Not in America

 Great song by Jonathan Jensen.

 

 

The scariest thing about global warming

 

Please read the whole article

https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2020/7/7/21311027/covid-19-climate-change-global-warming-shifting-baselines

By David Roberts@drvolts  Updated Dec 4, 2020, 11:37am EST

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Because the virus crept up on us, we adjusted to it, like we’re adjusting to climate change, like we adjust to everything. It’s called “shifting baselines syndrome” and it’s the theme of a piece I first published back in July. It is, unfortunately, at relevant as ever.

For as long as I’ve followed global warming, advocates and activists have shared a certain faith: When the impacts get really bad, people will act.

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From this perspective, the scary possibility is that the moment of reckoning will come too late. There’s a time lag in climate change — the effects being felt now trace back to gases emitted decades ago. By the time things get bad enough, many further devastating and irreversible changes will already be “baked in” by past emissions. We might not wake up in time.

That is indeed a scary possibility. But there is a scarier possibility, in many ways more plausible: We never really wake up at all.

No moment of reckoning arrives. The atmosphere becomes progressively more unstable, but it never does so fast enough, dramatically enough, to command the sustained attention of any particular generation of human beings. Instead, it is treated as rising background noise.

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Maybe climate chaos, a rising chorus of alarm signals from around the world, will simply become our new normal. Hell, maybe income inequality, political dysfunction, and successive waves of a deadly virus will become our new normal. Maybe we’ll just get used to [waves hands] all this.

Humans often don’t remember what we’ve lost or demand that it be restored. Rather, we adjust to what we’ve got.

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"An animal that is very abundant, before it gets extinct, it becomes rare,” says Pauly in his TED talk on shifting baselines. “So you don’t lose abundant animals. You always lose rare animals. And therefore, they’re not perceived as a big loss.”

The same phenomenon is sometimes called “generational amnesia,” the tendency of each generation to disregard what has come before and benchmark its own experience of nature as normal

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It’s not just intergenerationally that we forget, either. The Imperial College researchers also demonstrated the existence of another form of shifting baselines syndrome: personal amnesia, “where knowledge extinction occurs as individuals forget their own experience.”

Just as generations forget about ecological loss, so do individuals

It turns out that, over the course of their lives, individuals do just what generations do — periodically reset and readjust to new baselines.

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Just as we adjust emotionally, we adjust cognitively. We forget what came before; we simply don’t think about it. For the most part, only our recent experience is salient in defining our baselines, our sense of normal.

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“The reference point for normal conditions appears to be based on weather experienced between 2 and 8 years ago,” the study concluded.

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Once you start thinking in terms of shifting baselines, you start seeing them everywhere, not just in ecology.

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It’s not just about documenting decline, either. There have been long-term victories, too — reductions in poverty, increases in the number of educated young girls, declines in air pollution, and so forth. These also happen incrementally, often beneath our notice. We adjust our baselines upward and do not register what, over time, can be substantial victories. Making those victories more visible can help show that decline is not inevitable.

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Negative changes “are normalized more quickly if you feel like there’s nothing you can do about it,” says Moore.

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Our extraordinary ability to adapt, to get on with it, to not dwell in the past, was enormously useful in our evolutionary history. But it is making it difficult for us to keep our attention focused on how much is being lost — and thus difficult for us to rally around efforts to stem those losses.

And so, little by little, a hotter, more chaotic, and more dangerous world is becoming normal to us, as we sleepwalk toward more tragedies.

Scientists uncover possible neural link between early life trauma and binge-eating disorder

 

 https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/973600

 

 News Release 12-Dec-2022
Discovery may lead to therapeutic targets to treat binge eating, obesity
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Virginia Tech

 

Nearly 3 percent of Americans suffer from binge-eating disorder at some point their lifetimes, and of them, more than eight in 10 survived childhood abuse, neglect, or other trauma.

Now, a Virginia Tech scientist has identified how early life trauma may change the brain to increase the risk of binge eating later in life.

