Beta banded memories from the corner of my mind

An article titled “Rooted Sorrow” published in the April 27, 2009 issue of Newsweek captured my attention.  Ironically, a piece about memory is being lodged in my memory.  As Kylie Minogue would say, I just can’t get [it] out of my head, so I figured, I will write about that.

The original findings around which the article orbits is from a researcher named Karim Nader, presently at McGill.  His conclusion, presented at the Society for Neuroscience in 2001 I’m guessing, was that long term memories, when retrieved, can be altered before they return to storage, aka reconsolidation. 

This theory suggests that memories are like bedsheets.  You know, when you can’t get them back into the packaging exactly like how they were before they were opened?  I’m trying to come up with a better analogy, but that will do for the time being.

The tragic issue is that Newsweek completely failed to mention Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, one of the best movies ever.  All right, it’s mentioned in the online photo gallery, but that doesn’t really count because I was reading the paper edition, and it’s still not mentioned in the story.  Shame on Newsweek.  Here’s an article from Forbes on Nader which came out in 2007 and brings up the movie.  Props to Forbes.

Nader’s recent research is focusing on the use of propranolol to treat individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).  When I read about his rat experiments, I was picturing him having a tiny microphone and interviewing the rats on how they felt after trauma.  “So Mr. Sprague, do you feel less upset about recalling me shocking you?  Ms. Dawley, do these memories still bother you?”

As someone with a particularly vivid memory and as someone who has taken a class on memory and as someone who had popped a propranolol or two, I feel as though I am a semi-qualified expert on this matter (or not).

Propranolol, a beta blocker, was developed to help those with high blood pressure.  It works by blocking the beta subtype of adrenergic receptors, thus negating the effects of the hormone epinephrine/adrenaline.  Net results include a slower heartbeat and lowered blood pressure.  Apparently epinephrine works to strengthen emotional memories?  Interesting.  That is why beta blockers are being explored as a viable option, along with painkillers, nausea drugs, and RU-486. 

In these highlighted studies, subjects with PTSD were instructed to write down their trauma in extensive detail, and then for six weeks, these people would pop propranolol before reading the account, with the idea that your body would act calm even though you were reliving a horrible experience.  The results were promising.  I guess it’s hard to really control for these sorts of studies though.  I wonder about using propranolol for years, long term use.  Do these folks have fewer upsetting emotional memories?  Flatter memories?

But hey, anything which can lessen the bad stuff deserves praise.  Though it would be much simpler if lab techs snuck in while you were sleeping and wiped the slate clean.  My brilliant idea is to someday develop a way to excise the unpleasantness, live life, and when ready, have the memory plopped back in if you’d like.  Just like cells frozen in storage.  They’re there if you want ‘em, but they can chill out if you don’t.

References

• http://scienceblogs.com/moleculeoftheday/2009/02/propranolol_adrenalin_armor.php
• http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/beta-blockers/HI00059

See, you really can see. Even if you can’t see.

Greg showed me this video way back when, also known as December of 2008 but only now have I gotten myself in gear to actually write about it. He had first found it on The New York Times, an article called “Blind, Yet Seeing: The Brain’s Subconscious Visual Sense.”

The video mentioned can be seen at these places:

• http://beatricedegelder.com/documents/Filmato.wmv
• http://download.cell.com/current-biology/mmcs/journals/0960-9822/PIIS0960982208014334.mmc2.avi

The NYT article is a made-of-the-masses summary of this scientific journal article:

de Gelder B, Tamietto M, van Boxtel G, Roebel R, Sahraie A, van den Stock J, Stienen BMC, Weiskrantz L, Pegna A. 2008. Intact navigation skills after bilateral loss of striate cortex. Current Biology 18:R1128-R1129.

