This is a preview, as you have to have a membership to watch the full 1.25 hours.
I do have a membership, but cannot put the member content on here.
This video is certainly intriguing and worth your while to listen to. I am planning on taking full advantage of this GAIA membership and reading/watching as many things that I can and then sharing them with my loved ones and friends. I’m adding some screenshots of the video below, they might entice some people to listen to this
Day 26 In Canada, as in many Commonwealth countries, we celebrate December 26th as “Boxing Day”. It had some meaning way back to do with servants and civil servants collecting boxes of gifts or cash as tokens of appreciation. These … Continue reading →
Discovery brings with it possible implications for brain regeneration –
In a cross-domain study directed by professor Peter Carmeliet (VIB – KU Leuven), researchers discovered unexpected cells in the protective membranes that enclose the brain, the so called meninges. These ‘neural progenitors’ (stem cells that differentiate into different kinds of neurons) are produced during embryonic development.
These findings show that the neural progenitors found in the meninges produce new neurons after birth, highlighting the importance of meningeal tissue as well as these cells’ potential in the development of new therapies for brain damage or neurodegeneration. A paper highlighting the results is published in the journal Cell Stem Cell.
Scientists’ understanding of brain plasticity, or the ability of the brain to grow, develop, recover from injuries and adapt to changing conditions throughout our lives, has been greatly broadened in recent years. Before the discoveries of the last few decades, neurologists once thought that the brain became ‘static’ after childhood. This dogma has changed, with researchers finding more and more evidence that the brain is capable of healing and regenerating in adulthood, thanks to the presence of stem cells. However, neuronal stem cells were generally believed to only reside within the brain tissue, not in the membranes surrounding it.
The meninges: unappreciated no more
Believed in the past to serve a mainly protective function to dampen mechanical shocks, the meninges have been historically underappreciated by science as having neurological importance in its own right. The data gathered by the team challenges the current idea that neural precursors—or stem cells that give rise to neurons—can only be found inside actual brain tissue.
Prof. Peter Carmeliet notes: “The neuronal stems cells that we discovered inside the meninges differentiate to full neurons, electrically-active and functionally integrated into the neuronal circuit. To show that the stem cells reside in the meninges, we used the extremely powerful single-cell RNA sequencing technique, a very novel top-notch technique, capable of identifying the [complex gene expression signature] nature of individual cells in a previously unsurpassed manner, a première at VIB.”
Following up on future research avenues
When it comes to future leads for this discovery, the scientists also see possibilities for translation into clinical application, though future work is required.
“An intriguing question is whether these neuronal stem cells in the meninges could lead to better therapies for brain damage or neurodegeneration. However, answering this question would require a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms that regulate the differentiation of these stem cells,” says Carmeliet. “How are these meningeal stem cells activated to become different kinds of neurons? Can we therapeutically ‘hijack’ their regeneration potential to restore dying neurons in, for example, Alzheimer’ Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and other neurodegenerative disorders? Also, can we isolate these neurogenic progenitors from the meninges at birth and use them for later transplantation? These findings open up very exciting research opportunities for the future.”
Moving into unchartered territory is high risk, and can offer high gain, but securing funding for such type of research is challenging. However, Carmeliet’s discoveries were made possible to a large extent by funding through “Opening the Future: pioneering without boundaries”, a recently created Mecenas Funding Campaign for funding of high risk brain research but with potential for breakthrough discoveries, started up by the KU Leuven in 2013 and unique in Flanders.
“Being able to use such non-conventional funding channels is of utmost importance to break new boundaries in research,” says Carmeliet. “This unique Mecenas funding initiative by the KU Leuven is innovative and boundary-breaking by itself. Our entire team is enormously grateful for the opportunities it has created for our investigations”.
Note: Material may have been edited for length and content. For further information, please contact the cited source.
And I feel like my ass has been kicked by Andre the Giant.
I survived the family shindig. Christmas Day was just me and Spook at home. Quiet, calm, no drama. Obligatory calls to wish the parents well.
Today…I feel hungover. Minus the booze. This is the norm for me every year. I can feign my way through joy. The psychological cost is astronomical.
Tis a warmish sunny day and Spook is outside playing with the devil girls.
I feel like I was embalmed alive.
(The kids’ gleeful shrieking is setting off my panic receptors but another Xanax will make me zonk out. Odd since at night I still need melatonin to sleep.WTF?)
On the plus side, there was no family drama X Mas Eve. We all got along well. As usual, my chicken noodles were a hit. I made a HUGE kettle with 4 packs of noodles and by nights’ end…only broth was left. Least I got something right.
Is it just me or does anyone else suffering bipolar depression feel so tapped out and drained after the hellidays even if everything went fairly well?
It makes me feel like a wussy.
