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Looking Inside Kids’ Minds Can Open the Future July 13, 2008

Posted by brainbalancer in Medical Studies, Uncategorized.
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An interesting segment appeared on Good Morning America this morning.  It’s entitled Looking Inside Kids’ Minds Can Open the Future.  Worth a read.  It is about testing children diagnosed with ADHD with a Quantitative EEG (electroencephalograph).

Here’s a few points I gleaned…

Dr. Fernando Miranda, a neurologist at the Bright Minds Institute in San Francisco, says diagnosing children with behavioral disorders like ADHD and autism without looking at their brains is like trying to diagnose heart problems without actually looking at the heart.

(my note:  this can actually be done without a QEEG by doing a proper evaluation of a child, but it’s a good analogy)

They went to see Miranda at the Bright Minds Institute, and Miranda took a different approach to treating Danny.

Danny was wired for a qunatitative electroencephalography, or EEG, a very sophisticated test that measures a brain’s electrical output in response to certain stimuli. He also underwent a comprehensive neuropsychological exam, and magnetic resonance imaging of the brain.

<snip>

But the other children’s data yielded some surprises. Zach’s tests showed signs of ADHD but also structural problems in his brain.

“He has an area of lack of development of the hypocampus here. This is a finding that explains some of the problems that he does have sometimes remembering or paying attention,” Miranda said.

That information led Miranda to suggest not only medication but targeted therapy, in this case music lessons, to help teach the other side of Zach’s brain to pick up the slack.

Miranda contends specialized memory excercises that appeal to one particular side of the brain can train it to take over for the slower side.

Megan showed no signs of attention deficits or other brain issues. Miranda suggested simply helping her with her reading. Without this puzzle piece Megan would likely have been put on medication. Mom had assumed that Meagan, the youngest, likely had the same issue as her siblings.

Having evidence behind what was happening to her kids was a comfort to Jensen. “You truly understand what your’e looking at and what’s going on in your kids’ head,” she said. “And Dr. Miranda goes through each piece with you.”

What I found particularly interesting was the acknowledgment of a structural imbalance of the brain requiring specialized exercises to correct.  Hooray for Dr. Miranda and GMA!

Wow! A revelation!! July 13, 2008

Posted by brainbalancer in Food Effects on Brain, Interesting Factoids.
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This appearing in Nature Magazine - Nature Reviews: Neuroscience, and also as a press release from UCLA :

In addition to helping protect us from heart disease and cancer, a balanced diet and regular exercise can also protect the brain and ward off mental disorders.”Food is like a pharmaceutical compound that affects the brain,” said Fernando Gómez-Pinilla, a UCLA professor of neurosurgery and physiological science who has spent years studying the effects of food, exercise and sleep on the brain. “Diet, exercise and sleep have the potential to alter our brain health and mental function. This raises the exciting possibility that changes in diet are a viable strategy for enhancing cognitive abilities, protecting the brain from damage and counteracting the effects of aging.”

Gómez-Pinilla analyzed more than 160 studies about food’s affect on the brain; the results of his analysis appear in the July issue of the journal Nature Reviews Neuroscience and are available online at www.nature.com/nrn/journal/v9/n7/abs/nrn2421.html.

Omega-3 fatty acids – found in salmon, walnuts and kiwi fruit – provide many benefits, including improving learning and memory and helping to fight against such mental disorders as depression and mood disorders, schizophrenia, and dementia, said Gómez-Pinilla, a member of UCLA’s Brain Research Institute and Brain Injury Research Center.

Synapses in the brain connect neurons and provide critical functions; much learning and memory occurs at the synapses, Gómez-Pinilla said.

“Omega-3 fatty acids support synaptic plasticity and seem to positively affect the expression of several molecules related to learning and memory that are found on synapses,” Gómez-Pinilla said. “Omega-3 fatty acids are essential for normal brain function.

“Dietary deficiency of omega-3 fatty acids in humans has been associated with increased risk of several mental disorders, including attention-deficit disorder, dyslexia, dementia, depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia,” he said. “A deficiency of omega-3 fatty acids in rodents results in impaired learning and memory.”

Children who had increased amounts of omega-3 fatty acids performed better in school, in reading and in spelling and had fewer behavioral problems, he said.

