Franz Kafka, From A Diary Entry Featured In "The Diaries Of Franz Kafka,"

why neuroscience is cool

space & the brain are like the two final frontiers

we know just enough to know we know nothing

there are radically new theories all. the. time. and even just in my research assistant work i've been able to meet with, talk to, and work with the people making them

it's such a philosophical science

potential to do a lot of good in fighting neurological diseases

things like BCI (brain computer interface) and OI (organoid intelligence) are soooooo new and anyone's game - motivation to study hard and be successful so i can take back my field from elon musk

machine learning is going to rapidly increase neuroscience progress i promise you. we get so caught up in AI stealing jobs but yes please steal my job of manually analyzing fMRI scans please i would much prefer to work on the science PLUS computational simulations will soon >>> animal testing to make all drug testing safer and more ethical !! we love ethical AI <3

collab with...everyone under the sun - psychologists, philosophers, ethicists, physicists, molecular biologists, chemists, drug development, machine learning, traditional computing, business, history, education, literally try to name a field we don't work with

it's the brain eeeeee

Good News Network

Owning Pets Helps Stave Off Dementia for People Over 50 Living on Their Own

Caring for a pet helps stave off cognitive decline for people over 50 who live on their own, according to a new study of almost 8,000 partic

"Caring for a pet helps stave off cognitive decline for people over 50 who live on their own, according to a new study of almost 8,000 participants.

Researchers found that pet ownership was associated with slower rates of decline in verbal memory and verbal fluency among the older adults who were living alone.

The study included 7,945 mostly-white British participants from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing with an average age of 66.

Followed over an eight year period, more than a third of the group (35.1 percent) owned pets; about 30% of the group lived alone.

Previous studies suggested that solitary living is a risk factor for developing dementia and cognitive decline, but among those folks, raising dogs or cats was related to reduced loneliness.

Some research has found that pet ownership is associated with better verbal memory and executive function, but others failed to find any evidence.

The new research published in JAMA Network aimed to further explore the association between aging by oneself—a trend which has been on the rise over the past few decades—and pet ownership. And the results were clear.

“Pet ownership offset the associations between living alone and declining rates in verbal memory and verbal fluency,” said study corresponding author Professor Ciyong Lu, of Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China.

It was “a significant modifier” in all 3 associations—composite verbal cognition, verbal memory, and verbal fluency.

“Pet ownership was associated with slower rates of decline among older adults living alone.”

But owning a cat or dog did not make any difference for older people who lived with other people.

“These findings suggest that pet ownership may be associated with slower cognitive decline among older adults living alone.”

Prof. Lu is now calling for clinical trials that could help inform public health measures to address dementia among the elderly."

-via Good News Network, November 30, 2023

Women’s health is a mess, I know this. Research is unthinkably underfunded and doctors seem to do nothing but ignore you and prescribe birth control.

But it’s not all bad, and when you feel hopeless, consider that there are people just as mad as you, who work in research and medicine.

They may have found a cause for morning sickness and hyperemesis gravidarum! Connecticut just announced a new huge research center just for endometriosis! There’s more and more research about the connection between vitamin D and fertility! Diagnostics and hormone tracking gets a little easier every year!

Here are a few of my favorite recent breakthroughs in women’s health:

Hawes, Geoffrey. “LinkMed to Provide First At-Home Fertility Monitoring in U.S.” EIN News, October 20, 2022. https://www.einnews.com/pr_news/596793974/linkmed-to-provide-first-at-home-fertility-monitoring-in-u-s.

He, Yanan, Jixin Li, Yanjun Qu, Liyuan Sun, Xibo Zhao, Han Wu, and Guangmei Zhang. “Identification and Analysis of Potential Immune-Related Biomarkers in Endometriosis.” Journal of Immunology Research 2023 (January 10, 2023): e2975581. https://doi.org/10.1155/2023/2975581.

Hill, Matthew, and Rhiannon Yhnell. “Device Developed in Bristol Offers ‘revolution’ in Hormone Understanding.” BBC News, June 21, 2023, sec. Bristol. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-bristol-65961378.

