Wednesday, September 30, 2009

SELO BLOG SHOW.

SELO BLOG SHOW.

Ganhei esse selinho da amiga/irmã ,ANA do Blog: http://anasique.blogspot.com/

As Regras:

1- Publicar o selinho e indicar o blog que o repassou.

2- Escrever 10 palavras que qualifiquem meu blog:
- Amor
- Carinho
- Amizade
- União

- Sinceridade
- Verdade
- Poesia
- Transparência
- Lealdade
- Simplicidade

3- Indicar 10 blogueiros que fazem tudo
ficar um show. São esses:

IDEIAS DE MILENE
REALIDADES MÚLTIPLAS
BLOG DA GI
BLOG DE RITINHA
BLOG DE MILY

MEUS PENSAMENTOS
MAR E LUA
MOMENTOS MEUS
BLOG DA DULCE
BLOG DA ÚRSULA.



SÓ DEZ É MUITO DÍFICIL. NOSSA QUE SOFRIMENTO!!!!

AINDA OFEREÇO A TODAS
ESTE OUTRO LINDO SELO

GANHEI DA MINHA LINDA MILY
http://cantinho-da-mily.blogspot.com/
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjneCPk38jRJ5VNzWOgQOqJUI2Uy7foFgyB1-YzizYS3naMZWz_CAZlqT0XTWAhEF0oLGXRhBT-FPvqzhquZxMviSQpZy40snUi23U9iCrnAZ_PpBQoPZ-Uce3W4TXTNR6u2TSJcflPtdg/s200/amigasblogueiras.jpg

LEVE A MINHA AMIZADE SINCERA TAMBÉM...
GANHEI DA ANNA L. ESTE LINDO SELO.
http://annaeleonardo.blogspot.com/





Palavras Soltas..
Obrigado!
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1Njpy97CW55-MH6QJngOdJafr4a3672K2rUCUwD1kTHk0_3dsnBnxWgqwYTBoY5r1taGgNk6ZuNIlZNDtbEmz4l6Z-KRz-PQ_PCL3AgNaA51gTnayhZYcKTHVc5RXY9ixOGem9dwMYxk/s320/blogencantador.png

NÃO SEI OFERECER SOMENTE PARA UM.
INFELIZMENTE É DIFICIL COMPRIR REGRAS, PRINCIPALMENTE QUANDO SE TEM MUITOS AMIGOS.


BLOG CURIOSA LEVA VOCÊ NO CORAÇÃO
http://sandraandrade8.blogspot.com/


ODEFEREÇO A TODOS, QUE NÃO ESTÃO INDICADOS ACIMA.
POIS, SE AS REGRAS EXISTEM, É PARA SEREM CUMPRIDAS.
PORTANTO, LEVE PARA VOCÊ, AGORA O SELO ESTE BLOG É UM SHOW.

TODOS OS MEUS SEGUIDORES, SINTAM-SE A VONTADE PARA LEVA-LO.
SÓ PRECISAM INDICAR O NOME DO BLOG QUE OS PRESENTEOU.
UM GRANDE ABRAÇO A TODOS.




FIQUEI MUITO FELIZ, QUANDO VISITEI A MYLLA E COM ESTE MEU POEMA ELA ME HONENAGEOU. MUITO OBRIGADA AMIGA.
VOCÊ É QUE É UM DOCE DE PESSOA E QUEM ME ABRIU AS PORTAS PARA A BLOGSFERA. POR ISSO, COM TODO O MEU CARINHO AGRADEÇO E RETORNO ESTE CARINHO A VOCÊ.

HOMENAGEM A MINHA AMIGA SANDRA


Vai acima Um poema de minha amiga Sandra Andrade - Blogs Curiosa e Uma interação entre amigos.
Uma pequena homenagem para uma pessoa super especial!!!
Obrigado amiga pela grande amizade!!!


VOCÊ, MYLLA!
http://luaimaginadapoemas.blogspot.com/
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioOvpc16zQFCKC7cWRC30liqtzk_EWCsQhGM1BmbU1-eitZx_Yz4ZZHzAsL7POjmr5vEiS2aZVPoYmFut1cAGda6_X5WSlSgPM56p5CdpYj7pgH2wFHFAUqt-EFhbXNjRgNYmvWT09Viqb/s400/mi+4.jpg
Passou a ser uma grande amiga virtual, que amo, do fundo do meu coração.
Hoje tenho o PRAZER de homenageá-la, com este lindo tema.
Você Amiga, foi um sonho que acordei para esta vida virtual.
Sem VOCÊ, talves hoje eu nem estaria aqui, participando dessa linda Coletiva.
Valeu minha Linda.
Sinta-se abraçada por mim. Um Forte ABRAÇO.