Preliminary results from a study in England show that school performance improved among a group of students receiving omega-3 fatty acids. In an Australian study, 396 children between the ages 6 and 12 who were given a drink with omega-3 fatty acids and other nutrients (iron, zinc, folic acid and vitamins A, B6, B12 and C) showed higher scores on tests measuring verbal intelligence and learning and memory after six months and one year than a control group of students who did not receive the nutritional drink. This study was also conducted with 394 children in Indonesia. The results showed higher test scores for boys and girls in Australia, but only for girls in Indonesia.

Getting omega-3 fatty acids from food rather than from capsule supplements can be more beneficial, providing additional nutrients, Gómez-Pinilla said.

Scientists are learning which omega-3 fatty acids seem to be especially important. One is docosahexaenoic acid, or DHA, which is abundant in salmon. DHA, which reduces oxidative stress and enhances synaptic plasticity and learning and memory, is the most abundant omega-3 fatty acid in cell membranes in the brain.

“The brain and the body are deficient in the machinery to make DHA; it has to come through our diet,” said Gómez-Pinilla, who was born and raised in salmon-rich Chile and eats salmon three times a week, along with a balanced diet. “Omega-3 fatty acids are essential.”

A healthy diet and exercise can also reduce the effect of brain injury and lead to a better recovery, he said.

Recent research also supports the hypothesis that health can be passed down through generations, and a number of innovative studies point to the possibility that the effects of diet on mental health can be transmitted across generations, Gómez-Pinilla said.

A long-term study that included more than 100 years of birth, death, health and genealogical records for 300 Swedish families in an isolated village showed that an individual’s risk for diabetes and early death increased if his or her paternal grandparents grew up in times of food abundance rather than food shortage.

“Evidence indicates that what you eat can affect your grandchildren’s brain molecules and synapses,” Gómez-Pinilla said. “We are trying to find the molecular basis to explain this.”

Controlled meal-skipping or intermittent caloric restriction might provide health benefits, he said.

Excess calories can reduce the flexibility of synapses and increase the vulnerability of cells to damage by causing the formation of free radicals. Moderate caloric restriction could protect the brain by reducing oxidative damage to cellular proteins, lipids and nucleic acids, Gómez-Pinilla said.

The brain is highly susceptible to oxidative damage. Blueberries have been shown to have a strong antioxidant capacity, he noted.

In contrast to the healthy effects of diets that are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, diets high in trans fats and saturated fats adversely affect cognition, studies indicate.

Junk food and fast food negatively affect the brain’s synapses, said Gómez-Pinilla, who eats fast food less often since conducting this research. Brain synapses and several molecules related to learning and memory are adversely affected by unhealthy diets, he said.

Emerging research indicates that the effects of diet on the brain, combined with the effects of exercise and a good night’s sleep, can strengthen synapses and provide other cognitive benefits, he added.

In Okinawa, an island in Japan where people frequently eat fish and exercise, the lifespan is one of the world’s longest, and the population has a very low rate of mental disorders, Gómez-Pinilla noted.

Folic acid is found in various foods, including spinach, orange juice and yeast. Adequate levels of folic acid are essential for brain function, and folate deficiency can lead to neurological disorders such as depression and cognitive impairment. Folate supplementation, either by itself or in conjunction with other B vitamins, has been shown to be effective in preventing cognitive decline and dementia during aging and enhancing the effects of antidepressants. The results of a recent randomized clinical trial indicate that a three-year folic acid supplementation can help reduce the age-related decline in cognitive function.

In patients with major depression and schizophrenia, levels of a signaling molecule known as brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF, are reduced. Antidepressants elevate BDNF levels, and most treatments for depression and schizophrenia stimulate BDNF. Here, too, omega-3 fatty acids are beneficial, as is the curry spice curcumin, which has been shown to reduce memory deficits in animal models of Alzheimer’s disease and brain trauma. BDNF is most abundant in the hippocampus and the hypothalamus – brain areas associated with cognitive and metabolic regulation.

The high consumption of curcumin in India may contribute to the low prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease on the subcontinent.

In humans, a mutation in a BDNF receptor has been linked to obesity and impairments in learning and memory.

“BDNF is reduced in the hippocampus, in various cortical areas and in the serum of patients with schizophrenia,” Gómez-Pinilla said. “BDNF levels are reduced in the plasma of patients with major depression.”

