El cerebro y su yo, libro de Joseph Knoll

"oseph Knoll" sería la traducción aproximada del titulo de un nuevo libro de Joseph Knoll, famoso por su desarrollo de la droga deprenyl (selegilina). Si alguien lo tiene me gustaría saber.

The Brain and Its Self
A Neurochemical Concept of the Innate and Acquired Drives
Knoll, Joseph
2005, XIV, 176 p. 24 illus., Hardcover
ISBN: 3-540-23969-3

Se pueden leer los indices y partes de capítulos en springer.com o el índice en formato HTML

NAUKI KOGNITYWNE - Marek Kasperski sitio polaco de ciencias cognitivas

"This page deals with cognitive science. I have made it thinking about polish readers. In my country this topic is a kind of novelty and is known to broader audience for about five years. This page is the largest undertaking of this kind in Poland. Its goal is to make clear everything about mind, brain and Artificial Intelligence. Naturally for all those who are hungry for this kind of knowledge. Unfortunately, English version of this page does not function yet. So, I let myself to present you headlines:"

http://www.kognitywistyka.net/a/english_version.htm

Revision de las propiedades farmacologicas del piracetam

Es interesante que haya estudios nuevos sobre el piracetam, aunque de este esté disponible sólo el abstract y parece que es una revisión de estudios anteriores.

 CNS Drug Rev. 2005 Summer;11(2):169-82.        

Piracetam: a review of pharmacological properties and clinical uses.

Winblad B.

Karolinska Institutet, Neurotec, Huddinge, University Hospital B 84, S-14186 Stockholm, Sweden.

Piracetam, a derivative of the neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), has a variety of physiological effects that may result, at least in part, from the restoration of cell membrane fluidity. At a neuronal level, piracetam modulates neurotransmission in a range of transmitter systems (including cholinergic and glutamatergic), has neuroprotective and anticonvulsant properties, and improves neuroplasticity. At a vascular level, it appears to reduce erythrocyte adhesion to vascular endothelium, hinder vasospasm, and facilitate microcirculation. This diverse range of physiological effects is consistent with its use in a range of clinical indications. Its efficacy is documented in cognitive disorders and dementia, vertigo, cortical myoclonus, dyslexia, and sickle cell anemia. While high doses are sometimes necessary, piracetam is well tolerated.

Publication Types:
Review

PMID: 16007238 [PubMed - in process]

Interaccion calcio y magnesio

Me puse a ver un informe para médicos que tengo de hace tiempo que intenta explicarles por qué en el producto Berocca (creo que esto está en casi todo el mundo) le ponen calcio y magnesio juntos a pesar de que se sepa que se afectam mutuamente.

En una parte dice que: a nivel del sistema nervioso, el magnesio actúa como antagonista del calcio, al impedir la liberación excesiva de catecolaminas -tal como ocurre, por ejemplo, en situacionesde stress (Classen y Hirneth, 1987; Henrotte et. al., 1985 ;Henrotte, 1986; Iseri y French, 1984, Levine y Coburn 1984). A nivel de la sinapsis, una mayor concentración de magnesio inhibe la liberación de acetilcolina por medio del antagonismo del calcio (Goodman y Gilman, 1985).

La disciplina es mas importante que la inteligencia

Self-discipline matters more than IQ
An American study has found that a school pupil’s self-discipline is a stronger predictor of their future academic success than their IQ, leading researchers to conclude that self-discipline may be the “royal road” to building academic achievement.

In a first study, Angela Duckworth and [Martin Seligman](http://www.psych.upenn.edu/~seligman/) (Positive Psychology Centre, University of Pennsylvania) recruited 140 school children (average age 13 years) at the start of the academic year. In the Autumn, the children, their parents and teachers, all completed questionnaires about the children’s self-discipline. The measures asked things about the children’s ability to follow rules, to avoid acting impulsively, and to put off instant rewards for later gratification. Scores from the different measures were combined to create an overall indicator of self-discipline.

The researchers found self-discipline predicted all sorts of academic measures taken seven months later, including the children’s average grade for the academic year, their Spring exam result and their selection into High School.

A second study with 164 children (average age 13) followed a similar procedure but also involved the children taking an IQ test in the Autumn. Self-discipline again predicted later academic performance, as measured by their average grade for the year and their Spring exam result. Moreover, the researchers found that the children’s self-discipline scores accounted for twice as much of the variation in their later academic performance as their IQ did.

The researchers said “Underachievement among American youth is often blamed on inadequate teachers, boring textbooks, and large class sizes. We suggest another reason for students falling short of their intellectual potential: their failure to exercise self-discipline”.
__________________________________

Duckworth, A.L. & Seligman, M.E.P. (2005). [Self-discipline outdoes IQ in predicting academic performance of adolescents](http://tinyurl.com/72uqk). Psychological Science, 16, 939-944.

Via: http://bps-research-digest.blogspot.com/2005/12/self-discipline-matters-more-than-iq.html)

Interesante leer los cometarios también.