A physician originally from Africa experienced two strokes which damaged his visual cortices (located at the back of the head). Interestingly enough, the NYT mentions that this subject, TN, is a doctor, while the original article does not. TN’s eyes and circuits are fine though. Oh wait, the NYT stated that the visual cortices were completely damaged and in de Gelder et al., “[b]ecause it was impossible to control his fixation, one could not be certain that absolutely all visual cortex had been destroyed or inactivated. Nevertheless, it is a highly reasonable surmise that this was so….” Lesson learned, go to the source!

Amazingly, TN could navigate the obstacle course without bumping into boxes and furniture. TN was as gobsmacked as the experimenter who was along for the ride since he assumed he’d be stubbing his toes and tripping all over the place.

Echolocation was basically ruled out as a compensatory mechanism. A reference was made to a similar case, though in a monkey named Helen, and her brain lesions were not as widespread as TN’s. So this is a jumping-off point for more studies in this area. The researchers are concluding that there are other mechanisms which rise to the surface when the visual system is damaged. That’s nifty, sort of like a backup system.

I don’t know about you, but this is just hard to fathom. Not that I don’t believe the study, I do, but it’s difficult for those of us with a healthy visual system (more or less) to think about putting on a blindfold and walking down the sidewalk without smashing into poles, people, mailboxes, and so forth. Wow, crazy. Super senses.

Think Wink: Locked into The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

“Other than my eye, two things aren’t paralyzed: my imagination and my memory.”

–Jean-Dominique Bauby (Mathieu Amalric) in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

My co-worker saw this film earlier this year and was recommending it to all.  I ended up seeing Persepolis in the theater over The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Persepolis is another highly recommended motion picture), and both films definitely had staying power with me.  It continues to blow my mind how a man was able to “talk” to the world by using a single eyelid: one blink for yes and two blinks for no.  Jean-Dominique Bauby, known to his friends as Jean-Do, at first is naturally frustrated with his situation and wants death, but he is encouraged to speak to the world by his speech therapist and is able to pen an autobiography with the help of his dedicated assistant.  When Jean-Do’s book was published in France, it became a hit but its success was bittersweet as Bauby passed away soon after due to pneumonia.  

Locked-in syndrome (LIS), also known as pseudocoma or coma vigilante, is extremely rare and typically occurs after brain injury but can also be the result of circulatory system malfunction, neuron damage, or medication poisoning.  The body is completely immobile save for the eyes but the patient is conscious and awake.  Physicians find locked-in syndrome difficult to diagnose because the lack of verbal and physical responses from the patient.  Unfortunately there is no treatment for locked-in syndrome and patients do not make significant improvements, but patients can communicate more readily with the advent of computerized devices.

The film’s imagery, Jean-Do’s imagery, includes Jean-Do at the bottom of the ocean, in an old-fashioned diving suit.  He likens his condition to being immersed in the sea, being isolated and away from everyone at the surface.  However the former editor of French Elle is not defeated and does not let the pressure drag him down and likens his mind to a butterfly, floating free.  Even now, months later, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly came up in conversation, and I must admit that my mind is still blown. 

References

• Chisholm N and Gillett G.  2005.  The patient’s journey: living with locked-in syndrome.  British Medical Journal 331:94-97.
• Laureys S et al.  2005.  The locked-in syndrome: what is it like to be conscious but paralyzed and voiceless?  Progress in Brain Research 150:495-511.
• National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.  Locked-In Syndrome Information Page.  http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/lockedinsyndrome/lockedinsyndrome.htm

He’s lost control

Recently I watched the movie Control which is based on the life of Joy Division’s Ian Curtis. Noted music video helmer Anton Corbijn directed the film; he also did the stylish vids for “All These Things That I’ve Done” by The Killers and Coldplay’s “Talk.” Frontman Curtis was diagnosed with epilepsy at the age of 22. Somehow I thought epilepsy was a disease that you had for life and was diagnosed when you were a child. That is not the case. I did learn in a class that epilepsy isn’t just defined by tonic-clonic (aka grand mal) seizures.