Smaller food portions with the appropriate nutrients seem to be beneficial for the brain’s molecules, such as BDNF, he said.

Gómez-Pinilla showed in 1995 that exercise can have an effect on the brain by elevating levels of BDNF.

He noted that while some people have extremely good genes, most of us are not so lucky and need a balanced diet, regular exercise and a good night’s sleep.

The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

UCLA is California’s largest university, with an enrollment of nearly 37,000 undergraduate and graduate students. The UCLA College of Letters and Science and the university’s 11 professional schools feature renowned faculty and offer more than 300 degree programs and majors. UCLA is a national and international leader in the breadth and quality of its academic, research, health care, cultural, continuing education and athletic programs. Four alumni and five faculty have been awarded the Nobel Prize.

You would have thought that an organization as auspicious as UCLA wouldn’t have figured this out years ago.  Curious, isn’t it – there’s not enough money to fund studies of serous alternative or “complementary” (as some would call it) medicine but there is for this kind of sophomoronic stuff.  Go figure!

Allergies June 29, 2008

Posted by brainbalancer in Allergies, Environmental Stress, Epigenetics.
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Allergies are a large component of the Brain Balance Protocol.  Actually, it’s what led me to being interested in working with kids with neurobehavioral disorders.

Here’s an interesting article that came through a few days back about children and allergies.  From ScienceDaily.com:

          Stress During Childhood Increases Risk Of Allergies

ScienceDaily June 18, 2008 - Moving house or the separation of parents can significantly increase the risk of children developing allergies later on. These are the results from a long-term study correlating life-style, immune system development and allergies, led by the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research in Leipzig (UFZ), the Helmholtz Zentrum München and the “Institut für Umweltmedizinische Forschung” (IUF) in Duesseldorf.

The researchers had examined blood samples taken from 234 six-year old children and discovered increased blood concentrations of the stress-related peptide VIP (vasoactive intestinal polypeptide) in connection with moving house or the separation of parents. The neuropeptide VIP could take on a mediator role between stress events in life and the regulation of immune responses, researchers write in the scientific journal Pediatric Allergy and Immunology.

The fact that stress events can have an influence on the development of allergies has been known for a while. The mechanisms behind this however remained unexplained for a long time. In the study that has now been published, stress events were investigated for the first time during early childhood within a large epidemiological study using immune and stress markers.

Stress events during childhood are increasingly suspected of playing a role in the later development of asthma, allergic skin disorders, or allergic sensitisations. Dramatic life events like the death of a family member, serious illnesses of a family member or the separation of parents, but also harmless events like for example moving house are suspected of increasing the risk of allergies for the children affected.

The immune system obviously plays a mediator role between stress on the one hand and allergies on the other. Since these mechanisms had hardly been understood before, researchers attempted to identify stress-related factors showing an influence on the immune system, in the context of an epidemiological study (LISA). At the same time as the blood tests, researchers together with colleagues from the Institute for Social Medicine at the University of Lübeck also analysed the most diverse social factors in the children’s environment, in order to find out which factors are causing stress-related regulation deficiencies of the immune system.

With children, whose parents had separated over the last year, researchers found increased blood concentrations of the neuropeptide VIP (vasoactive intestinal polypeptide) as well as an increased concentration of immune markers, which are related to the occurrence of allergic reactions, like for example the cytokine IL-4. By comparison, serious diseases or the death of close relatives led to no remarkable changes. Likewise, the unemployment of parents was not associated with increased concentrations of the stress-related peptides in the children’s blood.

As tragic as these events are, they are obviously however of less significance for the stress reactions of children than for example a separation or the divorce of parents, UFZ researchers have concluded. As was already shown in an earlier publication from the same study, increased concentrations of the stress peptide VIP can also be proven in the blood of children after moving house (similar to the separation of parents). Preceding investigations in LISA showed that there is a relationship between an increased concentration of the neuropeptide VIP and allergic sensitisations among six-year old children. Even if the results were to be interpreted carefully, because of the comparatively small number of children affected, they nevertheless provide valuable indications as to what exactly happens to the body through stress.

The investigations are based on data from 6-year old children from the LISA study. LISA stands for “Lifestyle – Immune System – Allergy” and investigates the influences of life-styles on the immune system development in early childhood and the emergence of allergies.