CONHEÇA ESTES CANTINHOS:
MARQUE PRESENÇA.


MAOis For Dummies (And British Pundits)

Allegedly, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown takes a monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOi) antidepressant.

That's the rumor, based on the rumored fact that he is unable to eat certain things, notably cheese and Chianti wine. These are foods rich in tyramine, a chemical that's normally harmless, but can be toxic in people taking MAOis. So, if Brown is indeed on a Chianti-and-cheeseless regime, he almost certainly is taking one of the several MAOis on the market today.

The original source for this idea is this blogger, who claims to have heard it from an unnamed Brown aide. Is he to be believed? A glance over his website shows he is hardly an impartial commentator, and he goes on to demonstrate his psychological insight with statements like
"Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is relatively common. Most of us display some obsessive features in everyday life, but under stress a minority of people become borderline or actual OCD in their behaviour, and need medication to control both this and the depression which almost always presents soon afterwards. ... Gordon Brown's symptoms are obvious when viewed in this light: the constant repetition of phrases, and an almost embarrassing (for his Party) need to spray every Parliamentary answer with statistics... they - and the constant speech repetition - represent Brown's unconscious means of controlling the severe anxiety that accompanies depression with OCD."
So one might think that his credibility is somewhat questionable. This hasn't stopped certain corners of the British blogosphere from getting very excited, however, and even respected political journalist Andrew Marr yesterday quizzed Brown about the issue.

Unfortunately, while many are eager to write about Brown and his possible pills, few of them seem to know anything about psychiatry or antidepressants, which has led to some embarrassing errors. So, for the benefit of British pundits, here are some helpful facts.

MAOis -
  • are not "powerful", "heavy duty" antidepressants. In terms of effectiveness, they are no better, on average, than Prozac. In fact, no antidepressant is much better than any other one. They differ in terms of side effects, but not "strength". For what it's worth, current opinion is that if there is a best antidepressant, it is escitalopram, a modern Prozac-like SSRI with very mild side effects, which is just about as unlike a MAOi as you can imagine.
  • do not "impair" or "affect judgment". Antidepressants don't. Except that they treat depression, and someone who's happy might make different judgments to someone who's depressed. But these drugs do not affect judgment in the way that intoxicants like alcohol or cocaine do. You don't get high on them. This is why they have no street value. Most drugs which impair judgment get used recreationally, because having your judgment impaired can be fun. Antidepressants aren't.
  • are not exclusively used in "severe depression". They are usually reserved for when a patient has not responded to other drugs. This is because of their troublesome side effects, including high blood pressure, and the fact that you can't eat cheese. But "treatment-resistant" depression is not the same as "severe" depression. In fact, the more severe the depression, the more likely it is to respond to treatment with conventional drugs. If Brown is on MAOis, he has probably tried at least two or three other drugs, but this is by no means uncommon because antidepressants just don't work especially well. According to the largest trial in a real-world setting, the STAR*D project, only 30% of people fully recover on their first antidepressant and only 30% of the rest respond to the second one.
  • are not especially effective in OCD, as the source of the rumor claimed - "this older class of drugs has one huge advantage: for severe depression and obsessive compulsive disorder it remains very effective", emphasis in the original. This is just flat-out wrong. Other antidepressants are more useful in OCD. Here's a recent review of drug therapy for OCD. MAOis get a mention... right at the end, after (deep breath) SSRIs, clomipramine, atypical antipsychotics, SNRIs, pregabalin, tricyclic antidepressants, and benzodiazepines. Here's the only published trial comparing a monoamine oxidase inhibitor to another drug, Prozac, for OCD. The MAOi didn't work, Prozac did.
  • were the first class of antidepressants to be discovered; the very first, iproniazid, was discovered in 1952. Others followed, such as tranylcypromine, phenelzine, and selegiline. Today, there are a handful of MAOis on the market. These include some newer drugs such as moclobemide (which has milder side effects) and the selegiline transdermal patch (which carries fewer dietary restrictions). MAOis are primarily used to treat depression, but are also used in Parkinson's disease.
So, even if Brown is taking MAOis, this has no implications regarding his mental state or competence to govern. What about the possibility that he is depressed? This could be relevant, but considering that the most popular British leader of all time famously suffered from severe depressive episodes throughout his life, including his time in office, the historical precedents are not unfavourable.

Realistically, none of this is going to change people's minds. No-one is really concerned about the possibility that Gordon Brown is using MAOis, or even the possibility that he's depressed. Rather, a lot of people just really don't like him, and this rumor is the latest stick with which to beat him. Blogger Guido Fawkes has been asking "Is Brown Bonkers?" for months. As one journalist put it, "Whether literally the case or not, however, this rumor carries the kind of psychological truth that tends to be more damaging than fact." Which didn't stop him from repeating the rumor uncritically.

