Slashdot Mirror
Bomb Blasts Alter Brain Lipid Levels
MTorrice writes "About 320,000 soldiers returning from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have struggled with neurological problems associated with traumatic brain injury, according to the Rand Corporation. Some veterans experience symptoms, such as memory loss and anxiety, without noticeable physical signs of brain injury. Now researchers report a possible chemical signature: Levels of a certain lipid spike in the brains of mice exposed to mild explosions (abstract; full article paywalled). This lipid could serve as a way to diagnose people who are at risk of developing neurological disorders after a blast, the scientists say."
The government says we should be able to live a content and productive life with only a partially functional brain.
But I imagine the researchers barely restraining their smirks after submitting a proposal to blow up mice as their study.
Wow !! Now I know to avoid bomb blasts !!
Maybe Jamie, Adam, Kari and Grant can donate their brains to science to see if they show the same markers. It would make a great series finale!
Maybe as a routine locker room procedure for impact and contact sports like football (either kind). It would beat the current "3rd concussion, you're in the injured reserve" regime, especially if it picks up sub-symptomatic TBI.
Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
Problem solved.
Given how vital lipids are to proper brain function(cellular function generally; but nerve tissue has tons of the things even by comparison to other tissues), it seems like a very ominous sign that blast trauma too minor to cause injuries visible even with an optical microscope causes noticeable changes in the lipids floating around... Even if the neural network isn't structurally disrupted at a visible scale, interference with lipids involved in chemical or electrical nerve signalling would still cause changes in how the network functions(since the characteristics of the paths are still changing, even if connections aren't being severed outright).
The brain is putting on weight (so to speak). What is being shorted as a result? Are synapses being pressured or is an important biological being substituted with lipids? Once diagnosed, confirming that they indeed suffered exposure to an explosion that, everyone knows occurred, what might be done to help? What is the cause, exterior or interior pressure, etc? If nothing is being done, or planned to be done, to help the afflicted, then the ongoing work is a waste of time.
Or we could, you know, talk about TFA.
one of the neatest recent developments in treating traumatic brain injuries is the finding that the human hormone progesterone dramatically improves the survival chances and outcomes of humans who sustain a traumatic brain injury. As someone who doesn't remember a 2-week period following a concussion/near drowning at the lake some 13 years ago, I wonder what my experience would have been like had my doctors known about this use for Progesterone USP.
Progesterone is the body's most important steroid hormone, because the body transforms it into the other steroids (cortisol, aldosterone, testosterone, estrogen) through the process of steroidogenesis. Birth control uses fake progesterone to help shut down women's hormonal cycling (and ovulation), which always results in progesterone deficiency (the chemicals in birth control do NOT fit into the steroid cycle).
Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
www.teslabox.com
Anyone else read that headline as "bong blasts"? I really wasn't too surprised by the rest of it ....
People who should be ashamed of themselves: Donald Rumsfeld, George W .Bush, everyone on Talk Radio and Fox News, and everyone who voted Republican from 2001 - 2008. It's your fault.
Why not included Obama? How followed the Bush war plan. Surge in Afghanistan. Did *not* exit Iraq a single day earlier than Bush had planned and seems to be on the Bush schedule for Afghanistan as well.
I would think most people would suffer memory loss and anxiety (among many other concomitant symptoms) after experiencing round after round of painfully loud explosions, watching their buddies get blown apart and having to kill other human beings, simply due to the unbearably intense psychological strain. Looking at it as purely a physical matter seems to be missing the point a bit. Is physicality causing the mental stress, or is the causation the reverse?
I'm picturing mice dressed like Indiana Jones and James Bond running madly from a small toy boat loaded with black cats yelling in high pitched squeaks: "Get down! She's gonna blooowww!!"
"Molest me not with this pocket calculator stuff."
- Deep Thought
No, the paper doesn't say that. I checked. It's also not true; this can't be used for diagnosis (except maybe post-mortem), because it's on the wrong side of the skull.
They couldn't have done it without the eager assistance of the Democrats. So it's your fault, too.