In addition to the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research in Leipzig (UFZ), the Helmholtz Zentrum München, the German Research Center for Environmental Health, and the “Institut für Umweltmedizinische Forschung” (IUF) in Duesseldorf, other universities and clinics are also participating partners, including the Municipal Hospital “St. Georg” in Leipzig. For the LISA study over 3000 newborn children in the cities of Munich, Leipzig, Wesel and Bad Honnef were recruited between the end of 1997 and the beginning of 1999. Parents were repeatedly asked about various lifestyle-relöated factors and disease outcomes.

Furthermore, blood tests were carried out at different times. At the age of six a total of 565 children were examined in Leipzig, and for 234 participants, blood analyses regarding stress and immune parameters were carried out. Over the course of the 6-year study nearly one third of the families living in Leipzig were affected by unemployment. For approximately half of all families, severe illnesses were experienced by close family members. By comparison, cases of death among family members or the separation of parents only affected every sixth or tenth child.

Journal references:
  1. Herberth G, Weber A, Röder S, Elvers H-D, Krämer U, Schins R PF, Diez U, Borte M, Heinrich J, Schäfer T, Herbarth O, Lehmann I. Relation between stressful life events, neuropeptides and cytokines: an epidemiological study. Pediatric Allergy and Immunology, 2008 DOI: 10.1111/j.1399-3038.2008.00727.x
  2. Herberth et al. The stress of relocation and neuropeptides: An epidemiological study in children. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 2007; 63 (4): 451 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychores.2007.06.012
  3. Herberth et al. Association of neuropeptides with Th1/Th2 balance and allergic sensitization in children. Clinical & Experimental Allergy, 2006; 36 (11): 1408 DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2222.2006.02576.x
Adapted from materials provided by Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres.

 

Epigenetics June 27, 2008

Posted by brainbalancer in Epigenetics, Uncategorized.
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One of my favorite subjects if epigenetics – the external factors which influence how genes turn on and off during the process of gestation and beyond…

Here’s an interesting article from MedPage Today on 6/25/08 based on an article in the Journal of the AMA:

Genome Transforms as Years Fly By

By Michael Smith, North American Correspondent, MedPage Today
Published: June 24, 2008
Reviewed by Zalman S. Agus, MD; Emeritus Professor
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

 

BALTIMORE, June 24 — The individual genome — far from being stable — evolves during a lifetime, with changes that could influence disease susceptibility, according to researchers here.

 

Moreover, the so-called epigenetic changes are similar within families, suggesting that the pattern of alterations might be under genetic control, according to Andrew Feinberg, M.D., of Johns Hopkins, and colleagues.

 

Such changes might directly affect susceptibility to disease, Dr. Feinberg and colleagues reported in the June 25 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

 

“We’re beginning to see that epigenetics stands at the center of modern medicine because epigenetic changes, unlike DNA sequence which is the same in every cell, can occur as a result of dietary and other environmental exposure,” Dr. Feinberg said.

 

“Epigenetics might very well play a role in diseases like diabetes, autism, and cancer,” he added.

 

Many so-called “epigenetic marks” — chemical changes to DNA that persist as the cell divides — are known, but for this study the researchers concentrated on DNA methylation — the addition of a methyl group to a section of the genome.

 

DNA methylation usually takes place at so-called “CpG islands” in the genome and changes in methylation can have the effect of turning genes on and off.

 

The researchers studied DNA from 111 people in an Icelandic cohort, who were sampled on average 11 years apart, as well as from 126 people in a Utah cohort of families who were sampled on average 16 years apart.

 

In the Icelandic cohort on the whole, Dr. Feinberg and colleagues found, the average individual change in DNA methylation over the 11 years was zero — consistent with earlier studies.

 

On the other hand, when the volunteers were looked at individually, the researchers saw a wide range of changes, including gains and losses of methylation of up to 26% and 30% respectively.

 

The analysis found that:

  • 70 volunteers (63%) had a gain or loss of 5%.
  • 33 individuals (30%) had a change of 10% or more.
  • Nine (8.1%) had a change of at least 20%.

The results from the Utah cohort — which consisted of members of 21 families originally part of a larger study of human genetic polymorphisms — were similar, Dr. Feinberg and colleagues found.