[BPSDB]

MAOis For Dummies (And British Pundits)

Allegedly, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown takes a monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOi) antidepressant.

That's the rumor, based on the rumored fact that he is unable to eat certain things, notably cheese and Chianti wine. These are foods rich in tyramine, a chemical that's normally harmless, but can be toxic in people taking MAOis. So, if Brown is indeed on a Chianti-and-cheeseless regime, he almost certainly is taking one of the several MAOis on the market today.

The original source for this idea is this blogger, who claims to have heard it from an unnamed Brown aide. Is he to be believed? A glance over his website shows he is hardly an impartial commentator, and he goes on to demonstrate his psychological insight with statements like
"Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is relatively common. Most of us display some obsessive features in everyday life, but under stress a minority of people become borderline or actual OCD in their behaviour, and need medication to control both this and the depression which almost always presents soon afterwards. ... Gordon Brown's symptoms are obvious when viewed in this light: the constant repetition of phrases, and an almost embarrassing (for his Party) need to spray every Parliamentary answer with statistics... they - and the constant speech repetition - represent Brown's unconscious means of controlling the severe anxiety that accompanies depression with OCD."
So one might think that his credibility is somewhat questionable. This hasn't stopped certain corners of the British blogosphere from getting very excited, however, and even respected political journalist Andrew Marr yesterday quizzed Brown about the issue.

Unfortunately, while many are eager to write about Brown and his possible pills, few of them seem to know anything about psychiatry or antidepressants, which has led to some embarrassing errors. So, for the benefit of British pundits, here are some helpful facts.

MAOis -
  • are not "powerful", "heavy duty" antidepressants. In terms of effectiveness, they are no better, on average, than Prozac. In fact, no antidepressant is much better than any other one. They differ in terms of side effects, but not "strength". For what it's worth, current opinion is that if there is a best antidepressant, it is escitalopram, a modern Prozac-like SSRI with very mild side effects, which is just about as unlike a MAOi as you can imagine.
  • do not "impair" or "affect judgment". Antidepressants don't. Except that they treat depression, and someone who's happy might make different judgments to someone who's depressed. But these drugs do not affect judgment in the way that intoxicants like alcohol or cocaine do. You don't get high on them. This is why they have no street value. Most drugs which impair judgment get used recreationally, because having your judgment impaired can be fun. Antidepressants aren't.
  • are not exclusively used in "severe depression". They are usually reserved for when a patient has not responded to other drugs. This is because of their troublesome side effects, including high blood pressure, and the fact that you can't eat cheese. But "treatment-resistant" depression is not the same as "severe" depression. In fact, the more severe the depression, the more likely it is to respond to treatment with conventional drugs. If Brown is on MAOis, he has probably tried at least two or three other drugs, but this is by no means uncommon because antidepressants just don't work especially well. According to the largest trial in a real-world setting, the STAR*D project, only 30% of people fully recover on their first antidepressant and only 30% of the rest respond to the second one.
  • are not especially effective in OCD, as the source of the rumor claimed - "this older class of drugs has one huge advantage: for severe depression and obsessive compulsive disorder it remains very effective", emphasis in the original. This is just flat-out wrong. Other antidepressants are more useful in OCD. Here's a recent review of drug therapy for OCD. MAOis get a mention... right at the end, after (deep breath) SSRIs, clomipramine, atypical antipsychotics, SNRIs, pregabalin, tricyclic antidepressants, and benzodiazepines. Here's the only published trial comparing a monoamine oxidase inhibitor to another drug, Prozac, for OCD. The MAOi didn't work, Prozac did.
  • were the first class of antidepressants to be discovered; the very first, iproniazid, was discovered in 1952. Others followed, such as tranylcypromine, phenelzine, and selegiline. Today, there are a handful of MAOis on the market. These include some newer drugs such as moclobemide (which has milder side effects) and the selegiline transdermal patch (which carries fewer dietary restrictions). MAOis are primarily used to treat depression, but are also used in Parkinson's disease.
So, even if Brown is taking MAOis, this has no implications regarding his mental state or competence to govern. What about the possibility that he is depressed? This could be relevant, but considering that the most popular British leader of all time famously suffered from severe depressive episodes throughout his life, including his time in office, the historical precedents are not unfavourable.

Realistically, none of this is going to change people's minds. No-one is really concerned about the possibility that Gordon Brown is using MAOis, or even the possibility that he's depressed. Rather, a lot of people just really don't like him, and this rumor is the latest stick with which to beat him. Blogger Guido Fawkes has been asking "Is Brown Bonkers?" for months. As one journalist put it, "Whether literally the case or not, however, this rumor carries the kind of psychological truth that tends to be more damaging than fact." Which didn't stop him from repeating the rumor uncritically.

