Category: Dr. D

Study reveals gene expression changes with meditation

On By A.P.In Center for Investigating Healthy Minds, DNA, Dr. D, epigenetics, gene, IIBB-CSIC-IDIBAPS, Medicine, Meditation, mindfullness, National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Perla Kaliman, Psychoneuroendocrinology, Richard J. Davidson, Science, Spain, The Brain, University of Wisconsin, University of Wisconsin-MadisonLeave a comment

meditation

With evidence growing that meditation can have beneficial health effects, scientists have sought to understand how these practices physically affect the body.

A new study by researchers in Wisconsin, Spain, and France reports the first evidence of specific molecular changes in the body following a period of mindfulness meditation.

The study investigated the effects of a day of intensive mindfulness practice in a group of experienced meditators, compared to a group of untrained control subjects who engaged in quiet non-meditative activities. After eight hours of mindfulness practice, the meditators showed a range of genetic and molecular differences, including altered levels of gene-regulating machinery and reduced levels of pro-inflammatory genes, which in turn correlated with faster physical recovery from a stressful situation.

“To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper that shows rapid alterations in gene expression within subjects associated with mindfulness meditation practice,” says study author Richard J. Davidson, founder of the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds and the William James and Vilas Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“Most interestingly, the changes were observed in genes that are the current targets of anti-inflammatory and analgesic drugs,” says Perla Kaliman, first author of the article and a researcher at the Institute of Biomedical Research of Barcelona, Spain (IIBB-CSIC-IDIBAPS), where the molecular analyses were conducted.

The study was published in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology.

Mindfulness-based trainings have shown beneficial effects on inflammatory disorders in prior clinical studies and are endorsed by the American Heart Association as a preventative intervention. The new results provide a possible biological mechanism for therapeutic effects.

The results show a down-regulation of genes that have been implicated in inflammation. The affected genes include the pro-inflammatory genes RIPK2 and COX2 as well as several histone deacetylase (HDAC) genes, which regulate the activity of other genes epigenetically by removing a type of chemical tag. What’s more, the extent to which some of those genes were downregulated was associated with faster cortisol recovery to a social stress test involving an impromptu speech and tasks requiring mental calculations performed in front of an audience and video camera.

Perhaps surprisingly, the researchers say, there was no difference in the tested genes between the two groups of people at the start of the study. The observed effects were seen only in the meditators following mindfulness practice. In addition, several other DNA-modifying genes showed no differences between groups, suggesting that the mindfulness practice specifically affected certain regulatory pathways.

However, it is important to note that the study was not designed to distinguish any effects of long-term meditation training from those of a single day of practice. Instead, the key result is that meditators experienced genetic changes following mindfulness practice that were not seen in the non-meditating group after other quiet activities — an outcome providing proof of principle that mindfulness practice can lead to epigenetic alterations of the genome.

Previous studies in rodents and in people have shown dynamic epigenetic responses to physical stimuli such as stress, diet, or exercise within just a few hours.

“Our genes are quite dynamic in their expression and these results suggest that the calmness of our mind can actually have a potential influence on their expression,” Davidson says.

“The regulation of HDACs and inflammatory pathways may represent some of the mechanisms underlying the therapeutic potential of mindfulness-based interventions,” Kaliman says. “Our findings set the foundation for future studies to further assess meditation strategies for the treatment of chronic inflammatory conditions.”

Study funding came from National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (grant number P01-AT004952) and grants from the Fetzer Institute, the John Templeton Foundation, and an anonymous donor to Davidson. The study was conducted at the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds at the UW-Madison Waisman Center.

http://www.news.wisc.edu/22370

Thanks to Dr. D for bringing this to the attention of the It’s Interesting community.

Six things Nelson Mandela believed most people won’t want to talk about

On By A.P.In American imperialism, apartheid, Dr. D, Fidel Castro, George Bush, Iraq War, Kofi Annan, Malcom X, Mandela, Muammar Gaddafi, Nelson Mandela, Osama bin Laden, poverty, racism, slavery, South Africa, War on Terror, Yasser Arafat1 Comment

nelson-mandela-headshot-500px

In the desire to celebrate Nelson Mandela’s life — an iconic figure who triumphed over South Africa’s brutal apartheid regime — it’s tempting to homogenize his views into something everyone can support. This is not, however, an accurate representation of the man.

Mandela was a political activist and agitator. He did not shy away from controversy and he did not seek — or obtain — universal approval. Before and after his release from prison, he embraced an unabashedly progressive and provocative platform. As one commentator put it shortly after the announcement of the freedom fighter’s death, “Mandela will never, ever be your minstrel. Over the next few days you will try so, so hard to make him something he was not, and you will fail. You will try to smooth him, to sandblast him, to take away his Malcolm X. You will try to hide his anger from view.”

As the world remembers Mandela, here are some of the things he believed that many will gloss over.