 

Again there was a wide range of gains and losses, with 50 individuals (40%) showing a change of at least 5%, 23 (18%) with a change of at least 10%, and 13 (10%) with a change of at least 20%.

 

Because the Utah cohort consisted of family groups, the researchers asked whether the direction of the changes tended to be similar among family members.

 

In fact, analysis showed that members of the same family were all likely to have either gains or losses in methylation, a finding that was significant at P0.001.

 

When one family — all of whose members had between 40% and 50% losses in methylation — was excluded, the familial clustering remained significant at P0.003, the researchers found.

 

“What we saw was a detectable change over time, which showed us proof of the principle that an individual’s epigenetics does change with age,” said co-author M. Daniele Fallin, Ph.D., of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

 

“What we still didn’t know was why or how, but we thought ‘maybe this, too, is something that’s heritable’ and could explain why certain families are more susceptible to certain diseases,” she said.

 

They pointed out another potential application of these findings. “These data support the idea of age-related loss of normal epigenetic patterns as a mechanism for late onset of common human diseases (common disease genetic and epigenetic model) which could arise through the loss of functionally important epigenetic modifications as well as through the release of epigenetic buffering of intrinsic genetic variation.”

Primary source: Journal of the American Medical Association
Source reference:
Bjornsson HT, et al “Intra-individual change over time in DNA methylation with familial clustering”JAMA 2008; 299(24): 2877-2883.

 

Play June 17, 2008

Posted by brainbalancer in Play, Things here and there.
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I recently came across this great article on Cognitive and Emotional Development Through Play by Dr. David Elkin which  totally verifies my opinion on play, or rather the lack of it, since my early childhood in the 1940s and ’50s.  Every childhood activity has now become a structured event, including “play dates.”  It’s time to loosen up, people!!

Creative play is what the right hemisphere needs to flourish!

Also another interesting article appeared on the SharpBrains blog by Dr. David Rabiner – Promising Cognitive Training Studies for ADHD entitled Two New Cognitive Training Studies for ADHD Yield Promising Findings .

Here’s the individual summaries of each of the studies:

The authors conclude that their attention training program produced significant improvements in parents’ ratings of inattentive symptoms and on academic tests. This is the first demonstration I am aware of that suggests attention training may improve academic performance.

The authors note several important limitations to their study. First, the sample is relatively small. Second, no behavioral data was obtained from children’s teachers. Third, there was no extended follow-up so the duration of the benefits observed at post-test is unknown. To these concerns I would add that the academic results would be stronger if a standardized achievement measure had been used. Finally, I wonder if parents truly remained blind to whether their child was receiving attention training or was in the video game control group.

These limitations not withstanding, these are promising results that highlight the potential of attention training procedures for children with ADHD. A larger controlled trial that addresses the limitations of the current work is certainly warranted.

and,

Results from this study support the benefits of working memory training for children with ADHD and indicate that training of visual-spatial working memory is especially important. The fact that this training was associated with an increase in positive behavior above and beyond medication and behavior treatments already in place is a very encouraging result.

As with Study 1, this study has several limitations to consider. Although the behavior improvements noted by camp counselors is important, it would also be important to document that such behavioral gains were also observed by parents and teachers. This, however, was not examined in the study. As with Study 1, there was no extended follow-up so the duration of training benefits can not be determined.

Here’s the overall summary of the two studies mentioned:

Results from these two cognitive training studies highlight that cognitive training interventions may provide an important complement to traditional medication treatment and behavior therapy. Both studies included appropriate control groups, employed random assignment, and had outcome measures provided by individuals who were “blind” to which condition children were assigned to. They are thus well-designed studies from which scientifically sound conclusions can be drawn. They add to the growing research base that intensive practice and training focused of key cognitive skills can have positive effects that extend beyond the training situation itself.

 

Warning: Using a mobile phone while pregnant can seriously damage your baby May 23, 2008

Posted by brainbalancer in Environmental Stress.
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Another bomb on behavior from The (UK) Independent.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-wellbeing/health-news/warning-using-a-mobile-phone-while-pregnant-can-seriously-damage-your-baby-830352.html

Study of 13,000 children exposes link between use of handsets and later behavioural problems

By Geoffrey Lean, Environment Editor
Sunday, 18 May 2008

Women who use mobile phones when pregnant are more likely to give birth to children with behavioural problems, according to authoritative research.