Medical Xpress. “Early Blood Test May Unravel Secrets of Pregnancy Loss,” May 17, 2023. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-05-early-blood-unravel-secrets-pregnancy.html.

Medical Xpress. “Extra Vitamin D during Pregnancy May Increase Chance of a ‘Natural Birth,’” February 6, 2023. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-02-extra-vitamin-d-pregnancy-chance.html.

PR Newswire. “Gynov Helps Women Cope with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome with Two Key Ingredients,” October 20, 2022. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/gynov-helps-women-cope-with-polycystic-ovary-syndrome-with-two-key-ingredients-301654438.html.

PR Newswire. “QvinTM Menstrual Blood Diagnostic Device Receives FDA Approval in Thailand,” February 2, 2023. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/qvin-menstrual-blood-diagnostic-device-receives-fda-approval-in-thailand-301736890.html.

Sommer, Constance. “Decoding Endometriosis: Recent Research Fosters Hope.” Medscape, February 2, 2023. https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/987811?src=rss.

Watson, Clare. “Scientists Think They’ve Found The Cause of Morning Sickness.” ScienceAlert, June 21, 2023. https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-think-theyve-found-the-cause-of-morning-sickness.

people who work/study in quantitative bio-adjacent fields, rise up. computational neuroscience where you get to see someone's thoughts in feelings in graph form??? so cool. biophysics where you can pass blood plasma through an electric field to determine whether a patient has cancer or not?? unbelievable. biomedical engineering where you can literally build a device to pump someone's heart and be the difference between their life and death??? oh my god. disease modelling, being able to predict AND prevent communities being affected by disease on a large scale through your analysis of data??? i love science

apple.news

The Crucial Decision That Can Protect Women’s Health as They Age — The Wall Street Journal

Removing ovaries with a hysterectomy might increase risk of heart disease, stroke and dementia

A 2013 study in the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology found that among more than 750,000 women, about 46% removed their ovaries at the time of hysterectomy whereas 54% didn’t. Even premenopausal women who preserve their ovaries during a hysterectomy are at increased risk of dementia and heart disease but less so, according to multiple studies.

The health risks associated with the removal of ovaries are significant.

Rocca was co-author of a 2021 Jama Network Open study that found that women under 46 who removed both of their ovaries with or without a hysterectomy had an increased risk of mild cognitive impairment and performed worse on cognitive tests 30 years later compared with women who didn’t undergo the procedure.

Another study Rocca co-wrote found that women who had ovaries removed before age 50 faced higher risks for several conditions years later, including heart disease and osteoporosis.

Other studies have linked the procedures to an increased risk of dementia, Parkinson’s disease and accelerated aging.

Partial quote. Just got this as a little news alert and it’s something I think about semi frequently because of my job. Really under discussed and kind of wild

Celeste Ng, Little Fires Everywhere

ScienceAlert

Mysterious Viral DNA in Human Genome Linked With Psychiatric Disorders

Around 8% of human DNA is made up of genetic sequences acquired from ancient viruses.

Around 8% of human DNA is made up of genetic sequences acquired from ancient viruses. These sequences, known as human endogenous retroviruses (or Hervs), date back hundreds of thousands to millions of years – with some even predating the emergence of Homo sapiens. Our latest research suggests that some ancient viral DNA sequences in the human genome play a role in susceptibility to psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder. Hervs represent the remnants of these infections with ancient retroviruses. Retroviruses are viruses that insert a copy of their genetic material into the DNA of the cells they infect.

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NEVER A GOD

Garden Song - Phoebe Bridgers/LadyBird dir Gerwig/LadyBird dir Gerwig/warsh_tippy and zelda - whatever, dad/unknown/unknown/Little Women dir Gerwig/V.E. Schwab Vicious/LadyBird dir Gerwig/Waiting Room - Phoebe Bridgers

Joan Didion, from Blue Nights