s nice to go on Facebook and Twitter, you should also spend some time with your family and friends out in the real world as well.

-Ziyi Wang

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Is the Secret to Longevity in our Genes?

Posted on November 20, 2017 by | Leave a comment

Increasing life expectancies of the world. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Lifestyle and luck aside, the average human in the twenty-first century has a life expectancy of 80 years. For many people this may seem like a long time, but what about people who live to 100 years old or even older? Is there some secret to longevity they are not telling us?

The small fraction of the population who live to the age of 100 or more are called centenarians. An even smaller fraction of people, who live to be significantly older than 100 are supercentenarians. If you ask them what it takes to live a long life, you will get a wide range of answers: “morning walks and chocolate”, “tell the truth”, “raw eggs and no husband.” Although these answers cannot be directly correlated with longevity, scientists are looking for answers in our DNA.

It is true that a supercentenarian will have few than usual DNA variations known to increase the risk of heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease and other ailments, but researchers believe there is more to it than just luck. They suggest that there is a genetic code that actively protects against aging. This could explain why some supercentenarians are actually more healthy overall, than centenarians in the final months of their life.

DNA strands: Possibly hold the answer to longevity. (Source PublicDomainPictures)

Finding this sequence this is understandably hard since this “survival” phenotype is so rare and nonspecific. Of the billions of A’s, T’s, C’s, and G’s that make up our genetic code, it is hard to distinguish where these mutations occur and even more difficult to collect enough genotypes to confirm the theory.

Despite the odds, researchers published an article that identifies new variants in chromosomes 4 and 7 associated with extreme survival and reduced risk for diseases. The study used 2,070 individuals who were the one percentile of survival for the 1900 U.S. year and analyzed their genomes. They found that there are longevity-associated variants (LAV) and survival to extreme age at death (eSAV) variants, LAV being more common in centenarians. Although this far from confirms proof of a healthy aging gene, it a step forward in unlocking the secrets of living a long, healthy life.

-Mya Dodd

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Sugar Craze – Is Artificial Bad?

Posted on November 20, 2017 by | 1 comment

Everyone likes a little sweet in their life, whether it’s that extra chocolate chip cookie, or adding a teaspoon of sugar to your morning coffee.

Figure 1. Coffee with a sugar cube being added to it. (Image source)

Because sugar can have many adverse effects on health, artificial sweeteners have been used instead to provide the same sweet taste. These include Sweet n Low, Splenda, and Equal just to name a few. However, even though these alternatives provide a low calorie substitution, there has been a lot of controversy to whether or not they are actually better for your health.

Figure 2. Artificial sweetener packets, including Splenda and Equal. (Image source)

Sugar can cause many different problems when eaten at a high level, including; type 2 diabetes, obesity, inflammation, heart disease and even cancer.

The first artificial sweetener, saccharin, was discovered in 1879 when a chemist discovered that his food tasted sweeter after work and went on to taste all the chemicals he was using in his lab. After that, more artificial sweeteners have been found and have been targeted towards diabetics, and those wanting to lose weight.

The FDA is the organization that approves foods and drugs with the responsibility of protecting the public health. There are currently eight approved artificial sweeteners in the United States. These eight approved sugars have all been deemed safe by the FDA as long as they are used in moderation.

So why do so many people rebel against the idea of ingesting anything artificially manufactured?

The media plays a big part in this. There were several false animal studies done on rats that linked artificial sweeteners to cancer. While the FDA states that these were poorly executed experiments and that they provided false conclusions, the public still has a hard time getting this information.

Figure 3. Two laboratory rats. (Image source)

In 1980, after a study falsely connected aspartame with brain cancer, there was a wide media outbreak that ended with FDA banning aspartame. However, once more research was done, the FDA quickly lifted their ban in 1981. The FDA continues to state that aspartame is safe to consume at acceptable levels. Yet, even with this research available, many people still believe that aspartame is to blame for many adverse symptoms.

Why?

Research is currently hard to understand at a public level, and the truth can be difficult to find as people can form an accidental bias when reporting.

To help the public truly understand these controversies, there has to be a way in the future to allow the public better access to these scientific discoveries. Making science more accessible will benefit society as a whole as more individuals will be able to form their own opinions.

For now though, it is safe to say that you can fill your sweet tooth craving with an artificial sweetener instead.

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Indestructible Water Bears

Posted on November 19, 2017 by | 1 comment

Water Bears. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Tardigrades, also known as water bears, are microscopic animals that have intrigued scientists for many years. What about them is so captivating? The fact that they are nearly indestructible.