[BPSDB]

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Ao abrir meu blog hoje encontrei uma nova seguidora e fui conhecer.
angel.rose

Vale a pena.
Encontrei com Luis Gaspareto em seu blog.
Com amo as coisas que ele fala e escreve,
convidei para ficar comigo hoje, com as suas saboras Pipocas.
Então vamos a ele:

Seja como uma pipoca

http://www.yoki.com.br/pipoca/imagens/papel1024C.jpg
(imagem da net.)

Milho de pipoca que não passa pelo fogo continua a ser milho de pipoca para sempre.
Assim acontece com a gente: as grandes transformações acontecem quando passamos pelo fogo.
Quem não passa pelo fogo fica do mesmo jeito a vida inteira.
Milhos de pipoca que não estouram são pessoas de uma mesmice e uma dureza assombrosas.
Mas elas não percebem, e acham que seu jeito de ser é o melhor jeito de ser.
De repente vem o fogo.

O fogo é quando a vida nos lança numa situação nunca imaginada: a dor.
Pode ser fogo de fora - perder um amor, um filho, o pai, a mãe, ficar sem emprego ou tornar-se pobre.

Pode ser fogo de dentro - pânico, medo, ansiedade, depressão ou sofrimentos cujas causas ignoramos.
Sempre há o recurso de apagar o fogo.
Sem fogo, o sofrimento vai diminuir, mas diminuirá também a possibilidade da grande transformação.

Imagino que a pipoca, fechadinha dentro da panela, cada vez mais e mais quente, pensa que sua hora chegou: vou morrer!
Dentro de sua casca dura, fechada em si mesma, ela não consegue imaginar um destino diferente para si.
Não imagina a transformação para a qual está sendo preparada.


A pipoca não sabe do que é capaz.
Aí, sem aviso prévio, pelo poder do fogo, a grande transformação acontece: BUM!
E ela aparece como outra coisa completamente diferente.
Algo que ela nunca havia sonhado ser.

Bom, mas ainda temos o ‘piruá’ - aquele milho de pipoca que se recusa a estourar.

É como aquela pessoa que insiste em não mudar.

Ela acha que não pode existir nada mais maravilhoso que sua própria maneira de ser.

A presunção e o medo são as duras cascas do milho que não estoura.
No entanto, o destino dele é triste: será duro pela vida inteira!
Deus é o fogo que amacia nosso coração e tira dele o que há de melhor.

Acredite: para extrairmos o melhor de dentro de nós, temos de, assim como a pipoca, passar pelas provas da vida.
Talvez hoje você não entenda o motivo de estar passando por algo.

Mas, quanto mais quente o fogo, mais rápido a pipoca vai estourar.
Luiz Gasparetto

Assim como a pipoca teve que se transformar de milho, para este alimento saborosa, nós também precisamos desse BUMMM!!!, para as nossas transformações.
Por ser muito doloroso. Mas valerá a pena.
Assim como o milho virou pipoca,nós nos transformaremos pessoas maravilhosas, se soubermos extrair o melhor que temos dentro de cada um de nós.
Amei este lindo texto.
Amo tudo que Gaspareto escreve e fala.

http://lh6.ggpht.com/tatimara.rodrigues/SDMH0gyAjUI/AAAAAAAAAL8/lQStIju-R9o/s400/Animation21.png
DEIXO UM CARINHO PARA VOCÊ EM Meus Mimos!

Monday, September 28, 2009

CHEGUEI A 20.000MIL VISITAS GRAÇAS A VOCÊ.
http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/8541/sandrawm.gif


GANHEI ESTE LINDO MIMO DO BLOG DA MILY
REPASSO A TODOS OS MEUS SEGUIDORES E VISITANTES.
QUE TAMBÉM SÃO MERECEDORES DESSE SELINHO




AQUI...GUARDO TODOS MEUS CARINHOS
VENHA ME VISITAR..Meus Mimos!

Encephalon #76

Welcome to #76 in the fortnightly Encephalon blog carnival series.
That's it for this time. We're still looking for a host for the next edition, so if you're a neuro/psychology blogger and you'd like to be the next Encephalon editor, please email encephalon dot host at gmail dot com.

Encephalon #76

Welcome to #76 in the fortnightly Encephalon blog carnival series.
That's it for this time. We're still looking for a host for the next edition, so if you're a neuro/psychology blogger and you'd like to be the next Encephalon editor, please email encephalon dot host at gmail dot com.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Panic! In the fMRI Scanner

Continuing the theme of interesting single case reports, I was pleased to see a paper about brain activity in someone who suffered a panic attack in the middle of an fMRI brain scan experiment.

