PhysioLOLogy

Staring at a Map of the World: Titin: One titan of a protein

Thu, 27 Sep 2012 02:50:44 -0400

Staring at a Map of the World: Titin: One titan of a protein:

Titin is a single protein, used to connect the Heavy chain myosin fibre with the Z disc of the sarcomere of the muscle fibre. It has a coiled shape so it can stretch with the movement of the muscle fibre when the muscle contracts.

The titin protein is the black coiled structure on the…

TITIN; If we didn’t have it…. our muscles would fall to bits!

NEW INTRO!!! A new series focussing on Neurology is just about...

Fri, 08 Jun 2012 18:16:44 -0400

NEW INTRO!!!

A new series focussing on Neurology is just about to hit the inter webs, so keep an eye out for it coz now the pro intro is done….. Shizz is gonna get CRAY!

https://www.facebook.com/PhysioLOLogy

Brain Position in Cranium - TOP: Cunningham’s representation of...

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 10:21:18 -0400

Brain Position in Cranium - TOP: Cunningham’s representation of the brain (cerebrum) as it lies in the cranium. SECOND: Section through midline showing the major structures of the brain in relation to the skull. THIRD: Lateral sectional view of the brain with the cerebral hemispheres removed. BOTTOM: Coronal section of head through the posterior horn of the lateral ventricals.

The diagrams above show the positions of the various features of the brain in respect to the external features of the head and face. In Cunningham’s diagram of the position of the cerebrum, note the sutures of the skull are portrayed in the cranial bones that are partially cut-away. Yellow is the temporal lobe, blue is the frontal lobe, pink is the parietal lobe, and orange is the occipital lobe. In thethird diagram, note the positions of the facial and trigeminal nerves as they leave the brainstem.

Motor Neuron:1- Efferent Neuron – Moving toward a central organ...

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 10:21:01 -0400

Motor Neuron:
1- Efferent Neuron – Moving toward a central organ or point
2- Relays messages from the brain or spinal cord to the muscles and organs

According to their targets, motor neurons are classified into three broad categories:
Somatic motor neurons, which originate in the Central Nervous System project their axons to the target tissues, which are always skeletal muscles. Skeletal muscles are involved in locomotion (such as the muscles of the limbs, abdominal, and intercostal muscles).
Special visceral motor neurons, also called branchial motor neurons, which directly innervate branchial muscles (that motorize the gills in fish and the face and neck in land vertebrates).
General visceral motor neurons (visceral motor neurons for short) which indirectly innervate cardiac muscle and smooth muscles of the viscera ( the muscles of the arteries): they synapse onto neurons located in ganglia of the autonomic nervous system (sympathetic and parasympathetic), located in the peripheral nervous system (PNS), which themselves directly innervate visceral muscles (and also some gland cells).
In other words:
the motor command of skeletal and branchial muscles is monosynaptic (involving only one motor neuron, respectively, somatic and branchial, which synapses onto the muscle).
the command of visceral muscles is disynaptic (involving two neurons: the general visceral motor neuron located in the CNS, which synapses onto a ganglionic neuron, located in the PNS, which synapses onto the muscle).

Image

"YEAH! THIS LIT REVIEW WILL BE AWESOME AND SO MUCH FUN!!!"

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 06:05:33 -0400

““YEAH! THIS LIT REVIEW WILL BE AWESOME AND SO MUCH FUN!!!””

- Things you’ll NEVER hear a sane scientist say WITHOUT being under the influence…

psydoctor8: Check it out: The first neurobiological model for...

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 06:03:04 -0400

psydoctor8:

Check it out: The first neurobiological model for third-party punishment

Here’s a a very recent update to my last post on the Neurobiology of Punishment by Joshua W Buckholtz and René Marois, breaking down the events that take place in the brain when asked to make decisions regarding punishment. Of the five processes you have the frontal cortex (higher mental functions) the amygdala (emotional responses) and the intraparietal sulcus and temporal-parietal junction (interpreting the intent of others, thoery of mind).

In the modern criminal justice system, judges and jury members – impartial third-party decision-makers – are tasked to evaluate the severity of a criminal act, the mental state of the accused and the amount of harm done, and then integrate these evaluations with the applicable legal codes and select the most appropriate punishment from available options. (…)

[via]

One of the key take aways is that:

..it’s assumed legal decision-making is purely based on rational thinking, research suggests that much of the motivation for punishing is driven by negative emotional responses to the harm. This signal appears to be generated in the amygdala, causing people to factor in their emotional state when making decisions instead of making solely factual judgments.