Water bears have been treated to extreme environments, and against all odds, their survival has been astounding. They can survive temperatures ranging from -328 – 300 degrees Fahrenheit, pressures of up to 6000 times our atmosphere, and even…10 days in space!

The question though, is how do they do it?

Theories have gone as far as to suggest that the reason water bears can survive these extremes, is that they came from other planets. Personally, this idea seems impossible, but could it hold a glimmer of truth?

Scientists conducted further research and found a reason for their survival. The reason is anhydrobiosis. Anhydrobiosis is a dormant state where an organism reduces their metabolic activity significantly and becomes almost completely dehydrated. As it turns out, water bears in extreme environments tend to curl up into a dehydrated ball called a tun. In this form, water bears can survive for decades or longer.

If most living organisms were to enter this state of desiccation, they would not be able to come back from it, but water bears can. According to Thomas Boothby, a Life Sciences Research Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of North Carolina:

“[T]ardigrades have evolved unique genes that allow them to survive drying out. In addition, the proteins that these genes encode can be used to protect other biological material—like bacteria, yeast, and certain enzymes—from desiccation.”

Water bears seem like very interesting creature to study, and it makes sense for scientists to be captivated by their incredible survival rates in extreme conditions. More intensive research on these water bears could lead to amazing discoveries in the future.

~ Sajni Shah

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Solid State Detector for Alkylating Agents

Posted on November 19, 2017 by | 1 comment

We know that anticancer drugs have severe side effects on patients, but have you ever wondered if healthcare workers are being affected too?

A recent study has found that 60% of hospital pharmacies contain high levels of toxic drugs and that 20% of BC healthcare workers were found with unsafe levels of cyclophosphamide (CP). CP is a chemotherapy medication that has side effects, such as hair loss, low blood cell counts and can be as severe as low infertility and increased risk of developing cancer.

Dr. Love’s research group at the University of British Columbia have synthesized derivatives of 4-(4-Nitrobenzyl)Pyridine (NBP). These derivatives serve as an effective DNA model because they have very similar reactivity as DNA to toxic alkylating agents, which are active pharmaceutical ingredients mostly found as anticancer drugs.

Figure 1: the reaction of NBP with alkylating agent and then the addition of base. Source: JOC

To make the mechanism in figure 1 faster and more applicable, the researchers have developed a more acidic carbonyl derivative of NBP. They have incorporated this carbonyl derivative into a silica polymer to facilitate the deprotonation of the compound, and therefore, detect it with UV-visible spectroscopy to determine the amount of alkylating agent present.

Figure 2: The carbonyl NBP derivative before and after Methyl iodide (alkylating agent) exposure. Source: JOC

They found that this solid-state detector changes colour from white to purple when it detects toxic alkylating agents. For this reason, healthcare workers who are exposed to these anticancer drugs can use this sensor in a badge dosimeter, which allows them to monitor their exposure to alkylating agents.

I think this work is a turning point for a safer work environment. Exposure to unsafe levels of toxic anticancer drugs is not only limited to doctors and pharmacists, but it also affects a wide range of workers involved in drug transportation and administration. I think this paper shows that we are underestimating the number of healthcare workers that are in danger of anti-cancer drugs.

Renad Aldebasi

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Is a bigger brain a better and more social brain?

Posted on November 15, 2017 by | 1 comment

We have all heard the debate about the relationship between brain size and intelligence, but a bigger brain has never been confirmed to be related to increased intelligence. Intelligence is a very broad category and now, we have determined many different types of intelligence, including social smarts or social cognition. People who are smart in about other people and in social situations have good social cognition, which has been researched thoroughly in dolphin and whale populations.  A recent study revealed that larger, more developed brains are common in marine mammals with higher levels of social interaction. Intelligence as a whole might not be related to brain size, but social cognition very well might be, and not just in marine mammals.

For many mammals, survival and mating are the main factors that motivate behaviour.  If they can successfully live to pass on their genes, they have done their part for their species. Being good at interacting with their own species even more important for many whales and dolphins, such as orcas and bottlenose dolphins, since they are among the most social animals found on the planet.

Kieran Fox, Michael Muthukrishna, and Susan Shultz from the University of British Columbia studied dolphins and whales and found that the mammals with larger, more developed brains relative to their body size had more social interaction. These whales and dolphins can be said to have better social cognition than others with less social interaction. Whales and dolphins that are more social survive longer and reproduce more successfully, passing on their genetics to more offspring, creating more and more social generations after them. Kieran Fox calls this a “positive feedback loop“, since very social parent whales and dolphins create even more social children over time.

