Dormivigilia

A year ago, I read a paper from the Journal of Neuroscience which discovered that BDNF gates alcohol consumption in rodents. When the rodents drank alcohol, BDNF would increase until a certain threshold wherein it would then curb alcohol intake. When BDNF was knocked-down, the rodents would consume endless amounts of alcohol unless BDNF was [...]

Typically, when I see basic neuroscience research characterizing presynaptic signaling and postsynaptic receptor responsiveness within one of the big 5 neural systems (glutamate, GABA, serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine) I skim it over and don’t usually retain much information. Today, however, the sexy title of one of these articles maintained my attention long enough for me [...]

Every night between 0330-0430 AM I rush to the bathroom. Of course, I’m careful not to light pulse myself (see here). It’s not baffling that we have an endogenously entrained, circadian rhythm of incontinence given that every other hormonally-regulated behavior like sleeping, waking up, and even sexual desire (see here) is entrained by rhythmic hormone [...]

Anyone who has taken Adderall or Ritalin to have “tunnel vision” during finals week knows about the unfortunate side effect: the 48 hr period of a racing heart, no sleeping, and the constant urge to move around. But this isn’t nearly as counterintuitive to the fact that those who are clinically diagnosed with ADHD are [...]

It’s true, our brains are shrinking. Before deciding to blog about this fascinating Discover article, I first and foremost sent it to montegraphia’s college friend who constantly argues with me about women having smaller brains. And while I attempt to explain the fallacy of his argument in that it is cortical area and not actual [...]

This week’s Journal of Neuroscience is very compatible with a recent posting about http://www.dormivigilia.com/?p=1814. British neuroscientists have further elucidated neuroanatomical pathologies underlying autism spectrum disorder. Comparable to most mental disorders cataloged in the DSM-IV (soon to be DSM V!!), autism spectrum disorder (ASD). encompasses mild (Asperger’s syndrome) and severe (full-blown autism) cases of the disorder [...]

A few years ago, I read an article about the unfathomable lack of sleep that is structured into the curriculum of military schools; we’re talking 5-6 hours a night for young adults who still requires between 8.4-10 hrs a night. In this month’s journal SLEEP Swedish researchers have observed thatchronic sleep deprivation in military personnel [...]

Yesterday, montegraphia and I spent our usual Sunday night watching a movie. The movie, Temple Grandin, is a biographical documentary about Temple Grandin, the Colorado State University professor with autism, who has transformed the meat industry, and who will, most undoubtedly win a Noble Prize someday (fingers crossed). Comparable to others with autism, Dr. Grandin [...]

Over the past four years, I have have read hundreds of papers attempting to elucidate the underlying neurobiology of alcoholism. In the beginning, it was pretty mundane; I simply read papers documenting the effects of binging and chronic use on the “big five” neuromodulatory systems: glutamate, GABA, serotonin, dopamine, and acetycholine. Within the past three [...]

In this week’s Journal of Neuroscience, Blue Devil researchers have elucidated the neural mechanisms of song learning in swamp sparrows, conveniently featured on the cover of this week’s journal. First, there are three different types of songs these birds sing (only done in males, of course, as a courting tactic), which is neurobiologically regulated by [...]