1. Mandela blasted the Iraq War and American imperialism. Mandela called Bush “a president who has no foresight, who cannot think properly,” and accused him of “wanting to plunge the world into a holocaust” by going to war in Iraq. “All that (Mr. Bush) wants is Iraqi oil,” he said. Mandela even speculated that then-Secretary-General Kofi Annan was being undermined in the process because he was black. “They never did that when secretary-generals were white,” he said. He saw the Iraq War as a greater problem of American imperialism around the world. “If there is a country that has committed unspeakable atrocities in the world, it is the United States of America. They don’t care,” he said.

2. Mandela called freedom from poverty a “fundamental human right.” Mandela considered poverty one of the greatest evils in the world, and spoke out against inequality everywhere. “Massive poverty and obscene inequality are such terrible scourges of our times — times in which the world boasts breathtaking advances in science, technology, industry and wealth accumulation — that they have to rank alongside slavery and apartheid as social evils,” he said. He considered ending poverty a basic human duty: “Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. It is the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life,” he said. “While poverty persists, there is no true freedom.”

3. Mandela criticized the “War on Terror” and the labeling of individuals as terrorists without due process. On the U.S. terrorist watch list until 2008 himself, Mandela was an outspoken critic of President George W. Bush’s war on terror. He warned against rushing to label terrorists without due process. While forcefully calling for Osama bin Laden to be brought to justice, Mandela remarked, “The labeling of Osama bin Laden as the terrorist responsible for those acts before he had been tried and convicted could also be seen as undermining some of the basic tenets of the rule of law.”

4. Mandela called out racism in America. On a trip to New York City in 1990, Mandela made a point of visiting Harlem and praising African Americans’ struggles against “the injustices of racist discrimination and economic equality.” He reminded a larger crowd at Yankee Stadium that racism was not exclusively a South African phenomenon. “As we enter the last decade of the 20th century, it is intolerable, unacceptable, that the cancer of racism is still eating away at the fabric of societies in different parts of our planet,” he said. “All of us, black and white, should spare no effort in our struggle against all forms and manifestations of racism, wherever and whenever it rears its ugly head.”

5. Mandela embraced some of America’s biggest political enemies. Mandela incited shock and anger in many American communities for refusing to denounce Cuban dictator Fidel Castro or Libyan Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, who had lent their support to Mandela against South African apartheid. “One of the mistakes the Western world makes is to think that their enemies should be our enemies,” he explained to an American TV audience. “We have our own struggle.” He added that those leaders “are placing resources at our disposal to win the struggle.” He also called the controversial Palestinian Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat “a comrade in arms.”

6. Mandela was a die-hard supporter of labor unions. Mandela visited the Detroit auto workers union when touring the U.S., immediately claiming kinship with them. “Sisters and brothers, friends and comrades, the man who is speaking is not a stranger here,” he said. “The man who is speaking is a member of the UAW. I am your flesh and blood.”

http://thinkprogress.org/home/2013/12/06/3030781/nelson-mandela-believed-people-wont-talk/

Thanks to Dr. D for bringing this to the attention of the It’s Interesting community.

Whales trapped in Everglades waters

On By A.P.In Dr. D, Florida, The Everglades, WhalesLeave a comment

whales-everglades-jpg

Wildlife workers in boats struggled Wednesday to coax nearly four dozen pilot whales out of dangerous shallow waters in Florida’s Everglades National Park, hoping to spare them the fate of 10 others that already have died.

Four of the whales had to be euthanized Wednesday, and six others already had died, said Blair Mase, the marine mammal stranding network coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. At least three could be seen on the beach, out of the water.

Park spokeswoman Linda Friar said rescuers were trying to surround the whales with boats about 75 feet from shore and nudge them out of the roughly 3-foot-deep salt water back to sea.

“They are trying to herd the animals out to sea,” Friar said. “They are not cooperating.”

Workers tried to nudge the whales out to sea a day earlier with no success. The whales are stranded in a remote area that takes more than an hour to reach by boat from the nearest boat ramp.

“This scenario is very challenging because of where they are,” Mase said. Officials typically have access to heavy equipment to rescue stranded whales, but that isn’t an option where the whales are now.

Furthermore, the area is so shallow that it’s difficult to get the mammals enough water to propel them back to sea. A team of biologists was still assessing the whales Wednesday.

Officials don’t know how long the whales been stranded or how they got there. The whales usually swim together in large groups and tend to follow a dominant male leader, so it’s not uncommon for multiple whales to get stranded at once.

At least one other group of whales has stranded in the park in the past 10 years.

“It’s not uncommon,” Friar said. “But it’s not something that happens a lot.”

Mase said the whales are known to inhabit deep water, “so they are very out of their home range.”

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/dec/04/whales-trapped-everglades-florida-park

Thanks to Dr. D for bringing this to the attention of the It’s Interesting community.

World’s oldest prehistoric toilet unearthed in Argentina

On By A.P.In Argentina, communal latrines, Dr Lucas Fiorelli, Dr. D, Martin Hechenleitner, megaherbivore, Scientific Reports, ToiletLeave a comment

fossil

A giant prehistoric ‘toilet’ has been unearthed in Argentina after scientists uncovered thousands of fossilised feces deposited 240-million-years ago.

The dung deposited by rhino-like megaherbivores was clustered together, suggesting for the first time that ancient reptiles shared collective dumping grounds.

