One of the most popular posts in this blog recently was about the so called “fountain of youth” research into teleomeres.
Well, if you just can’t get enough and want to keep up on the latest developments on longevity research — I mean real science research rather than “try-to-sell-you-a-supplement” research — you should subscribe to my free newsletter.
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Take care and be happy!
Estelle Toby Goldstein, MD
The Renegade Doctor
Filed under Aging by on Jul 15th, 2011. Comment. 
Why can’t science be fun?
I mean, sure – I’d love to see cancer cures, and schizophrenia cures and even more on the promising telomeric theory of living forever. But sometimes, we learn a lot of things that seem – if not useless, then inconsequential –and they prove invaluable later on in ways we can never predict.
Would you like to know in advance if a pop song is going to be a big hit? I’m sure some people would. Believe it or not, that has been the topic of recent research. Okay, so it is a small study. Who would fund further research on this one? There is a certain part of the tender adolescent brain (remember, our brains don’t get completely myelinated until age 28. That means we do not have all the fatty-insulation around the nerves to conduct impulses) that reacts in a very interesting way to music. Based mostly on animal studies, the ventral striatum seems to be associated with emotions that generate behavior. This differentiates it from the dorsal striatum, which has mostly sensorimotor control. Makes sense. Although they are similar, these two different types of behavior are slightly different. Sometimes we decide what we want to do by what we feel physically. If it is too cold, we go for a jacket. The sensory input probably goes through at least a couple of brain centers, like thermoregulation. Read more on Using Science To Predict Pop Music Hits…
Filed under Brain, Research, Science by on Jul 13th, 2011. Comment.
This is the quotation that was next to my picture, smiling and cuddling an electron microscope, in my high school yearbook: “Seek truth and do not part with it…” Yeah, I can’t be the first person who had that idea in mind at least a little bit when considering a research career.
There is a truth about the universe that is being revealed slowly. It takes us a while to get things right. I remember telling some people who thought religion and science were at odds with each other that perhaps whatever deity you believe in will only reveal what people will understand.
If an apple falling on Isaac Newton’s head was God’s way of revealing the laws of gravity to him, it was probably because the work of Galileo had already paved the way for this knowledge to be revealed. For the TRUTH to be revealed. Yet Newton was not ready for genetic recombination. Now, most scientists I know would accept that as universal truth. But, as Jack Nicholson said to Tom Cruise in “A Few Good Men,” — ” You can’t handle the truth…” (from the script by Aaron Sorkin). Read more on There Is Science and Then There is Military Science…
Filed under News, Research, Science by on Jul 12th, 2011. Comment.
While taking my psychiatric training at the University of Kansas, Wichita – the so-called “Buckle of the Bible Belt,” I often saw patients who told me freely they did not think I could help them because I was of Jewish origin.
Most could deduce because of my name, and most were not shy about asking point-blank. I had nothing to hide and was not ashamed.
They would quiz me about my belief in Christ, and despite my protestations that a prescription pad looked pretty much non-sectarian to me, some would request/demand to see someone who was at least marginally a Christian. Read more on What About The Brain Of The Born-Again?…
How much time did it take people to figure out that treating something will prevent its spread? About 30 years for AIDS, according to our major news media.
DUH! We have already figured out demographically that treating influenza prevents its spread. Our friends at the CDC have the flu nicely codified. A nice list of things we can do to prevent it. One of them is, of course, using those lovely new antiviral drugs. Yes, you can treat it, and clearly, that is a good thing, for not only does the patient get better (sometimes they are actually grateful), but it does stop the disease from spreading. Read more on AIDS Treatment=Prevention…
Filed under medicine, News by on Jul 5th, 2011. Comment.
I’m sure you’ve heard of Americans who need health care but don’t have insurance or aren’t qualified for whatever programs are offered by the government going to Canada or some other country to take advantage of their universal health care programs. Or maybe somebody who has joined the military to get benefits.
But what about the person who robbed a bank – with the full intention of getting caught and going to prison so he could have healthcare. Read more on Going To Prison For Healthcare…
Filed under medicine, News by on Jul 1st, 2011. Comment.
I was between patients with my door open in one of the many clinics I have covered and this staffer slipped in, this woman who is in the process of trying to “dress up” because she has just realized that she does not have a boyfriend. She trusts me, asks me about personal things. In this case, she slipped into my office because she needed to adjust her bra, and I was the only person in the office, and it was obviously a “man-free zone.” “Damned underwire!” she mumbled, adjusting herself.
“Why the hell do you need underwire?” I asked her. Read more on Are You Wearing A Wire? (Bra That Is —)…
Filed under Education, News by on Jun 27th, 2011. Comment.
Despite his appearance, my patient claimed he was a good boy with no disciplinary problems — no gang affiliation, nothing.
That’s why he was so shocked when somebody shot him.
The young man was just 20 years old and a product of his environment – inner-city LA. He was obese and had shaved his head, and probably could be cast on any of the cop shows on TV as a suspect in the case of the week.
Yet he could think of no reason why he got shot. Read more on Tincture Of Time…
Filed under medicine, News by on Jun 21st, 2011. Comment.
I have gone with my beloved husband in the last couple of weeks to a few venues so clearly classified as “dive bars” that I have searched in vain for a depth gauge on the wall. The treasure we seek – karaoke. These establishments are not the province of the landed gentry, and we are generally as out-of-place as a fish in a cloud. The treasures we find unperformed songs in the depth of confused directories whose organization defies even an amateur cryptologist (me). Read more on Karaoke As A Mental Health Program…
Filed under Psychology by on Jun 21st, 2011. Comment.
If I had to pick a favorite neurotransmitter, I would have to pick acetylcholine (ACh). As a matter of fact, I did. I ordered a custom-made necklace featuring my three favorite neurotransmitters – and ACh was the first in line.
The others? Well, since you are interested — dopamine and serotonin. And I always wear this necklace, these days.
Some ancient cultures have worshipped the herb rosemary as a symbol of memory. Me, I much prefer the molecule at my neck which, in addition to its well-known role at the neuromuscular end plate, where it translates neural impulses into motor contraction, is also essential for memory.
That teensy little nucleus basalis of Meynert, which looked kind of blue-gray when last I saw it on the front of a cadaver’s brainstem – and pretty faded when Alzheimer’s is present– has gone and given up a few of its secrets.
Let’s go to an epidemiologic mess, such as Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and all of its subtypes and such, most of which I think are artifacts and do not exist — although (mostly untrained) adults often attribute them to children who annoy them.
A lot of these kids have anticholinerases (read: organophosphates ), originally meant for insecticides and Nazi nerve gases, inside them. Same with people with Alzheimer’s.
So I’m not just some “know-it-all” – I’m a one-woman ACh fan club. And this I swear on whatever Holy document you wish – I even dressed up as a Choline molecule TWICE for Halloween. Once before I met my husband, and then again – because he wanted to see how cuddly a molecule could look –- again a few years ago. He called me his “Choline Cutie.”
Of course, I was not built to scale – being somewhere near 300 lbs. when I dressed that way. But the placement of the atoms was absolutely perfect.
ACh was the first neurotransmitter discovered – back in the 1920s — so I think it is about time it got recognition.
Anyone want to join the fan club?
... or the psychopharmacology expert.
Filed under Memory by on Jun 17th, 2011. 2 Comments.