The unfortunate volunteer, a 46 year old woman, was taking part in an experiment looking at restless-leg syndrome. The scan lasted 40 minutes, and everything was going smoothly until quite near the end, when out of the blue, she had a panic attack.

Obviously, the scan had to be abandoned - as soon as the volunteer pressed the emergency "panic button", they stopped the scan and got her out of the MRI. (This kind of thing is why we have such buttons!) However, they decided to see what happened in the woman's brain as the panic started using the data they acquired up to that point.

Here's what they found: the top graph here shows her heart rate. It starts increasing a bit and then spikes, which shows exactly when the attack occurred. What about the brain? Well, amygdala and left insula activity sort of increase around this time. A bit. If you stare at the lines hard enough.

If you believe they did, it makes sense because the amygdala is known to be involved in anxiety (amongst other things) while the insula is responsible for the perception of the body's internal state, which is rather out of whack during a panic attack.

What doesn't make sense is the middle temporal gyrus bit, which was statistically the only part of the brain where activity was significantly correlated with heart rate (in whole-brain analysis). That region is not believed to have anything to do with panic, and to be honest, it's probably just a fluke.

This is only the second published report about panic during fMRI. There was one previous paper from 2006 about an attack in someone with a history of panic, which also found amygdala activation. But there are sure to be others out there which haven't made it into print - anxiety and panic during scans is not unheard of (the scanner is rather claustrophobic). It would be interesting to get more data on this, because it's obviously rather hard to research real-life panic attacks, on account of them being unpredictable.

ResearchBlogging.orgSpiegelhalder, K., Hornyak, M., Kyle, S., Paul, D., Blechert, J., Seifritz, E., Hennig, J., Tebartz van Elst, L., Riemann, D., & Feige, B. (2009). Cerebral correlates of heart rate variations during a spontaneous panic attack in the fMRI scanner Neurocase, 1-8 DOI: 10.1080/13554790903066909

Panic! In the fMRI Scanner

Continuing the theme of interesting single case reports, I was pleased to see a paper about brain activity in someone who suffered a panic attack in the middle of an fMRI brain scan experiment.

The unfortunate volunteer, a 46 year old woman, was taking part in an experiment looking at restless-leg syndrome. The scan lasted 40 minutes, and everything was going smoothly until quite near the end, when out of the blue, she had a panic attack.

Obviously, the scan had to be abandoned - as soon as the volunteer pressed the emergency "panic button", they stopped the scan and got her out of the MRI. (This kind of thing is why we have such buttons!) However, they decided to see what happened in the woman's brain as the panic started using the data they acquired up to that point.

Here's what they found: the top graph here shows her heart rate. It starts increasing a bit and then spikes, which shows exactly when the attack occurred. What about the brain? Well, amygdala and left insula activity sort of increase around this time. A bit. If you stare at the lines hard enough.

If you believe they did, it makes sense because the amygdala is known to be involved in anxiety (amongst other things) while the insula is responsible for the perception of the body's internal state, which is rather out of whack during a panic attack.

What doesn't make sense is the middle temporal gyrus bit, which was statistically the only part of the brain where activity was significantly correlated with heart rate (in whole-brain analysis). That region is not believed to have anything to do with panic, and to be honest, it's probably just a fluke.

This is only the second published report about panic during fMRI. There was one previous paper from 2006 about an attack in someone with a history of panic, which also found amygdala activation. But there are sure to be others out there which haven't made it into print - anxiety and panic during scans is not unheard of (the scanner is rather claustrophobic). It would be interesting to get more data on this, because it's obviously rather hard to research real-life panic attacks, on account of them being unpredictable.

ResearchBlogging.orgSpiegelhalder, K., Hornyak, M., Kyle, S., Paul, D., Blechert, J., Seifritz, E., Hennig, J., Tebartz van Elst, L., Riemann, D., & Feige, B. (2009). Cerebral correlates of heart rate variations during a spontaneous panic attack in the fMRI scanner Neurocase, 1-8 DOI: 10.1080/13554790903066909

CURIOSA MUITO FELIZ!!!

CHEGUEI A 20.000 MIL VISITAS.

E VOCÊ É O GRANDE RESPONSÁVEL POR ESTE LINDO SELINHO.
MUITO OBRIGADA A VOCÊ QUE ME VISITA.

MUITO OBRIGADA RITINHA PELO PRESENTE E CARINHO

ESTE SELO TAMBÉM É SEU.
http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/8541/sandrawm.gif

OBRIGADO A TODOS POR MAIS ESTA CONQUISTA.

