Nervous System Power Hour Reading

Rewire Your Brain

Preface and Firing the Right Cells Together

During my power hour reading, I read Rewire Your Brain by John B. Arden, Ph.D. I had read both the Preface of the book and the first chapter, "Firing the Right Cells Together". The preface starts off by stating the concepts of the brain such as neuroplasticity are dramatically evolving each day as we learn more about it. The preface also introduces all the chapters and their subjects, and the one that caught my eye the most was the first chapter, where the concept of neuroplasticity has altered, and how the brain can form and kill both good and bad habits. The author introduces us to an unpopular opinion in the first chapter, that the brain is not "hard-wired" but rather "soft-wired" by experience. It is popular opinion to believe genetics play a role in your brain's development (which they still do), but that genes do not influence our thoughts or feelings. Both thoughts and feelings are actually developed through the subject of nurture vs. nature. The traits develop based off how well we are taken care of as adolescents and the type of environment we mature in. However, the author introduces a new theory, "nurtured nature", in which both nurture and nature correlate with each other rather than against each other. Arden then introduces us to the three cortexes that have the highest influence on us as we develop: prefrontal cortex (PFC), dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), and the orbital frontal cortex (OFC). The PFC allows us to act based off a moral system, the DLPFC is involved in critical thinking, attention span, and short term memory, and the OFC helps process emotions in the brain. Lastly, the author introduces the reader to FEED, which supposedly helps rewire the brain. F stands for focus, where we must pay attention to our behavior or memory if we want to reenact it next time. E stands for effort, where we shift our perception to action. E stands for effortlessness, where new behaviors or thoughts take less time and energy to keep it running. Finally there is D, determination, which helps the brain stay in practice. One question I would have for the author is that are there any other methods to rewiring our brain besides FEED, and how? My other question would be why is the corpsus callosum, which connects both hemispheres in the brain and keep the cortexes intact, is bigger in females than it is in males?

The Clay Brain

The first view I worked on was the left hemisphere via the saggital plane. What I did was establish a base of the whole brain and the stem, and then added and connected parts throughout the brain. However, due to limited time and lack of help from my partner, the same could not be said about the right hemisphere. Instead, I was rushed with little class time to add all the parts without the base, which is why it looks sloppy and beaten compared to the left hemisphere. Ashkan, my partner, did not even label any of the parts until the very last minutes of class, which by then it was too late. We then had to compromise and label the most important parts of the brain after class since the substitute had to leave soon. The results are displayed below. 

The left hemisphere from the view of the saggital plane

The right hemisphere from the view of the saggital plane

 

A Woman Perpetually Falling...

One quote I found interesting in the reading was, "The first time they tried the hat, Cheryl wore it for only a minute. They noticed that after she took it off, there was a "residual effect"." Basically, the longer Cheryl wore the device, the more time she had being independent due to the "residual effect". Another quote I found interesting was, "If certain key pathways are blocked, then the brain uses older pathways to go around them... These "secondary" neural pathways are "unmasked", or exposed, and, with use, strengthened." I found it interesting since there are hidden pathways in our brain that has never been used before, and if we ever damage our brain, it can find alternate neurological pathways to cure paralysis. The last quote I found interesting was, "But our brains also restructure themselves in response to input from the simplest tools too, such as a blind man's cane." Our brain is a natural cyborg, and can adapt to any disease or paralysis with proper training. The article starts off by following Cheryl Schiltz, who's whole vestibular apparatus is non-functional. She then tries on a machine by Mr. Bach-y-Rata that sends electrical signals through her tongue that stimulates the brain. The longer she wears it, the more independent time she has where she can walk normally. I have heard before that electrical stimulation can give functions back to body parts, but not a whole system in general. The machine allows Cheryl independence since it finds alternate, nervous pathways in the brain that has never been trained before. This allows the brain to adapt to it's environment and train the body again for movement. Cheryl can now remain independent for months just by wearing the machine for a couple days, and since then others have begun to rehabilitate their bodies from paralysis to full function.  

The Woman With a Hole in Her Brain

The article claims that a 24 year old woman had been able survive without her cerebellum.  The discovery was made when the woman was admitted into a Chinese hospital with a chronic headache, and further CAT scans showed that cerebrospinal fluid had built up in the area where the cerebellum is. The cerebellum plays a key role in control voluntary movements and actions. A damaged cerebellum for a human can result in mental impairment, motor deficiency, and mild speech problems. The women joins just nine people in the world to survive without the cerebellum, while most missing the cerebellum occasionally die at a young age.