 

A giant study, which surveyed more than 13,000 children, found that using the handsets just two or three times a day was enough to raise the risk of their babies developing hyperactivity and difficulties with conduct, emotions and relationships by the time they reached school age. And it adds that the likelihood is even greater if the children themselves used the phones before the age of seven.

The results of the study, the first of its kind, have taken the top scientists who conducted it by surprise. But they follow warnings against both pregnant women and children using mobiles by the official Russian radiation watchdog body, which believes that the peril they pose “is not much lower than the risk to children’s health from tobacco or alcohol”.

The research – at the universities of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and Aarhus, Denmark – is to be published in the July issue of the journal Epidemiology and will carry particular weight because one of its authors has been sceptical that mobile phones pose a risk to health.

UCLA’s Professor Leeka Kheifets – who serves on a key committee of the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection, the body that sets the guidelines for exposure to mobile phones – wrote three and a half years ago that the results of studies on people who used them “to date give no consistent evidence of a causal relationship between exposure to radiofrequency fields and any adverse health effect”.

The scientists questioned the mothers of 13,159 children born in Denmark in the late 1990s about their use of the phones in pregnancy, and their children’s use of them and behaviour up to the age of seven. As they gave birth before mobiles became universal, about half of the mothers had used them infrequently or not at all, enabling comparisons to be made.

They found that mothers who did use the handsets were 54 per cent more likely to have children with behavioural problems and that the likelihood increased with the amount of potential exposure to the radiation. And when the children also later used the phones they were, overall, 80 per cent more likely to suffer from difficulties with behaviour. They were 25 per cent more at risk from emotional problems, 34 per cent more likely to suffer from difficulties relating to their peers, 35 per cent more likely to be hyperactive, and 49 per cent more prone to problems with conduct.

The scientists say that the results were “unexpected”, and that they knew of no biological mechanisms that could cause them. But when they tried to explain them by accounting for other possible causes – such as smoking during pregnancy, family psychiatric history or socio-economic status – they found that, far from disappearing, the association with mobile phone use got even stronger.

They add that there might be other possible explanations that they did not examine – such as that mothers who used the phones frequently might pay less attention to their children – and stress that the results “should be interpreted with caution” and checked by further studies. But they conclude that “if they are real they would have major public health implications”.

Professor Sam Milham, of the blue-chip Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, and the University of Washington School of Public Health – one of the pioneers of research in the field – said last week that he had no doubt that the results were real. He pointed out that recent Canadian research on pregnant rats exposed to similar radiation had found structural changes in their offspring’s brains.

The Russian National Committee on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection says that use of the phones by both pregnant women and children should be “limited”. It concludes that children who talk on the handsets are likely to suffer from “disruption of memory, decline of attention, diminishing learning and cognitive abilities, increased irritability” in the short term, and that longer-term hazards include “depressive syndrome” and “degeneration of the nervous structures of the brain”.

An Interesting Slant to Green Tea May 21, 2008

Posted by brainbalancer in Food Effects on Brain.
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Green Tea Compounds Beat Obstructive Sleep Apnea-related Brain Deficits, Study Shows

ScienceDaily ( May 18, 2008 ) — Chemicals found in green tea may be able to stave off the cognitive deficits that occur with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), according to a new study published in the second issue for May of the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

Researchers examined the effects green tea polyphenols (GTP), administered through drinking water, on rats who were intermittently deprived of oxygen during 12-hour “night” cycles, mimicking the intermittent hypoxia (IH) that humans with OSA experience.

People with OSA have been reported to have increased markers of oxidative stress and exhibit architectural changes in their brain tissue in areas involved in learning and memory. Chronic IH in rats produce similar neurological deficit patterns.

“OSA has been increasingly recognized as a serious and frequent health condition with potential long-term morbidities that include learning and psychological disabilities [...],” wrote David Gozal, M.D., professor and director of Kosair Children’s Hospital Research Institute at the University of Louisville, lead author of the article. “A growing body of evidence suggests that the adverse neurobehavioral consequences imposed by IH stem, at least in part, from oxidative stress and inflammatory signaling cascades.”

GTPs are known to possess anti-oxidant properties, acting as a free radical scavengers, and research has shown that the compounds may reduce the risk of a variety of different diseases.