VENHA SER FELIZ COM A PRIMAVERA.
VOCÊ VAI SE ENCANTAR...TE ESPERO LÁ.

Meus Mimos!

E veja como escolhi um amigo do coraçãoBlog Coletivo-Uma Interação de Amigos

s-16917

Friday, September 25, 2009

MINHAS FLORES: VOCÊ!

Cada um de vocês são as minhas flores perfumadas,
meu jardim colorido. Por isso, agradeço a sua companhia.
Um grande beijo e abraço carinhoso,
e uma
excelente sexta-feira para você!




Venha buscar seu lindo selo.

E veja como escolhi um amigo do coraçãoBlog Coletivo-Uma Interação de Amigos


Thursday, September 24, 2009

AGRADECENDO A SUA COMPANHIA.

http://s486.photobucket.com/albums/rr226/supermensagens/supermensagens/Agradecimeagradecimento.jpg

(imagem da net.)

http://lh6.ggpht.com/tatimara.rodrigues/SDMH0gyAjUI/AAAAAAAAAL8/lQStIju-R9o/s400/Animation21.png



http://www.anagifskut.xpg.com.br/imagem/flores/img104.gif

http://lh6.ggpht.com/tatimara.rodrigues/SDMH0gyAjUI/AAAAAAAAAL8/lQStIju-R9o/s400/Animation21.png
http://api.ning.com/files/hLoAdkT-07TyVAOTdgexjiWRbS1Z3Q3PGCymiUOXN-H0jp1fOBmBOylregyQ87cd/87.gif

(imagens da net)

FICO MUITO FELIZ COM A SUA PRESENÇA NESTE ESPAÇO TÃO MARAVILHOSO.
ESTA CASA SEMPRE ESTARÁ DE PORTAS ABERTAS, PARA VOCÊ MEU GRANDE E ESTIMADO AMIGO VIRTUAL.
TODO O MEU CARINHO E AFETO.
BOM DIA A TODOS, QUE ME VISITAM E DEIXAM SUAS MARQUINHAS AQUI.


TODOS OS PRESENTES RECEBIDOS ESTÃO BEM GUARDADINHOS AQUI NESTE LINDO CANTINHO.
Meus Mimos!



NÃO DEIXE DE FAZER PARTE DESSE CANTINHO AMOROSO
Poetas-Um Vôo Livre

http://lh6.ggpht.com/tatimara.rodrigues/SDMH0gyAjUI/AAAAAAAAAL8/lQStIju-R9o/s400/Animation21.png

GANHEI DA MILY E DA ANA LE.
E REPASSO A TODOS

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

Spot The Difference

As part of my extensive research into the famous dead fish brain scanning study, I decided to read a little bit about the Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), the fish which started it all.

It turns out, at least according to Wikipedia, that there are various interesting things about this species, for example, it's "much more aggressive than other salmon". Who knew?

However, by far the most interesting thing is that developing salmon embryos are about the cutest things in the world, and look exactly like smiley faces, or maybe Pacman. Those dark spots really are the eyes.

Endless forms most beautiful, indeed.

Spot The Difference

As part of my extensive research into the famous dead fish brain scanning study, I decided to read a little bit about the Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), the fish which started it all.

It turns out, at least according to Wikipedia, that there are various interesting things about this species, for example, it's "much more aggressive than other salmon". Who knew?

However, by far the most interesting thing is that developing salmon embryos are about the cutest things in the world, and look exactly like smiley faces, or maybe Pacman. Those dark spots really are the eyes.

Endless forms most beautiful, indeed.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

AGRADEÇO A TODOS QUE VIERAM NA MINHA FESTA!!!






NÃO TENHO PALAVRAS PARA AGRADECER O IMENSO CARINHO RECEBIDO POR VOCÊ!
ESTA DATA, ESTE DIA FOI MUITO ESPECIAL PARA MIM!!!
COMEMORAMOS A VIDA.
ESTA VIDA QUE DEUS DEU A CADA UM DE NÓS, COM MUITO AMOR E CARINHO.
E QUE HOJE, ONTEM E NO AMANHÃ, COMPARTILHAREMOS MAIS UMA VEZ.
SEU AFETO, SEU CARINHO, FOI MUITO ESPECIAL.


O MEU MELHOR PRESENTE EU RECEBI ONTEM: VOCÊ!

AGRADEÇO DO FUNDO MEU CORAÇÃO ESTE PRESENTE.
MINHA CASA ESTAVA REPLETA DE ALEGRIAS.


VOCÊ ENCHEU DE ALEGRIAS....O MEU CORAÇÃO...


É DEMAGOGIA NÃO.
É A MAIS PURA VERDADE E SINCERIDADE.