Getting ahead of ourselves: glossy brain porn v. emotion

What happens if the jury is presented with neuroscientific evidence suggesting what may have caused the accused to offend, e.g., a brain scan showing a tumor? This may challenge the negative emotional response since it’s been reported that this type of evidence is so seductive to juries. >law & order, donk donk<

Article here.

[Img: Parts of the brain involved in third party punishment. (Rene Marois, Deborah Brewington/Vanderbilt University)]

Middle ear physiology, SI VOUS PLAIS!(Diagramatic representation...

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 04:30:12 -0400

Middle ear physiology, SI VOUS PLAIS!

(Diagramatic representation = easy to remember!)

STUDYING NEUROBIOLOGY OR AUDIOLOGY?!?Check this out, might help!...

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 03:12:13 -0400

STUDYING NEUROBIOLOGY OR AUDIOLOGY?!?

Check this out, might help! :)

Also, dont forget to LIKE PhysioLOLogy to keep updated

Having neuro-audiology issues? Can’t get anything around the cochlear let alone your head?!

I MAY HAVE THE ANSWERS FOR YOU!

Here is an image I just created representing the different segments of the cochlear as to make it easier to remember.

Don’t forget, visual representations that are out of the ordinary STIMULATE your brani and are easier to recall ;)

Mucho amore,
Gykmeister

biomedicalephemera: Anatomical Plates of Bartholomeo Eustachi -...

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 10:06:15 -0400

biomedicalephemera:

Anatomical Plates of Bartholomeo Eustachi - Illustrating venous system, musculature, thoracic arteries, and peripheral nerves

I like to think of them as plates of dancing anatomical models.

Tabulae anatomicae. Andrea Massimini, illustrations by Bartholomeo Eustachi, 1783.

If your brain MRI’s n other brain scans could be sexy,...

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 10:53:59 -0500

If your brain MRI’s n other brain scans could be sexy, they’d dress in light blue and black…

Who am I kidding though…

OF COURSE MRI’S ARE SEXY!!!

"I think….. I just worked out…. a potential for a reason behind Alzheimers…. could..."

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 03:46:00 -0500

““I think….. I just worked out…. a potential for a reason behind Alzheimers…. could be critical to our research in the lab!! WOO!””

- - Michael Gykmeister Osborne’s shocked mind

"“If Ralph Wiggum wasn’t intellectually inept, his claim of “It tastes like..."

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 03:21:00 -0500

“

“If Ralph Wiggum wasn’t intellectually inept, his claim of “It tastes like burning” could have been due to a disorder called “Synesthesia”, a ‘disorder’ of which people’s senses have their wires crossed.

Can you hear strawberry icecream? Taste light? See music? etc… People with this disorder can!!!”

”

- @PhysioLOLogy the 3-way illegitimate child of Phun, Phunny stuff and Physiology!

"Have seized a conference room with MASSIVE whiteboards and HUGE LCD screens as computer monitors...."

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 02:51:49 -0500

“

Have seized a conference room with MASSIVE whiteboards and HUGE LCD screens as computer monitors. Pumping some Dance, Alt. Rock and Electro whilst smashing out research on CCR’s (5, 6 and 7) along with related chemotactic factors and results of previous experiments and their designs….. plus learnt I need to ‘befriend’ the experimental mice…. yay.

… The Chinese students are hating on me something chronic! :P

”

- - Michael Gykmeister Osborne’s Sub-cranial matter

"Eventful day… Got lost in the Psychiatric Wing of the Hospital, couldn’t find the..."

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 02:07:57 -0500

““Eventful day… Got lost in the Psychiatric Wing of the Hospital, couldn’t find the Professor and lab partners, got to conference 20 mins late only for them to say “We don’t have CCR5, CCR6 or CCR7 KO mice for you to work with until July!” and then went to study but couldn’t… uni was evactuated thanks to a BOMB SCARE!”…. weird weird day!””

- - Michael Gykmeister Osborne’s Cranium

nprmusic: It takes an artist like Björk to turn the complex...

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 07:30:20 -0500

nprmusic:

It takes an artist like Björk to turn the complex process of DNA replication and transcription into something as simple and beautiful as a pop song. For the video of her song “Hollow,” from last year’s app-based album Biophilia, Björk has collaborated with biomedical animator Drew Berry to create a partly-scientific representation of the haunting song.