“Recent studies have demonstrated the neuroprotective activity of GTP in animal models of neurodegenerative conditions such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease,” wrote Dr. Gozal.

In this study, the researchers divided 106 male rats into two groups that underwent intermittent oxygen depletion during the 12-hour “night” cycle for 14 days. One group received drinking water treated with GTP; the other received plain drinking water.

They were then tested for markers of inflammation and oxidative stress, as well as for performance in spatial learning and memory tasks–namely a water “maze” in which the rat had to memorize the location of a hidden platform.

The IH-rats that received the green tea-treated water performed significantly better in a water maze than the rats that drank plain water. “GTP-treated rats exposed to IH displayed significantly greater spatial bias for the previous hidden platform position, indicating that GTPs are capable of attenuating IH-induced spatial learning deficits,” wrote Dr. Gozal, adding that GTPs “may represent a potential interventional strategy for patients” with sleep-disordered breathing.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080515072944.htm

My note:  I frequently see children who snore due to increased tonsillar tissue.  Green tea is a way of preventing brain damage from hypoxia as a result.  Green tea also has a host of other positive health effects.

Dr. Amen’s Brain Description May 21, 2008

Posted by brainbalancer in Interesting Factoids.
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I just received an broadcast email from Dr. Daniel Amen, a psychiatrist who has worked with a number of children with neurodevelopmental disorders.  I thought it was a nice overview of the brain, so I’m sharing…

The Incredible Brain!

I’m very pleased to see the continued interest in brain health sweeping our nation. My first PBS television special, Change your Brain, Change your Life, continues to air nationwide with wonderful response. I am pleased to announce that I have 2 new PBS brain-related specials in the works, one scheduled to air late this year and another in early 2009. I’ll keep you informed as the schedules are firmed up.

Let’s a take a few minutes to consider this amazing organ we have that literally affects everything we do. Your brain is the most complex, mind-boggling organ in the universe. It is estimated to be only about 3 pounds, which is usually around 2 percent of your body’s weight. Unbelievably, given that it is the bedrock of your personality, some think even your soul, it is 85% water! The brain uses 20% of the oxygen we breathe and about 20% of the calories we consume. When whole body scans are performed on people, the brain is so active, compared to the rest of the body, that it looks like a small, powerful heater, while everything else appears almost ghostlike.

It is estimated that we have over 100 billion neurons (also called nerve cells or brain cells), which is about the number of stars in the Milky Way Galaxy. Here are also trillions of supportive cells in the brain called glia. Each neuron is connected to other neurons by up to 40,000 individual connections (called synapses) between cells. Multiplying 100 billion neurons times 40,000 synapses is equivalent to the brain having more connections in it than there are stars in the universe. A piece of brain tissue the size of a grain of sand contains 100,000 neurons and 1 billion synapses, all “talking” to one another.

(ed: or not talking, but should be talking, to one another as the case may be)

Many people have heard that we only use 10 percent of our brains. Nonsense! You may not use every neuron in your brain at the same time, but each is important. The brain never turns off or even rests through your entire life. It is very active at night, especially during dreaming.

Brain development is a fascinating construction tale, where genes and environment collaborate to make us who we are. At times during pregnancy, the baby’s brain makes 250,000 new nerve cells per minute. Babies are born with 100 billion neurons; however, only a relatively small number of neurons are connected. In the first decade of life, a child’s brain forms trillions of connections.

Brain development is especially rapid during the first year. Brain scans show that by twelve months, a baby’s brain resembles that of a normal young adult. By age three, a baby’s brain has formed about 1,000 trillion connections—about twice as many as adults have. Also, the areas of the brain that develop early, such as vision, are the first areas to become myelinated (wrapped in myelin), which helps that part of the brain become more efficient.

The “years of promise” between three and 10 are a time of rapid social, intellectual, emotional and physical development. Brain activity in this age group is more than twice that of adults, and although new synapses continue to be formed throughout life, never again will the brain be able to easily master new skills or adapt to setbacks.

At age 11, the brain begins to prune extra connections at a rapid rate. The circuits that remain are more specific and efficient. The brain is one of the best examples of the “use it or lose it” principle. Connections that are used repeatedly in the early years become permanent; while those that are not used are pruned.