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Tuesday, September 22, 2009

The Man With Half A Brain

A lovely new paper reports in fascinating detail on a man who lost a uniquely large portion of his brain: Bilateral limbic system destruction in man.

The authors, Feinstein et al from Iowa City, have studied the patient, "Roger", for 14 years. Roger was born in 1952, and lived a fairly uneventful life until he contracted herpes simplex encephalitis (HSE) at the age of 28.

HSE is an extremely rare condition in which the herpes virus infects the central nervous system. Untreated, it is fatal in 70% of people. Survivors suffer varying degrees of neurological damage. Roger suffered more than most - his is the worst case of herpes encephalitis damage among patients currently alive, and there are only three recorded cases of similarly extensive lesions. Roger lost almost his entire "limbic system":
The amount of destroyed neural tissue is extensive and includes bilateral damage to core limbic and paralimbic regions, including the hippocampus, amygdala, parahippocampal gyrus, temporal poles, orbitofrontal cortex, basal forebrain, anterior cingulate cortex, and insular cortex. The right hemisphere is more extensively affected than the left, although the lesions are largely bilateral.
"Limbic system" is an old, vague, but still popular term for a collection of brain structures located deep in the centre of the brain (but not to be confused with the basal ganglia). It's often thought of as the "primitive", "emotional" part of the brain, and there is some truth to this. Roger's limbic system was profoundly damaged on both sides; on the right side, the lesion included the whole temporal lobe and most of the ventral prefrontal cortex as well.

What happened to Roger's mind when his brain suffered such injury? In many ways, remarkably little. His only major impairment is profound anterograde amnesia: he is unable to remember anything that has happened since the infection, which was 28 years ago.
For Roger, not much has changed over the past 28 years. He has virtually no episodic memories for any events that have transpired over the past three decades. For example, he has no recollection of 9/11, and when shown pictures of the planes crashing into the World Trade Center he often responds with bewilderment, speculating that Russia must be attacking America.
This is, obviously, a disabling deficit: Roger cannot lead a normal life. But in other areas of mental functioning, he is quite normal. His IQ is above average; his speech and language abilities are excellent; his vision and hearing are normal, although he has no sense of taste or smell. His short term (working) memory, attention, and reasoning abilities are unimpaired. His motor abilities are fine - he is reportedly an excellent bowler - and he is able to improve motor skills through practice. And his recall of things which happened before the infection is largely preserved, although the few years just before the infection are partially lost.

Fascinatingly, Roger's personality and emotional life seems to have been changed by the infection as well, but in a rather fortunate way -
Roger appears remarkably unconcerned by his condition. He hardly ever complains and, in general, shows little worry for anything in life. Both of his parents and his sister fervently claim that “Roger is always happy,” an observation that is consistent with our own impression. Moreover, based on his family’s report, Roger is paradoxically happier now than he was before his brain damage. ... His premorbid disposition of being somewhat reserved and introverted has shifted to being outgoing and extroverted...

Most conversations with Roger involve animated speech that is replete with prosody, gesture, and, often times, laughing. He readily displays signs of positive emotion including happiness, amusement, interest, and excitement. As previously noted, Roger’s positive mood has remained essentially unchanged over nearly three decades.
His only other reported quirks are an insatiable appetite, and a habit of collecting and holding onto everyday items.

What does all this mean? Neuroscientists will find little about the case surprising. No textbooks are going to have to be rewritten. Roger's inability to form new memories, combined with preserved memory of events up to the few years before the damage, is similar to that seen in other cases of bilateral hippocampus damage. The most famous being the sadly recently deceased patient "H. M.", but there have been plenty of others. The hippocampus seems to be necessarily for forming new long term memories, but the memories themselves are stored elsewhere.

Roger's happy-go-lucky disposition is also not too unexpected, given that he suffered bilateral damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). Last year I wrote about a study from the same Iowa team finding that damage to this area seems to protect against depression. And this is the same region which was targeted by the infamous prefrontal lobotomies of the 40s and 50s - which, for all their ethical shortcomings, sometimes did seem to relieve people of mental anguish.

For me, Roger provides two main lessons, both rather satisfying ones. Firstly, even after losing large parts of the brain, life goes on. The brain is modular, and we can live without many of the modules. And secondly, if our emotional circuitry is damaged, we generally feel better, rather than worse. To put it another way, perhaps, happiness is our default state, and emotions just have a habit of getting in the way.

ResearchBlogging.orgFeinstein, J., Rudrauf, D., Khalsa, S., Cassell, M., Bruss, J., Grabowski, T., & Tranel, D. (2009). Bilateral limbic system destruction in man Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 1-19 DOI: 10.1080/13803390903066873

The Man With Half A Brain

A lovely new paper reports in fascinating detail on a man who lost a uniquely large portion of his brain: Bilateral limbic system destruction in man.