So in spite of all the housework that needs done…It can wait til I bounce back from this trip down the rabbit hole.
Sooo…do tell. How was YOUR holiday? Even if all went well…Do you feel hungover as if you went on a week long bender?
Or is it just me?
And does anyone else find no matter how much the bright ass sunlight sorta lifts the mood…yet sets off the panic and sense of paranoia and danger?
I used to say, “so many freaks, so few circuses.”
How the hell did I end up being the ringmaster? And where are my damned tigers to play with and train to maul cockweasels?
Satan, er, Santa doesn’t always bring you what you want, kids.
Day 26 In Canada, as in many Commonwealth countries, we celebrate December 26th as “Boxing Day”. It had some meaning way back to do with servants and civil servants collecting boxes of gifts or cash as tokens of appreciation. These … Continue reading →
We had a wonderful Christmas this year. Started out with my folks on Christmas Eve day and my daddy was in a good mood so that made everyone happy. The girls got lots of fun stuff–I think my youngest one’s favorite was a calligraphy set. Hope she is disciplined enough to learn it. Then Christmas morning with all of us at home. My “elf” gift went over well–everyone liked their Charlie Brown/Mississippi State T-shirts. I only wrapped one gift wrong and It wasn’t too bad a mistake–I gave what I had intended for BOb (all 79 Star Trek original episodes) to my middle one. She liked it better than Bob seemed to would have. The girls liked all their presents and I liked all of mine.
Then we went to church and had a wonderful service. I’m really glad we did not give in to the temptation to mot go. And we got out early so didn’t delay dinner with Bob’s parents. The kids got really special gifts from their grandparents–nativity scenes that were made in Bethlehem. My oldest started crying when she opened hers. So that was neat.
I;m going to have fun shopping–I got bookstore gift cards instead of the books I had requested. So it will be fun to find them. But we will see how that goes. Today instead of shopping we are having friends over to watch the Mississippi State bowl game. So the hoes is all nice and clean :) I have so enjoyed the holidays so far. Hopefuly I will stay on an even keel and continue to do so.
We survived Christmas! At least I did, and anyone reading this did too. (Duh.)
You may still have a Christmas party hangover. You may still have post-holiday tidying or un-decorating to do. You probably still have leftovers, unless you’re like me and went to the Chinese buffet for Christmas or Hannukah dinner.
You may have lived through another holiday of loneliness, despair, and emptiness. You may feel abandoned and alone. Nothing has really changed, you may think.
Yes, you still have bipolar disorder. Yes, you may still suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder or Borderline Personality Disorder or PTSD. You may be manic or depressed or in a mixed state.
But you survived one of the most problematic holidays in the calendar. And that’s an accomplishment. Take a moment to savor the quiet and calm around you. If you’re manic, go ahead and use those gift cards that people gave you at the post-holiday sales. Or do what I do and snuggle up in bed with a book, a cat, and a cup of hot cocoa. Don’t force yourself to meet someone else’s expectations or even your own, if they’re unreasonable.
The week between Christmas and New Year may be for many people a time to assess the past year and think about changes to make in the new one. I’m not going to do that, and I don’t really recommend it for anyone else. 2016 was tough on a lot of us – even my friends who don’t have bipolar disorder. The deaths of so many celebrities, the election, the ugliness we saw on our televisions and social media have in some way damaged us all. And the only changes I can think of that I would like to make are changes to the world, ones that I have little to no control over.
I don’t make New Year’s resolutions, and I’m not going to start this year. There are things I am working on that I will keep working on – my writing, for example – but I will not set myself an artificial goal such as a certain number of words to write per day or week. I will try to keep to my schedule of blog posts, but that’s something I’ve been doing for a while now, so you can’t really call it a resolution.
That’s basically my strategy: Keep on doing the things I’m doing. Getting out of bed as often as I can and the house once in a while. Taking my meds regularly. Seeing my therapist and my psychiatrist. Working and meeting deadlines. Appreciating my husband. Reaching out to my depressed friends. None of those are resolutions; they’re just how I always try to get by.
If you do make resolutions, I recommend small, everyday ones, not large projects like running a mile a day or learning a new language. Resolve to keep trying and keep living and taking advantage of whatever comfort or joy does cross your path. Resolve to pray, or do affirmations or practice mindfulness, if those are your thing.
Let’s all get ready to survive another one. Hang on. It could be a bumpy ride.
Hubby and I were in the office working on our computers when we heard a strange noise coming from in front of the closet near my desk run-off. Hubby asked, “What was that?” I smiled and said, “Monkey is in the … Continue reading →
Hubby and I were in the office working on our computers when we heard a strange noise coming from in front of the closet near my desk run-off. Hubby asked, “What was that?” I smiled and said, “Monkey is in the … Continue reading →
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