Possible Medical Applications of LSD

There has been a resurgence of the idea of using psychedelic drugs to treat alcoholism and maybe even nicotine addiction. The first study published on this subject was performed in the late 1960s and early 1970s by Teri Krebs and Pål-Ørjan Johansen. According to the article, "Psychedelics were promoted by psychiatrists in the 1950s as having a range of medical uses — to treat conditions such as schizophrenia, for example..." Recent interest has been taken in this kind of medication, as researchers are looking into the benefits of the active ingredients of psychedelics, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine in ecstasy, ayahuasca, and psilocybin of hallucinogenic mushrooms, for the treatment of various psychological complications, such as post traumatic stress disorder, drug and alcohol addictions, and nicotine addiction. 

So how does this work? Researchers are not entirely sure as to how this treatment works, as the hallucinogenic drugs not only act in a similar manner as serotonin neurotransmitters (and affect the same regions that serotonin would), but they also affect other, unknown, regions of the brain, creating a "snow globe" effect that weakens reinforced brain connections and dynamics. This is a stumbling block for the researchers that will prove to be vital in order to prove that the benefits of this therapy for alcohol and other addictions outweighs the possible complications. As of now, though, researchers would benefit more from studying human behavioral responses than the chemical properties of the drug.


This area of treatment is promising, according to the research by Krebs and Johansen, in a double blind study, "Of 536 participants in six trials, 59% of people receiving LSD reported lower levels of alcohol misuse, compared to 38% of people who received a placebo." These are very promising numbers, but they need to be expanded upon in a study with many more participants in order to validate the benefits of using psychedelics as a therapy for alcohol abuse and other addictions. It will be interesting to see where psychedelic drug therapy will go.


Article: http://www.nature.com/news/lsd-helps-to-treat-alcoholism-1.10200

Wireless and Touch Sensitive Bionics

Researchers at the Cambridge Centre for Brain Repair are developing a way for people with prosthetic limbs to send and receive sensory information to and from the limb to the brain. A neural interface is embedded into the nerve trunk that wirelessly sends signals to a receiver implanted in the prosthetic limb. Specific verve signals are selected for desired movements and the sensory signals are sent to the prosthetic. "People have produced very sophisticated prosthetics which will do very sophisticated things, but in almost every case the thing that people are struggling with is to link it up successfully to the nervous system," says Dr. James Fawcett a Professor at Cambridge Centre for Brain Repair. "A lot of soldiers who have lost limbs apparently have given up using these devices and gone back to a simple hook, which at least is reliable. The device we're producing is for recording sensory impulses in a nerve and gets inserted into the limb nerve itself," says Dr. Fawcett. The neural interface has been tested in mice and rats for twelve months without any problems. The researchers fear that the implanted device could interrupt signals by strangling the nerve fibers, but researchers have seen not seen this problem occur in the rats or mice. "We have a program which will develop a prototype interface in about three years' time and that will then be taken forward through the legislature for human safety and toxicity trials," predicts Dr. Fawcett.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-17183888

Stopping Cancer with Electric Fields (So it's Intensive :D)

TED Talks are extremely good and entertaining sources for advancements in technology today. In this video below, Bill Doyle discusses the possibility to stop cancer cells from spreading and growing into larger, metastatic tumors by eliminating its means of growth: cell division. Bill Doyle is the executive chair of Novocure, a company commercializing a new therapeutic modality for solid tumors using low-intensity electric fields. Recently, Novocure received FDA approval for its first indication, recurrent Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM), the most virulent form of brain cancer; it is now conducting additional clinical trials.

Sources: 

http://www.ted.com/talks/bill_doyle_treating_cancer_with_electric_fields.html

http://www.ted.com/speakers/bill_doyle.html

Hi-def fiber tracking helps pinpoint brain damage

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have developed a new way to test for brain damage. This technique is called High Definition Fiber Tracking (HDFT) and maps the brain, taking data from 257 directions to virtually dissect the 40 major fiber tracts in the brain. This augments the latest state-of-the-art technique, which uses 51 directions; over five-fold and can map a million brain fibers. One map using this technique is shown below.

This technique may be able to identify where neuronal connections have been broken in head trauma patients and in certain neurological disorders. The HDFT uses MRI maps of brain-damaged patients and runs numerous algorhythyms on this data to view the brain's fiber tracts, each which consist of millions of fibers. These HDFT maps can be compared to those of healthy patients to determine where the broken connections are, which can be used to repair the problem.

This technique has already been used to help a patient. A 32-year old man crashed an ATV, putting him into a coma. CT scans and an MRI scan could not target the damaged area, but the HDFT could. The HDFT helped to identify which neural pathways were disrupted and allowed the patient, who initially lost movement of his left leg, arm, and hand, to regain movement of his leg and partial movement of his wrist and fingers.

An informational YouTube video of this process can be found here:

(video would not embed into blog for copyright reasons)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvyVRQcHoyQ&feature=player_embedded

The full article can be found here:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-27083_3-57391015-247/hi-def-fiber-tracking-helps-pinpoint-brain-damage/?tag=txt;title

Cure for Celiac Disease?

Celiac disease is an autoimmune and inflammatory condition. The protein gluten triggers the inflammation that damages the lining of the small intestines. Symptoms include bloating, cramping, gas, and constipation.

In a new study, researchers blocked IL-15 (a specific DNA sequence), and found that the symptoms were reversed in mice, allowing for them to eat the protein again. Interleukin 15 (IL-15) regulates T and natural killer (NK) cell activation and proliferation. Survival signals that maintain memory T cells in the absence of antigen are provided by IL-15. They are beginning to come up with pathways in order to block this element, increasing the tolerance for Gluten again.

In a second study by BMC Medicine, they are investigating the responses by CD, to determine the pathways that trigger the increased intestinal permeability, mucosal damage, and genetic predisposition. Their results find the cause for CD still unknown.

Some acne medications are being found that may be complicit with the onset of Celiac Disease. Do NOT take Retin-A and Accutane, since they have been identified as potential culprits for Celiac.



http://www.celiaccenter.org/documents/GlutenSensitivity2011.pdf

http://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/celiac-disease/news/20110208/new-treatment-for-celiac-disease