The authors, Feinstein et al from Iowa City, have studied the patient, "Roger", for 14 years. Roger was born in 1952, and lived a fairly uneventful life until he contracted herpes simplex encephalitis (HSE) at the age of 28.

HSE is an extremely rare condition in which the herpes virus infects the central nervous system. Untreated, it is fatal in 70% of people. Survivors suffer varying degrees of neurological damage. Roger suffered more than most - his is the worst case of herpes encephalitis damage among patients currently alive, and there are only three recorded cases of similarly extensive lesions. Roger lost almost his entire "limbic system":
The amount of destroyed neural tissue is extensive and includes bilateral damage to core limbic and paralimbic regions, including the hippocampus, amygdala, parahippocampal gyrus, temporal poles, orbitofrontal cortex, basal forebrain, anterior cingulate cortex, and insular cortex. The right hemisphere is more extensively affected than the left, although the lesions are largely bilateral.
"Limbic system" is an old, vague, but still popular term for a collection of brain structures located deep in the centre of the brain (but not to be confused with the basal ganglia). It's often thought of as the "primitive", "emotional" part of the brain, and there is some truth to this. Roger's limbic system was profoundly damaged on both sides; on the right side, the lesion included the whole temporal lobe and most of the ventral prefrontal cortex as well.

What happened to Roger's mind when his brain suffered such injury? In many ways, remarkably little. His only major impairment is profound anterograde amnesia: he is unable to remember anything that has happened since the infection, which was 28 years ago.
For Roger, not much has changed over the past 28 years. He has virtually no episodic memories for any events that have transpired over the past three decades. For example, he has no recollection of 9/11, and when shown pictures of the planes crashing into the World Trade Center he often responds with bewilderment, speculating that Russia must be attacking America.
This is, obviously, a disabling deficit: Roger cannot lead a normal life. But in other areas of mental functioning, he is quite normal. His IQ is above average; his speech and language abilities are excellent; his vision and hearing are normal, although he has no sense of taste or smell. His short term (working) memory, attention, and reasoning abilities are unimpaired. His motor abilities are fine - he is reportedly an excellent bowler - and he is able to improve motor skills through practice. And his recall of things which happened before the infection is largely preserved, although the few years just before the infection are partially lost.

Fascinatingly, Roger's personality and emotional life seems to have been changed by the infection as well, but in a rather fortunate way -
Roger appears remarkably unconcerned by his condition. He hardly ever complains and, in general, shows little worry for anything in life. Both of his parents and his sister fervently claim that “Roger is always happy,” an observation that is consistent with our own impression. Moreover, based on his family’s report, Roger is paradoxically happier now than he was before his brain damage. ... His premorbid disposition of being somewhat reserved and introverted has shifted to being outgoing and extroverted...

Most conversations with Roger involve animated speech that is replete with prosody, gesture, and, often times, laughing. He readily displays signs of positive emotion including happiness, amusement, interest, and excitement. As previously noted, Roger’s positive mood has remained essentially unchanged over nearly three decades.
His only other reported quirks are an insatiable appetite, and a habit of collecting and holding onto everyday items.

What does all this mean? Neuroscientists will find little about the case surprising. No textbooks are going to have to be rewritten. Roger's inability to form new memories, combined with preserved memory of events up to the few years before the damage, is similar to that seen in other cases of bilateral hippocampus damage. The most famous being the sadly recently deceased patient "H. M.", but there have been plenty of others. The hippocampus seems to be necessarily for forming new long term memories, but the memories themselves are stored elsewhere.

Roger's happy-go-lucky disposition is also not too unexpected, given that he suffered bilateral damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). Last year I wrote about a study from the same Iowa team finding that damage to this area seems to protect against depression. And this is the same region which was targeted by the infamous prefrontal lobotomies of the 40s and 50s - which, for all their ethical shortcomings, sometimes did seem to relieve people of mental anguish.

For me, Roger provides two main lessons, both rather satisfying ones. Firstly, even after losing large parts of the brain, life goes on. The brain is modular, and we can live without many of the modules. And secondly, if our emotional circuitry is damaged, we generally feel better, rather than worse. To put it another way, perhaps, happiness is our default state, and emotions just have a habit of getting in the way.

ResearchBlogging.orgFeinstein, J., Rudrauf, D., Khalsa, S., Cassell, M., Bruss, J., Grabowski, T., & Tranel, D. (2009). Bilateral limbic system destruction in man Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 1-19 DOI: 10.1080/13803390903066873