Watch now.

neurolove: Familial depression and cortical thickness To...

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 07:23:34 -0500

neurolove:

Familial depression and cortical thickness

To continue with a discussion of how depression might manifest in the brain, I thought I would talk about bigger picture things like brain anatomy. Back in 2009, this paper was published that compared brains of 131 people with or without familial history of depression. By this, I mean that their parents or grandparents had moderate to severe depression. These were not people who had depression, but who had a high (characterized by familial history) or low risk of developing it.

They found that people who had a high risk of developing depression had a 28% thinning of right hemispheric cortex. This is a huge reduction in cortex. They hypothesized that this thinning of cortex might confer a higher risk of depression by impairing that person’s ability to attend and respond to social and emotional cues from other people.

Furthermore, though thinning on the right side likely conferred a risk of developing depression, subjects who also had thinning on the left side most often actually did develop depression or anxiety. This makes it seem like it would be a graded likelihood to developing depression… thinning on the right side makes you more highly at risk, and the more thinning you have- for instance, if it also is thinned on the left side, the more likely you are to develop depression.

[Article Source: Peterson, B., Warner, V., Bansal, R., Zhu, H., Hao, X., Liu, J., Durkin, K., Adams, P., Wickramaratne, P., & Weissman, M. (2009). Cortical thinning in persons at increased familial risk for major depression Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106 (15), 6273-6278 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0805311106]

gykmeister: I know nobody will probably care… but here’s a...

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 05:57:23 -0500

gykmeister:

I know nobody will probably care… but here’s a glimpse at a few of the molecules I’ll be working with.

You’re probably wondering, “Isn’t cholesterol only for heart disease?”

No…. no it isn’t! The body is one single vessel, every molecule inside that vessel effects all the other molecules in some way.

Here’s an analogy;

In a workplace, 10 people are all together in a lift (a confined ‘isolated’ area)…. 1 of them farts… it effects the other 9 people directly. 1 of the 9 quickly opens the door and runs away going to be sick grossing everyone else out at work (it then effects everyone else indirectly).

So, in short, shit gets around and preventative measures are necessary!

Q.E.D.

"Starting my research project tomorrow into the behavioural/psychiatric resultants when mice have..."

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 22:09:40 -0500

““Starting my research project tomorrow into the behavioural/psychiatric resultants when mice have either ApOE, CCR5, CCR6 or CCR7 immunologically altered/removed… WISH ME LUCK!!!!””

- Michael Gykmeister Osborne’s Cerebral Cortex

Neuroscience: New Alzheimer's Marker Strongly Predicts Mental Decline

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 22:06:17 -0500

Neuroscience: New Alzheimer's Marker Strongly Predicts Mental Decline:

neurosciencestuff:

ScienceDaily (Mar. 5, 2012) — A new marker of Alzheimer’s disease can predict how rapidly a patient’s memory and other mental abilities will decline after the disorder is diagnosed, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found.

In 60 patients with early…

MILT - No, it's not a "Mother I'd Love-ta 'Tickle' " !

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 06:27:59 -0500

SENSES!

BOOM!

You’re probably wondering why I’m so excited about the senses, well, It’s ‘cos they’re so ”FREAKIN’ SWEET!” (- Peter Griffin, 2005)

The way the senses work are from the 4 things hidden in this anagram;

Modality
Intensity
Location
Timing

Confused? Let’s explain and simplify, yes, it’s possible!

Modality: The mode of which the signal is transmitted e.g. Bioelectrical, Hormonal etc.

Intensity: How “intense” is the stimulus? E.g. Noise, is it loud or quiet? Taste, is it REALLY salty or has it got just a little bit?

Location: *Ahem* ….. If you don’t understand what this means, question yourself as to why you are bothering to study this in the first place….. *Ahem*

Timing: Is the timing associated with something else that might be triggering the same or a different sense? Is the signal needed to be cross-analysed with another sense to make “sense”?

Get used to these for now and we’ll roll with more explanations and analogies later…. but for now, HERE’S A SHAVED LLAMA!!!

Tehehehehe YO LLAMA! You’re looking a tad SHEEPISH but with a long neck… and you’re not a sheep….. shut up, stop trying to mock my try-hard joke, you look ridiculous!

I swear this one looks like a sock puppet!