Category: This Mortal Coil

Better Trials, So Failure Isn’t All Bad

Image courtesy of Zachary Veach
Image courtesy of Zachary Veach

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is rolling out new rules for clinical trials testing psychiatric drugs or interventions. For years, applications have proposed testing to see if Drug X helps with a particular condition, like depression, schizophrenia, anorexia etc.

If a drug does show an effect on the particular condition being tested, we have learned that we may have a new treatment for that condition. “Hooray!” If a drug does not show an effect on the particular condition being tested, we have learned that we may not have a new treatment for that condition, which is pretty much what we knew before the expensive clinical trial.

The NIMH has created new funding rules in an attempt to address this issue. Continue reading “Better Trials, So Failure Isn’t All Bad”

So THAT’s why you get the munchies…

Chowing down. Image courtesy of Joel Telling under a creative commons license. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Chowing down. Image courtesy of Joel Telling under a creative commons license. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

While not the actual title or tag-line on a recent Nature Neuroscience paper, it is certainly a punchline that first comes to mind upon reading the title “The endocannabinoid system controls food intake via olfactory processes”. The endocannabinoid system responds to the active components in marijuana among other signaling molecules in the body including endocannabinoids made by the body. However, even if you’re not partaking of marijuana, this system is active in regulating how your body responds when it begins to get hungry.

Continue reading “So THAT’s why you get the munchies…”

Fiber, not just for your guts!

Soybeans are a great source of dietary fiber. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.
Soybeans are a great source of dietary fiber. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

Allergies have been on the rise in the last few decades – not just the highly publicized increase in peanut and gluten allergies, but also allergic asthma caused by allergens in the air (like dust mites, mold, or pollen). Poorly controlled asthma and asthma emergencies result in many ER visits. What is causing this trend of increasing allergies?

The hygiene hypothesis – lack of exposure to potential allergens due to homes that are too clean leads to kids being hypersensitive is popular with many folks.

A new paper, however, tests an alternative  hypothesis about the increased rate of allergies. Could low fiber consumption in Western diets be to blame?

Continue reading “Fiber, not just for your guts!”

Project Tycho: Vaccines prevent diseases!

Tycho Brahe, Image from Wikipedia
Tycho Brahe, Image from Wikipedia

I just heard about a new “big data” project called Project Tycho. They chose the name Tycho in honor of Tycho Brahe who made tons of detailed observations of the stars and planets. After his death, his data was used by Kepler to formulate the laws of planetary motion. This project wants to connect the vast amounts of public health data to scientists and policy researchers to improve their understanding of contagious diseases and their spread. Their undertaking is incredible; they digitized weekly Nationally Notifiable Disease Surveillance System reports from 1888-2013. Now that all of the data is digitized they are working their way through standardizing it and making it amenable to analysis. This entire dataset is available for search online. Continue reading “Project Tycho: Vaccines prevent diseases!”

Shock your brain into submission

The Brodmann area 25 is highlighted in red. Electrical stimulation of this area in some patients can alleviate symptoms of depression.
The Brodmann area 25 is highlighted in red. Electrical stimulation of this area in some patients can alleviate symptoms of depression.

This month’s special issue of Science Magazine is themed “The Heavily Connected Brain“. Articles center around the brain’s complex connections and the huge amount of data collected to study those connections. One particular issue related to brain connectivity is behavior and mood.

Many interacting circuits in the brain can influence a person’s behavior or mood. When these systems aren’t functioning correctly doctors can prescribe drugs to regulate the levels of various signaling molecules in the hope of restoring normal behavior or mood.

Some doctors are now turning to electrical current therapies to “reset” the malfunctioning circuit. This is not a new concept. Doctors have been using electrical currents as therapy since the 17th century. Continue reading “Shock your brain into submission”