Research led by principal investigator Sora Shin, an assistant professor with the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, revealed how a pathway in the brain that typically provides signals to stop eating may be altered by early life trauma.

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 tags: child abuse,

Drinking during pregnancy changes baby’s brain structure

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/ne News Release 22-Nov-2022
Reports and Proceedings
Radiological Society of North Americaws-releases/971414

 

A new MRI study revealed that consumption of alcohol even in low to moderate amounts during pregnancy can change the baby’s brain structure and delay brain development.

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 tags: drug use, drug abuse

Exposure to certain drugs and environmental risk factors during embryonic development can cause changes similar to autism

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/971899

 

 News Release 23-Nov-2022
Gene that guides earliest social behaviors could be key to understanding autism
Peer-Reviewed Publication
University of Utah Health

 

Little is known about how social behavior develops in the earliest stages of life. But most animals––including humans––are born with an innate ability to interact socially or form bonds with others. And that contributes to success throughout life.

Now, a new animal study points to a gene that is important for the earliest development of basic social behaviors.

The work also suggests that exposure to certain drugs and environmental risk factors during embryonic development can cause changes to this gene, leading to alterations in social behavior that are similar to those found in individuals who have autism. Much to their surprise, the researchers also found they could reverse some of the effects using an experimental drug.

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However, Peterson notes that this study was conducted in animals, and more research needs to be done before any of its results can be confirmed in humans. Therefore, he cautions against drawing conclusions about real-world applications.

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A brain expert shares his 7 ‘hard rules’ for boosting memory and fighting off dementia

 

I suggest reading the whole article for specifics:

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/13/brain-expert-shares-his-7-hard-rules-for-boosting-memory-and-fighting-off-dementia.html

 

Published Sun, Nov 13 20229:39 AM EST
Marc Milstein, Contributor
@drmarcmilstein

 

The average human brain shrinks by approximately 5% per decade after the age of 40. This can have a major impact on memory and focus.

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As a neuroscience researcher, here are seven hard rules I live by to keep my brain sharp and fight off dementia.

1. Keep blood pressure and cholesterol levels in check

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2. Manage sugar levels

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 3. Get quality sleep

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4. Eat a nutritious diet

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5. Don’t smoke (and avoid secondhand and thirdhand smoke)

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6. Make social connections

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7. Continuously learn new skills

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Neighborhood Noise May Increase Dementia Risk

 

Years ago, I read of studies that found that loud factory noise damages the brain.

https://www.bu.edu/sph/news/articles/2020/neighborhood-noise-may-increase-dementia-risk/

 

Michelle Samuels

November 6, 2020

Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia affect millions of older adults in the US—but not equally. Past research has identified risk factors including genes, education, racism, and air pollution, and a growing number of studies now point to noise as another influence on risk of dementia.

Now, a new study co-led by a School of Public Health researcher finds that 10 decibels more daytime neighborhood noise is associated with 36 percent higher odds of mild cognitive impairment and 30 percent higher odds of Alzheimer’s disease.

Published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia, the journal of the Alzheimer’s Association, the study is the first of its kind in the US.

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https://www.alzdiscovery.org/cognitive-vitality/blog/do-loud-noises-harm-the-brain

 

 Do loud noises harm the brain?

    November 20, 2020 Betsy Mills, PhD

 Urban areas are centers of bustling activity, which can provide ample opportunities for cognitively stimulating activities, but also increase exposure to excessive noise, commonly referred to as noise pollution. Exposure to noise can lead to short term impairments in cognitive function, particularly with respect to the ability to focus and remember, while some studies suggest that, similar to air pollution, chronic exposure to noise pollution may increase the risk for dementia.

A report by the European Environmental Agency found that 12,000 premature deaths and 48,000 cases of ischemic heart disease were attributable to environmental noise pollution each year in Europe The majority of the noise pollution is related to traffic.