Family of Orcas Source: Flickr images

Humans can also benefit from good social cognition, since we are more likely to succeed in our careers and have kids with more social interaction. This research focussed on marine mammals, but it’s entirely possible that larger human brains could also be related to better social cognition. The better we are at interacting with others, the more we can share our knowledge and build our own lives. So if you have a big brain, you too might be more socially equipped for success, just like most bottlenose dolphins and orcas.

-Sydney Inthof

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Method of the Year: Cryo-electron Microscopy

Posted on November 14, 2017 by | Leave a comment
Cr to Nicolae Sfetcu

High Resolution of Detailed Structures (Credits to Nicolae Sfetcu)

About one month ago, Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank and Richard Henderson awarded the Nobel Price in Chemistry 2017 for developing the cryo-electron microscopy. The National Institutes of Health named cryo-electron microscopy ‘method of the year’. Cryo-electron microscopy can image frozen-hydrated specimens in native state without dyes at low temperatures through electron microscopy. Using this technology, scientists have produced three-dimensional images to target cancer drugs and demystify the Zika virus.

Cancer drug target visualized at atomic resolution (credits to NIH Image Gallery)

Actually, the development of cryo-electron microscopy has a long history. Previously, scientists used cumbersome dyes, stains or labels to visualize cell function, which would change the behaviour of the cell function and only provide a coarse two-dimensional image. This made scientists hard to understand molecular biology clearly since how the components in the cells looked like and what functions they performed remained unknown.

However, from 1975 to 1986, Joachim Frank stitched two-dimensional micrographs together to yield a sharp three-dimensional image. In 1990, Richard Henderson used this principle to visualize a protein in three-dimensional down to atoms with an electron microscope. In the early 1980s, Jacques Dubochet discovered that water would form a solid shell without freezing by rapidly cooling a specimen before putting it in an electron microscope, which could keep biological structures in original shape during scanning. They produced the desired atomic resolution in 2013. And researchers can now routinely produce three-dimensional structures of biomolecules.

Combining these theories, scientists could take biologically-accurate snapshots of the tiniest units of life. This technology helps scientists understand diseases better and develop better drugs. For instance, scientists found unique parts of the pathogen’s structure in the Zika virus and identified a potential target for a vaccine.

Improving resolution by cryo-EM (credits to NIH Image Gallery)

Engineers have developed better hardware to help improve cryo-electron microscopy by visualizing detailed structures instead of shapeless blobs. Scientists claim that the limited physical knowledge confines the resolution bt they will obtain better visualizations of biological structures in the coming year.

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Protected by Lava Lamps

Posted on November 13, 2017 by | 1 comment

Decrypting the Enigma message keys were crucial for the Allied efforts in World War I, but how is encryption used today? Technology has advanced considerably from the rotor cipher machines of the 1910’s.

Today, encryption and cryptography relies on randomness. A computer or a code cannot generate truly random numbers, and if an encryption key is not random it can be duplicated. Any physical or experimental measurement will always have inherent uncertainties due to the process or the inaccuracy of the measurement – this is truly random.

However, creating truly random numbers is time consuming and expensive, so pseudorandomness is used instead. Pseudorandom is defined by Merriam-Webster as “[numbers] selected by a definite computational process but that satisfy one or more standard tests for statistical randomness”.

Cloudflare, a company based out of San Francisco, uses a wall composed of 100 lava lamps, to protect its users’ data. Uber, OKCupid, and Fitbit are among the 6 million websites protected by Cloudflare.

Lava Lamps. Mike Mozart Flickr

 A camera takes pictures of the blobs and lights created by the wall of lamps and converts it into a stream of random data. Because the flow of the “lava” is unpredictable (ie. random) it is an ideal source to generate pseudorandom numbers.

However, it’s not just the lamps that are recorded, but the ambient noise of the camera as well, adding another level of randomness.

This is then used to create unpredictable encryption keys by using a deterministic algorithm which inputs a random value (called a seed) and outputs more random values. This algorithm is called a cryptographically secure pseudorandom number generator. These are pseudorandom numbers.

Cloudflare handles 10% of the total internet traffic, so the camera takes pictures of the “Wall of Entropy” every millisecond, all day, every day.

The company also has offices in London and Singapore that each use another unique tactic to generate randomness. The London office uses a chaotic pendulum (see video below) and records its movements and the Singapore office uses a radioactive source.

YouTube Preview Image

In a world where our lives are documented online, providers like Cloudflare are key to keeping us and our data safe.

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