...but damn it made me chuckle to think about spending my day in a lab "exposing rodents to minor explosions".
Hell, I pretty much did that research throughout the 6th grade. Amphibians as well.
-Styopa
They really should be affected by this, no? And you thought it was a cool job they had! ;)
The researchers are less likely to become attached to them and there are some things a mouse just won't do.
No brain, no pain.
So, PTSD may be half physical brain damage?
If you are so fucked up that you can't recognize that countries need militaries then perhaps you should go live in Somalia.
If you think that you are better than those who willingly serve then I propose that you do the world a favor and completely remove yourself from society.
Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
This is a lie. You tell yourself that lie in an attempt to convince yourself that you're not a small-minded little bigot. But it isn't working.
Seems like a bomb blast would alter the level of everything in the brain. Of course, those levels should stabilize within a few seconds, with final values determined by the heights of the surfaces they land on.
I wonder if benefits eligibility plays some role in such high rates of suffering from symptoms. I mean, either a "bad summary" or 320K is a very high number. Maybe researchers chasing ghosts.
"Notice the loss of hearing . . ."
I am not a crackpot.
If you are so fucked up that you can't recognize that countries need militaries then perhaps you should go live in Somalia.
Countries only need militaries because other countries need militaries. Perfect chain of iterated circular logic.
If you think that you are better than those who willingly serve then I propose that you do the world a favor and completely remove yourself from society.
I've never killed a man because some greybac... er... hair handed me a gun, mailed me to a faraway desert, and told me to hate the people I found there. Living nicely with my conscience in that regard, thanks. You?
I guess the ultimate neuro disease caused by a bomb is getting your brains blown right out of your head. Avoid bombs and avoid war. If you just have an absolute craving to mess with bombs it is best to be on the giving side of the equation at about 40,000 feet.
It also tells me that gunners who fire the big weapons surely must have biological harm from the percussion at firing. Imagine being a gunner on an old battleship and just how violent the inside of those gun turrets must have been. A few months of firing those guns might get you to the point of not minding if you survived or not.
Funny story is that a country doesn't need a military. The massive secret no one seems to have figured out is that you just don't piss everyone else off and no one attacks you. A military is the bully's friend, after the bully gets suspended the friend come in to "fix" the reason the bully got suspended. A military is no different, the leader of a country orders an attack and when that fails or when a little slap back happens they feel the need to act like the boss and just go full force. The only point of the military is to pointlessly kill people, a solder is just the name of a human who can murder legally. Hence when a solder gets injured or suffers pain it's really a very funny situation.
I don't think I'm better then those who willingly serve, I know I'm. I have a purpose in life, I have potential, I have a life I want to live. I don't need to be killed because the leader of my country wants to act like a 5 year old playing with army men. To all the men and women who served from Canada and the US in Iraq, it was a great example of natural selection. Those who have purpose and dignity don't need to try and prove it on the battlefield, we do that without needlessly and pointlessly risking our lives.
Who would have thought!
The three laws of thermodynamics:(1) You can't win. (2) You can't break even. (3) You can't even quit.
One of the bizarre research results is that cooling of the brain after a concussion or explosion, can actually prevent most of this damage.
Various DARPA studies are underway.
"Sarge, Corporal Potter got an IED hit!"
"Pop an ice pack on his head and call the medic, Corporal".
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Lets say for the sake of argument that the United States did not have a military, for whatever reason we decided that the world loves us enough that no one would ever think of causing us harm.
But Mexico has a military, and they aren't doing quite as well as the US so they decide to invade because they think if they steal stuff from the US that it will make their situation better. Read up on history and you will find this has in fact happened many times and is the reason that some of the great societies were destroyed.
The military is not just the "bullies friend", it is the friend of those who do not protect themselves, but instead rely on others to protect them, kinda like you.
Perhaps one day, when there is absolute world peace, where there is no crime and no evil intentions, then perhaps we will disband all the militaries of the world, but until that day I like the fact that there are people willing to risk their lives to make sure that I have a good quality of life.
Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
I doubt that you know what "the country" wants to do with it's military. You've obviously never been in one. I can only speak for the US Army but they do a good job taking care of their own. There are piles of support programs for soldiers to take advantage of (including education).
I can promise you that any government that treats its soldiers like gum on their shoe will not last a single night against a real army.
http://soylentnews.org/~tibman
Countries only need militaries because other countries need militaries. Perfect chain of iterated circular logic.
Unfortunately so. No one will disarm until everyone disarms, until everyone disarms it would be criminally negligent to disarm.
I've never killed a man because some greybac... er... hair handed me a gun, mailed me to a faraway desert, and told me to hate the people I found there. Living nicely with my conscience in that regard, thanks. You?
I haven't either but I am not going to insult those who do put themselves in that position and I am not going to think that I am better than them just because I am not willing to put my life on the line for my country. That would be foolish.
Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
So every solder gets a gold carpet treatment? Every solder that dies get tried like queen of england getting married? Does a solder get life time medical benefits that no one argues or even doubts? My point is that the governement doesn't remotely give a care in the world about a solder. We hear more about ( at least in Canada ), Kate having a baby or the deal at Macdonalds then we do about a solder. I don't support war, solders, militaries or war efforts but looking past that, we care more about everything else then we do about the people who "defend" our freedom.
Why is this on /. instead of /r/politics?
Perhaps I'm missing something here but I thought blasts, particularly of the military kind, caused more than barely detectable chemical changes in some peoples' brains. Large craters, wrecked buildings and other things of a military significance come to mind.
This looks an awful lot like demonstrating just how sensitive testing procedures are. Reminds me of an interview I heard whereby the inventor of the then definitive test for determining if a substance is carcinogenic basically said that the test was so sensitive everything comes up as a bit carcinogenic. The thing is to determine what is size of "bit" truly significant.
Is it just bombs? What if firing guns at a gun range does it too?
Anxiety leads to depression which leads to anger which leads to violence.
Could it be possible that shooting guns recreationally messes up the biochemistry of peoples heads with any number of negative possible outcomes?
Need Mercedes parts ?
As far as i can tell, mainstream media is a civilian/private thing, not a government one. Don't blame the government that you don't hear about soldiers in the news. Also, there is such a thing as middle ground. Not remotely giving a care in the world and treating them like the Queen of England are at opposite ends of the spectrum. Instead of pushing your idea of how you think the government treats it's soldiers, you should ask some soldiers.
It's okay to not support wars, soldiers, or any military. In my country, that is your right. When i was a soldier, i was in a position to defend that right. But try not to project how you feel onto others. Not everyone dislikes soldiers, (or wars).
http://soylentnews.org/~tibman
If I'm not willing to project how I feel then I either don't feel that way or I don't know how I feel, in either case I wouldn't have a point. When someone can show me a war where no one dies ( without using Star Trek ), then I'll finally support the military, until then I see the military and war as nothing but a mass killing.
So if a country is attacked by another country the country that is defending itself is not allowed to use lethal force?
You have officially confirmed that you do not use your brain at all.
Please leave society and take your DNA with you.
Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
Now researchers report a possible chemical signature: Levels of a certain lipid spike in the brains of mice exposed to mild explosions
Maybe mild explosions like one experiences from the repeated firing of assualt style rifles inches from one's skull while using extend capacity clips?
But if you didn't piss them off why are they coming in.........
If I'm not willing to project how I feel then I either don't feel that way or I don't know how I feel, in either case I wouldn't have a point. When someone can show me a war where no one dies ( without using Star Trek ), then I'll finally support the military, until then I see the military and war as nothing but a mass killing.
I'm pretty sure I know how I feel about the argument you are trying to make and yet I choose not to project it.
"I have a purpose in life"
Trolling slashdot?
To troll you have to be wrong or want to cause a situation where you needlessly make people argue with you because your being a shit head. My original point is that the government doesn't care about solders and until someone can prove me wrong I haven't trolled anything. I have never heard of a solder who came back and got the treatment they deserved. If the government really cared they would treat a returning solder like the second coming of god and not a homeless man with no medical insurance.