Seizures are caused by altered neuron activity and can be caused by things such as illnesses or brain damage. There are an amazing 30 different kinds of seizures, classified into the focal and general categories. With focal seizures, there is faulty brain activity at one part of the brain, resulting in symptoms such as sudden feelings and sensations or even a loss of consciousness. This was shown in the movie, when Ian is in high school and is asked a question by his chem teacher, but he has zoned out completely while staring at a structure drawn on the chalkboard. With general seizures, these are characterized oftentimes by the well-known twitching and jerking muscle movements. But having a seizure doesn’t automatically mean you are an epileptic. A person of any age can become affected by epilepsy, with more cases diagnosed in the under 10 set and the after 55 gang, and about 0.5 to 2% of the populace has this neurological disorder.

It was unfortunate that Mr. Curtis did not have access to the therapeutic possibilities of this day and age. Epilepsy cannot be cured but can be kept under control. Other famous individuals thought to have epilepsy include Socrates, Napoleon, Dostoevsky, and Alfred Nobel. Who knows, maybe if Ian had access to today’s medicine, he and Joy Division might still be making moody post-punk right now as you are reading this.

P.S. If you are curious about Joy Division, a nice companion documentary to the compelling Control is the not-so-creatively-named Joy Division.

Resources

• http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/epilepsy/detail_epilepsy.htm
• http://www.epilepsyfoundation.org/about/statistics.cfm
• http://www.epilepsy.com/101/ep101_who

The mysterious case of phantom jumping ouchness

J asks:  Sometimes I get a sharp pain in my pinky or thumb, it usually then jumps to my elbow or back/neck area, then goes away. Why should that be? Is there one long nerve that’s being activated? Why does it think there’s pain in two relatively distant places? Is there a reason I get the random finger pain in the first place?

I’m not a neurologist (darn it, I used to have access to neurologists!) but I wanted to try and shed some light on possible causes.

The nervous system is quite vast and complex.  It consists of nerves throughout the entire body that feed into the spinal cord which connects to the big bad brain.  Nerves are a bit like water systems in that creeks (teensy nerves) can feed into bigger streams (moderately-sized nerves) which feed into rivers (jumbo nerves).

The neuropathic pain being described here seems to be affecting the ulnar nerve aka “funny bone.”  Maybe caused by repetitive stress?  I know you are more than likely doing a lot of manual writing and typing.  The ulnar nerve innervates the pinky and half of the ring finger, and the median nerve innervates the other half of the ring finger and the rest of the digits. These nerves run the length of the arm and link up with the brachial plexus, a collection of nerves around the upper chest.  Could be carpal tunnel or cubital tunnel syndrome? 

From the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons on carpal tunnel (kinda sounds like what you’re describing):

Symptoms usually begin gradually, without a specific injury.

• Numbness, tingling, and pain in the hand are common.
• An electric-like shocking feeling in the fingers or hand.

The thumb side of the hand is usually most involved.

Symptoms may occur at any time. Symptoms at night are common and may awaken you from sleep. During the day, symptoms frequently occur when holding something, like a phone, or when reading or driving. Moving or shaking the hands often helps decrease symptoms.

Sometimes strange sensations and pain will travel up the arm toward the shoulder. Symptoms initially come and go, but over time they may become constant. A feeling of clumsiness or weakness can make delicate motions, like buttoning buttons, difficult.

One of the chief difficulties in pain treatment and management is the fact that pain is so difficult to describe.  Each person experiences pain differently, very subjective.  So many adjectives can be used to flesh out pain: sharp, tingling, mild, and so on and so forth. Good luck and hope the jumping pain stops bothering you! 

References

• http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=A00005
• http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=A00025
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Median_nerve
• http://www.assh.org/Content/NavigationMenu/PatientsPublic/HandConditions/CarpalTunnelSyndrome/Carpal_Tunnel_Syndr.htm