Para recuperar sueno hay que dormir mas temprano

Para recuperar sueño es mejor irse a dormir antes que quedarse más tiempo durmiendo, según un estudio, dado que esto último incrementa el desfase y hace más difícil volver a levantarse temprano.

 "If you have been working long hours, the best way to recover from a sleep deficit is to go to bed earlier rather than sleeping in."

Wake Time Influences Circadian Clock More Than Bed Time

Yael Waknine
Medscape Medical News 2005.
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/507491?rss

June 28, 2005 — A late wake time causes a significantly greater phase delay in the circadian rhythm than does a late bedtime, according to the results of a small prospective study presented at the 19th Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies in Denver, Colorado.

Los neurotransmisores, las hormonas y la memoria segun Braverman

Distintas funciones de los neurotransmisores en relación a la memoria. Resumen de neurotransmisor, función y suplementos que lo favorecen.

Dopamina: (aminoácido precursor: tirosina) estimula la memoria operativa. Cromo, rhodiola, tiamina. Levantamiento de pesas. Ajedrez.
Acetilcolina: (aminoácido precursor: fosfatidilserina, acetil-l-carnitina) estimula el acceso a la memoria y su velocidad y la memoria inmediata. Manganeso, hupericina, ácido lipoico. Escribir.
GABA: (aminoácido precursor: glutamina) ayuda a organizar la memoria especialmente la verbal. Inositol, vitaminas B, aminoácidos de cadena ramificada. Caminatas en la naturaleza. Meditación, cantar, rezar.
Serotonina: (aminoácido precursor: triptófano) ayuda a la memoria visual y la percepción. B6, Hipérico, aceites de pescado. Ejercicio aeróbico, meditación.

Incrementar el efecto del GABA (ej. clonazepam) permite bajar la ansiedad y así retener más información.

Incrementar la serotonina (ej. sertralina) puede permitir dormir bien y así recargar la función cognitiva del cerebro.

Las hormonas también afectan la memoria: hormona del crecimiento, vasopresina, DHEA, pregnenolona y en las mujeres: estrógenos y progesterona y en hombres testosterona.

El equilibrio se puede lograr mediante el uso de fármacos o la dieta (ej. los huevos contienen colina y glutamina que elevan la acetilcolina y el GABA respectivamente) o precursores (ej. aminoácidos). Los fármacos actúan más rápido pero considera ideal usarlos con precaución mientras se corrigen desequilibrios mediante otros recursos para lograr sostener el cambio a largo plazo.

Según el libro "The edge effect" de Dr. Braverman pág. 242-243
Se puede ver en http://books.google.com

Lo he puesto muy resumido y simplicficado (un poco como es el libro).

Braverman tiene un website en www.pathmed.com y hay un test para hacer gratis.

Ejercicio contra el Alzheimer y otros males

El ejercicio aumenta la proteína megalina que expulsa del cerebro a la proteína beta amiloide que se acumula en el cerebro de los enfermos de Alzheimer's .

Beat Alzheimer's with exercise

Charlotte Schubert

Exercise helps to flush a toxic molecule from the brain and causes a
beneficial one to move in and protect nerve cells, research on mice shows.
The discovery might help to explain why staying fit and keeping mentally
active seem to fend off Alzheimer's disease in humans.

"Our experiments support the idea that exercise is a good approach to all
types of problems in the brain and that a sedentary lifestyle is a risk
factor," says Ignacio Torres-Aleman, who led the study at the Cajal
Institute in Madrid.

Torres-Aleman and his colleagues were intrigued by previous studies showing
that exercise slows mental decline in mice engineered to mimic Alzheimer's
disease. They set out to discover the reason.

They found that exercise doubled the levels of a protein that helps to
flush molecules thought to underlie Alzheimer's disease out of the mice's
brains and into their blood. The protein, called megalin, ejects a
potentially destructive protein called amyloid-beta. In Alzheimer's
patients, amyloid-beta accumulates in clumps throughout the brain.

http://www.nature.com/news/2005/051128/full/051128-14.html

How to read a paper

How to read a paper

Education and debate
[Papers that go beyond numbers (qualitative research) ](http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/315/7110/740)
Trisha Greenhalgh, Rod Taylor

[Papers that summarise other papers (systematic reviews and meta-analyses)](http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/315/7109/672)
Trisha Greenhalgh

[Papers that tell you what things cost (economic analyses)](http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/315/7108/596)
Trisha Greenhalgh

[Papers that report diagnostic or screening tests](http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/315/7107/540)
Trisha Greenhalgh

[Papers that report drug trials](http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/315/7106/480)
Trisha Greenhalgh

[Statistics for the non-statistician. II: "Significant" relations and their pitfalls ](http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/315/7105/422)
Trisha Greenhalgh

[Statistics for the non-statistician](http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/315/7104/364)
Trisha Greenhalgh

[Assessing the methodological quality of published papers](http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/315/7103/305)
Trisha Greenhalgh

[Getting your bearings (deciding what the paper is about)](http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/315/7102/243)
Trisha Greenhalgh

[The Medline database ](http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/315/7101/180)
Trisha Greenhalgh

Via mindhacks.com