Brain releases natural painkillers during heart break
Washington:
Nursing a broken heart? Brain will give you a natural painkiller!
Brain's
natural painkiller system responds to social rejection and not just the
physical injury, scientists have found.
People
in the study who score high on a personality trait called resilience - the
ability to adjust to environmental change - had the highest amount of natural
painkiller activation, according to findings by University of Michigan.
Researchers
combined advanced brain scanning that can track chemical release in the brain
with a model of social rejection based on on-line dating. They focused on the
mu-opioid receptor system in the brain.
Researchers
have shown that when a person feels physical pain, their brains release
chemicals called opioids into the space between neurons, dampening pain
signals. "This is the first study to peer into the human brain to show
that the opioid system is activated during social rejection," said David T
Hsu, lead author of the study.
The
study involved 18 adults who were asked to view photos and fictitious personal
profiles of hundreds of other adults. Each selected some who they might be most
interested in romantically - a setup similar to on-line dating.
But
then, when the participants were lying in a brain imaging machine called a PET
scanner, they were informed that the individuals they found attractive and
interesting were not interested in them. Brain scans made during these moments
showed opioid release, measured by looking at the availability of mu-opioid
receptors on brain cells.
The
effect was largest in the brain regions called the ventral striatum, amygdala,
mid-line thalamus, and periaqueductal gray - areas that are also known to be
involved in physical pain.
"Individuals
who scored high for the resiliency trait on a personality questionnaire tended
to be capable of more opioid release during social rejection, especially in the
amygdala," Hsu said.
"This
suggests that opioid release in this structure during social rejection may be
protective or adaptive," Hsu said.
The
more opioid release during social rejection in another brain area called the
pregenual cingulate cortex, the less the participants reported being put in a
bad mood by the news that they'd been snubbed. Hsu noted that perhaps new
opioid medications without addictive potential may be an effective treatment
for depression and social anxiety.
The
study was published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.
12.10.2013
US doctors perform heart surgery on 25-week foetus
Los
Angeles: US surgeons have successfully performed a rare life-saving heart
surgery on a 25-week-old foetus growing inside its mother's womb.
Using
a hair-fine wire, a miniature needle and a tiny balloon, doctors at a Los
Angeles hospital successfully carried out the operation on the unborn child's
heart after practising on a grape.
The
procedure to open up a narrow aortic valve in the heart of the unborn baby is
known as a foetal aortic valvuloplasty.
Doctors
diagnosed the foetus as suffering from severe aortic stenosis, meaning the
baby's aortic valve was very tight.
Blood
was backing up in the left ventricle of the baby's heart, preventing it from
pumping normally, 'Los Angeles Times' reported.
Without
the rare procedure the left ventricle would not develop properly, and the baby
would likely be born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS), which is a
life-threatening condition, doctors said.
After
practising a few times with a model of jello and a grape - the grape standing
in for the heart, the jello standing in for the surrounding body - the doctors
performed the procedure on September 25.
Both
the baby and the mother were given local anaesthesia. The baby was also given a
muscle relaxant so it wouldn't switch positions at an inopportune time.
Doctors
performing the surgery at CHA Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Centre relied on
ultrasound imaging to see what they were doing.
Only
few weeks after the surgery, doctors reported that both the mother and the
foetus are doing fine.
"It's
only been a week or two, but even initially after the procedure, we could see
increased blood flow across the valve, and the heart was squeezing a bit better
than before," foetal cardiologist Dr Jay Pruetz of Children's Hospital Los
Angeles said.
12.10.2013
The
problem is not the problem. The problem is your attitude about the problem
Jack Sparrow
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