What Happens if You Are Missing Your Frontal Lobe?

There have been numerous cases of people living despite frontal lobe trauma, the most notable being the 1800's miner Phineas Cage, who survived a metal rod blowing straight through his skull and obliterating his whole frontal lobe. Without the frontal lobe, most human subjects prove to be socially awkward or inept. They can have frequent mood swings and be easily irritated, even of events that do not affect them. Frontal lobe trauma victims are also noted to be unmotivated and lack inhibition to complete tasks. A worst case scenario for frontal lobe trauma victims is that they become completely paralyzed, as their motor cortex in both hemispheres are damaged. Despite these limiting factors, humans can indeed live without their frontal lobe, but such limits restrict victims from fully living life. 

Unit 5 Reflection

  In Unit 5, we explored the digestive system, the endocrine system, and the lymphatic system. The main theme I garnered while studying the digestive system is how does the body use certain molecules and chemical pathways to meet its energy demands. For our digestion system, our body uses fuel metabolism to meet it's energy demands. To accomplish this, our body uses the three stages of energy extraction to retain these nutrients. Macromolecules are transformed into complex forms in stage I, which then the complex forms are converted into AcetylCoA. ATP is then generated from AcetylCoA, which fuels the body. When the body begins to run low on fuel, the pancreas releases glucagons for the body to eat more and retain more nutrients. The main theme I learned while studying the endocrine system is that the glands use various hormones to control various activities. There are two types of hormones are glands secrete: Steroid- which are lipid soluble and diffuse through cell membranes- and Nonsteroid- which are not lipid soluble and received by receptors external to the cell membrane. Hormones use the "Lock and Key" approach when interacting with specific receptors, as each hormone has it's own unique receptor. Our body secretes hormones through negative feedback, which helps the endocrine system maintain homeostasis and secrete certain hormones based o physiological changes. Negative feedback also reflects off diabetes too. Since the body is producing too little insulin, diabetic patients inject insulin in themselves so that the body and endocrine system can utilize the hormone to control hunger from the negative feedback. Lastly, the lymphatic system. We learned that the lymphatic system plays a huge part in our immunity, lipid absorption, and fluid recovery. The main purpose of the lymphatic system is circulation and immunity, as lymphocytes absorb plasma proteins and fluid from tissues, and bring it back to our bloodstream. Lymphocytes also help with immunity, as they produce T-cells- helps with cellular immunity-, B-cells- humoral immunity-, and NK cells- immunological surveillance.
In this unit, I believed my main strength was the endocrine system, as I have explored the system before and even learned about some hormones such as HGH, testoserone, and estrogen. However, my main weakness was the digestion system and lymphatic system since I had not studied it as much as the endocrine system, and as I am still confused on what the lymphatic system is. My biggest setback this unit was the temp check, which was mainly based around the digestion system. I only got one question right, which means I should emphasize studying the digestion system more to understand it for the test.
  The only lab we did throughout the entire unit was the digestion lab. What I learned from this lab is that our digestive lab is quite larger and longer than the human body. For me, my digestive tract is 5.4 meters, about thrice as long as my body. We also read the Does Your Metabolism Need an Overhaul  article, where I learned that weight training actually boosts our metabolism, not cardio exercises.
  Throughout the unit, the study that had brought the most interest to me was the endocrine system. This system had brought interest into me since I am a teenager, and the system is at it's peak when it comes to producing hormones. What I always wondered about is how we can prevent certain secretions of hormones, and regulate certain secretions of hormones. Can we as humans control these secretions, or will our body always be able to control and secrete hormones whenever it wants. Only time and evolution can answer such a unique question.
  My goals from the New Year have steadily been gaining traction. I continue to lift about six times a week, although instead of doing two hours of moderate intensity exercises, I do one hour of high intensity exercises. I manage to get between 7 to 9 hours of sleep, but I have now decided that I need more sleep since I still feel drowsy throughout the day, so I am now aiming for nine hours. My diet now includes more protein and legumes, although I still end up with carbohydrates in my meals still. As for homework, I cannot find time to complete it due to classes and social life, so I still end up doing my homework after school. However, if I can procrastinate less, than it would not serve a problem for me.
  My other goal for this year was to ace Anatomy. However, a huge setback has been presented, I failed my temp check. This would most likely bring my grade down to a C, so I will now have to emphasize more on studying for the class. I have yet to take more detailed notes or apply them to the outside world, so perhaps if I accomplish these they would serve as a solution for future tests. As for now, I will have to rely on my knowledge and less procrastination to survive in Anatomy and graduate my way to university.