The communal latrines are now being described as the world’s oldest public toilet.

Many modern animals defaecate in socially agreed spaces for social and biological reasons, such as to mark territory, as a defence against predators and to prevent intestinal parasite re-infestation.

The fossil ‘coprolites’, which were up to 40cm wide, were discovered in patches across the Chanares Formation in La Rioja province. These dung piles were deposited there by the Dinodontosaurus, an eight-foot-long ancient animal similar to the rhino, common in the Triassic period.

The researchers recorded a density of 94 poos per square metre, spread across patches 900 square metres in size and preserved by a sheet of volcanic ash, lead researcher Dr Lucas Fiorelli told the BBC.

The study, published in Scientific Reports, could provide more information on diet and diseases.

“When cracked open they reveal fragments of extinct plants, fungi, and gut parasites,” Martin Hechenleitner, a fellow author on the study said.

“Each poo is a snapshot of an ancient ecosystem – the vegetation and the food chain.”

The authors concluded: “This is the first evidence of megaherbivore communal latrines in non-mammal vertebrates, indicating that this mammal-type behaviour was present in distant relatives of mammals, and predates its previous oldest record by 220 Mya.”

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/worlds-oldest-prehistoric-toilet-unearthed-in-argentina-8972483.html

Thanks to Dr. D for bringing this to the attention of the It’s Interesting community.

Sexual frustration shortens the life of the fruit fly

On By A.P.In death, Dr Scott Pletcher, Dr. D, drosophila, Drosophila melanogaster, fruit fly, lifespan, Nature, neuropeptide F, pheromones, Science, sex pheromones, sexual frustration, University of Michigan2 Comments

fly-getty

Sexually frustrated fruit flies die earlier, new research suggests.

Scientists made the discovery by genetically modifying male flies to release female sex pheromones. Other males were left nearby and therefore instantly aroused by the pheromones. Some were allowed to mate, but others weren’t.

The findings, published in the journal Science, show that the sexually frustrated flies’ lives were 40 per cent shorter, while those who did mate suffered less stress.

Dr Scott Pletcher, Assistant Professor of Molecular & Integrative Physiology at the University of Michigan, co-authored the research. He told the BBC: “We immediately observed that (the non-mating flies) looked quite sick very soon in the presence of these effeminised males.”

A brain chemical, neuropeptide F (NPF), appeared to play a big role. NPF levels went up once flies were aroused. It would normally go down again upon mating.

But when it stayed high, it caused the stress and apparently the premature deaths.

Dr Pletcher went on: “Evolutionarily we hypothesise the animals are making a bet to determine that mating will happen soon.

“Those that correctly predict may be in a better position, they either produce more sperm or devote more energy to reproduction in expectation, and this may have some consequences [if they do not mate].”

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/sexual-frustration-will-give-you-a-shorter-and-more-stressful-life-if-you-are-a-fruit-fly-8972673.html

Thanks to Dr. D for bringing this to the attention of the It’s Interesting community.

New study links testicle size to father role

On By A.P.In Dr. D, Emory University, Emory University School of Medicine, fatherhood, Kebmodee, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, testicle, testicle sizeLeave a comment

testivcle

A link between the size of a father’s testicles and how active he is in bringing up his children has been suggested by scientists.

Researchers at Emory University, US, said those with smaller testicles were more likely to be involved with nappy changing, feeding and bath time.

They also found differences in brain scans of fathers looking at images of their child, linked to testicle size.

But other factors, such as cultural expectations, also played a role.

Levels of promiscuity and testicle size are strongly linked in animals, those with the largest pair tending to mate with more partners.

The researchers were investigating an evolutionary theory about trade-offs between investing time and effort in mating or putting that energy into raising children. The idea being that larger testicles would suggest greater commitment to creating more children over raising them.

The study, in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, looked at the relationship between testicle size and fatherhood in 70 men who had children between the ages of one and two.

The team at Emory University in Atlanta performed brain scans while the men were shown pictures of their children.

It showed those with smaller testicles tended to have a greater response in the reward area of the brain than those with a larger size.

MRI scans showed a three-fold difference between the volumes of the smallest and largest testicles in the group.

Those at the smaller end of the spectrum were also more likely, according to interviews with the man and the mother, to be more active in parenting duties.

One of the researchers, Dr James Rilling, told the BBC: “It tells us some men are more naturally inclined to care-giving than others, but I don’t think that excuses other men. It just might require more effort for some than others.”

The exact nature of any link is not clear.

The researchers believe the size of the testicles, probably through the hormone testosterone, is affecting behaviour. But it is not clear if the process of having a baby may have some effect on the father.

“We know, for instance, that testosterone levels go down when men become involved fathers,” said Dr Rilling.

Further studies, involving analysing the size before and after becoming a father, are still needed.

Cultural and societal expectations on the role of the father are also not accounted for in the study.

All of the men were from the Atlanta area so the relative impact of society and biology has not been measured.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-24016988

Thanks to Dr. D and Kebmodee for bringing this to the attention of the It’s Interesting community.