TFA discusses traumatic brain injury (TBI), which reminded me of another FA that I read a while ago about detecting TBI with MRI machines.
Two guys, Dr. Walter Schneider and Dr. David Onkonwo, are using MRI to identify neural tracts throughout the brain. Their new technique, HDFT, is able to visualize the brain's wiring, and it can identify where the wiring has been broken.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-57389325-10391704/new-technology-could-change-how-traumatic-brain-injuries-are-diagnosed/
:(){
Sure sounds like trolling. Especially the "I know I'm better" part.
(I'm more amused than anything else, as it reminded me of a scene in the movie Mulholland Falls where someone is saying "I'm better than you!" just before he gets tossed out of an airplane. Ironically, in this case, it was a military type saying it.)
I don't think I'm better then those who willingly serve, I know I'm.
If you want to willingly serve go ahead but don't complain at all if you get hurt and don't let you family complain if you get killed, that's what you accept happening by going into the military, hence you want to get hurt and that to me sounds like serious mental illness, not rational.
So it has only taken 99 years to come up with an explanation for what was bleeding obvious since WWI. Shell shock is nothing new.
Respect for these guys who are dedicated professionals an put their lives on the line for what they think they believe. In the mean time, stupid, incompetent non-entities like Obama, Bush, etc sit back home and try to look good at the cost of the lives of these guys. I've been in similar circumstances, but being a young guy, you don't realise how much these socalled leaders are lying to you - you find that out way too late.
In the mean time, you're faffing about in other peoples' country where you've no business being, where you're not wanted (except by the greedy, stupid, incompetent non-entities who now see an opportunity to get into power at the cost of the lives of these soldiers). There are consequences. This is one of many. I know what I'm talking about.
drivers license.
purchase condoms
obtain a marriage license.
obtain a passport
obtain entrance to the no fly list.
and more ....
Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't. Mark Twain.
"So what you do you do for a living?"
"I explode mice."
*backs away slowly*
Do you blame the Aztecs for getting slaughtered by the Spanish?
Did they go out of their way to piss off the Spanish? Or did the reason the Aztecs got conquered have nothing to do with what they did, but instead have everything to do with the Spanish?
Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
The vast majority of them don't complain at all. They do their service and move on with their life.
Some of my co-workers, friends, and family are ex-military, they don't sit around bitching about what they signed up for, they just go about their lives. That is harder for some than others due to PTSD issues, but I haven't heard a word of regret about their service.
Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
Find me a large undiscovered section of the Earth that has people living in it and I'll agree with you.
The words you use do complete a sentence, but I am unsure on how they relate to the topic at hand.
Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
When you figure it out come back and tell me and I'll give you a gold star
I think I know where you are trying to go, and you are of course still wrong, and you will continue to be wrong. You are so wrong in fact that I have to question if you are really stupid enough to make the argument you are trying to make.
So since it is literally impossible that there is a section of the Earth with an unknown indigenous population lets say that the Moon is inhabited by nice peaceful folks, if we go and kill them, was it their fault?
You blame the victims of violence and war just as much as you do the aggressor, and that is why your argument doesn't hold water.
Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
You'll find that the 'injury' they refer to is identical to mercury exposure in the brain. Ie, mercury casues it, plus all the symptoms. And for those that don't know, mercury is used as a preservative in the vaccines given to soldiers. So, it's inevitable that they'll all come away with stress, reduced immunity, mental disorders, a high TCell count, and so on and so on. The same company that markets the vaccines also tries to peddle the news that mercury is safe. Becuase they installed the same rubbish into kids vaccines, dental shots and tooth fillings.. However, they called the reactivity 'Autism'. So for those that want to yell Bullshit at the above story, take a look at who's actually causing the issue and who profits. Follow the money trail and it will all go back to the pharmaceutical industry trying to suck out as much cash as possible from govt's....