During late adolescence and into the mid 20s, the front third of the brain, called the prefrontal cortex (PFC) or executive brain, continues to develop. Even though we think of 18 year olds as adults, their brains are far from finished. Myelin continues to be deposited in the PFC until age 25 or 26, making the executive part of the brain work at a higher and more efficient level. Were you more mature at 25 than 18? I sure was. It is ironic that the car insurance industry knew about maturity and brain development long before society. Typically, car insurance rates change at 25 because drivers are more thoughtful and get into significantly less accidents.

After about 25, just as we reach peak development the brain starts slowly shrinking. Some research has suggested that the male brain shrinks faster than the female one. I think it is because men do more stupid things to their brains, such as they have more problems with alcohol, play tackle football and hit soccer balls with their heads. In college, 70% of football players and 62% of soccer players get at least one concussion per year.

When it comes to the brain SIZE MATTERS. The stegosaurus brain was about the size of a walnut. The adult human brain weighs about 1,300 to 1,400 grams. The average cat brain weighs only about 30 grams. This is why human curiosity helps invent space travel and cures for cancer, while curiosity requires cats to have nine lives.

If, as it says in the New Testament of the Bible, that the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, certainly the brain is the inner sanctum. The brain is involved in everything we do and must be considered whenever we look at the motivation or reason behind human behavior.

As a neuropsychiatrist for 25 years my clinics have amassed the world’s largest database of brain scans related to behavior, more than 43,000. I can tell you this for sure … your brain affects your work, your relationships, your physical well-being and your attitude about everything.

Knowledge is power and the more you know about your brain the better equipped you’ll be to have a better life – isn’t that what we all want?

To your brain health,

Daniel Amen, M.D.
CEO, Amen Clinics, Inc.
Distinguished Fellow, American Psychiatric Association

Heavy Metal Toxicity Affects Brain Development May 21, 2008

Posted by brainbalancer in Metal Toxicity.
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A new article listed at http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/106334.php  listed a study from Children’s Hospital in Boston:

Evidence is slowly building that manganese in air, water and even soy-based formula can sometimes accumulate to toxic levels in children. There are no federal health standards for manganese exposure, in part because data are only beginning to emerge on its effects. Occupational exposure has long been known to be neurotoxic, producing behavior changes, memory loss and a Parkinson-like syndrome.

This study, led by Children’s toxicologist and emergency physician Robert Wright, MD, is among the first to document manganese neurotoxicity in children. In collaboration with the National Institute of Public Health, Mexico, investigators collected blood samples from 300 12-month old Mexican children who were at risk for high-level manganese exposure. High manganese levels correlated with low neurocognitive scores at the age of 24 months, as did the lowest levels (likely because manganese is also an essential nutrient).

Exposure to high levels of both manganese and lead appeared to be synergistically toxic. Wright believes manganese “is where lead was 50 years ago” in terms of its recognition as a toxin and suggests that health based standards for manganese exposure are needed.

This article, along with a number of others lately about lead and arsenic, tell us the damage caused by these toxins on developing nervous systems.  Of course, that doesn’t even include methyl mercury.

These metals short-circuit vital enzyme systems.  If they are not released from our bodies (and of course, the brains of our children), we will continue to see an upsurge in neurodevelopmental disorders.

I recently lost a dear friend to arsenic poisoning.  She grew up in an area of Saskatchewan, Canada, where the water supply had a high arsenic content.  As an adult, she also lived in an area of high arsenic content.  She was hospitalized for over 14 months before dying of kidney shutdown (a prime target for arsenic) in her early 50’s.  Unfortunately no one figured it out until right before her passing.

Brain Balance Parent Information Session Tonight! May 20, 2008

Posted by brainbalancer in Information Sessions.
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I’ll be having a parent information session tonight in the office from 7-9PM. We go over the nuts and bolts of the program, how it works and the process of discovering if Brain Balance can help your child. We do not accept all children into the program – only those we feel confident we can help. The parent information session is the beginning of the journey. I’ll be gone for the next three weeks so it will be another month before we have another parent information session.

Tomorrow night I’ll be giving a lecture at the Newbury Park library on the subject of nutrition and allergy-elimination to improve your child’s grades (and, of course, all over functioning). This will be the last library seminar until school starts in September.  Hours are 6:30 to 8:30PM.
Call 805-371-8085 for more information.