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Noise acts as a stressor by inducing a state of arousal in the body, which increases levels of stress hormones, such as cortisol. The brain is wasting resources on trying to tune out the noise, so the brain has less capacity to perform other complex tasks, leading to a temporary decline in cognitive performance [3]. Attention and memory tend to be the cognitive domains most impacted by noise. The stress response leads to vascular changes that can pave the way for cardiovascular disease and vascular dementia. Meta-analyses indicate that each 10 dB(A) increase in environmental noise increases the risk for adverse cardiovascular outcomes, including hypertension and heart attacks, by 7 to 17% [8]. Due to the strong connection between heart health and brain health, these negative effects on the cardiovascular system may account for some of the increased dementia risk from noise pollution. Exposure to noise during the night can impair sleep quality, which has additional negative health consequences. Chronic activation of the arousal-stress response can also cause oxidative stress, which is another driver of dementia.

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High blood pressure speeds up mental decline, but does not fully explain dementia disparities

 

 I live in a neighborhood where most of the people are immigrants from Mexico.  They tend to play their music very loud.  Research indicates this increases the risk of dementia.  My next post will be on that.

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/966288

 

 News Release 28-Sep-2022
Long-term “study of studies” in Latino and non-Latino older adults shows clear hypertension link, but mystery still remains about why dementia risk is higher in those of Hispanic origin
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Michigan Medicine - University of Michigan

 

People with high blood pressure levels face a faster erosion of their ability to think, make decisions and remember information than those with normal blood pressure levels, a new study finds.

The researchers traced high blood pressure’s association with declining brain function over years, in data from six large studies that they pooled and analyzed. They show that blood pressure-related cognitive decline happens at the same pace in people of Hispanic heritage as in non-Hispanic white people.

The team had set out to see if differences in long-term blood pressure control explained why Hispanic people face a 50% higher overall risk of dementia by the end of their life than non-Hispanic white people in the United States.

But the new findings suggest that other factors may play a bigger role in that disparity.

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 “Our findings suggest that high blood pressure causes faster cognitive decline, and that taking hypertension medication slows the pace of that decline,” says Levine, a professor of internal medicine at the U-M’s academic medical center, Michigan Medicine.

“Since other studies have shown that people of Hispanic heritage in the United States tend to have higher rates of uncontrolled hypertension than non-Hispanic white people, due in part to worse access to care, it’s vital that they get extra support to control their blood pressure even if blood pressure is only part of the picture when it comes to their higher dementia risk,” she adds. “A risk factor like uncontrolled high blood pressure that is more prevalent in one group can still contribute to substantial health disparities.”

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Brain development of the preterm baby is improved by supporting emotional connection with the parent

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/965785

 

 News Release 28-Sep-2022
Peer-Reviewed Publication
University of Helsinki

 

A joint study by the University of Helsinki and Columbia University showed that supporting emotional connection between mother and her premature baby following birth in the hospital intensive care unit improves the baby’s brain development.

Columbia University Professors Martha G. Welch and Michael M. Myers had previously discovered that supporting the emotional connection between mother and infant during neonatal intensive care significantly improved later neurobehavioral development.

In the current study, the brain network functions of premature infants were measured at term age, following approximately 6 weeks of Family Nurture Intervention (FNI) in the neonatal intensive care unit. All babies received normal high-standard premature care, but some families were given additional FNI to strengthen mother-infant emotional connection.

The study shows that such parental support during the intensive care treatment removed the developmental abnormalities in brain function that are typically seen in the prematurely born infants. The brain network function of the premature infants in the treatment group were not different from their control peers that were born at the normal term age.

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MRI findings in opioid-exposed fetuses show smaller brain size

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/965876

 

 News Release 28-Sep-2022
Third-trimester fetuses with in utero opioid exposure exhibited multiple smaller 2D biometric measurements of the brain, as well as altered fetal physiology, on investigational MRI
Peer-Reviewed Publication
American Roentgen Ray Society

 

According to an open-access Editor’s Choice article in ARRS’ American Journal of Roentgenology (AJR), third-trimester fetuses with in utero opioid exposure exhibited multiple smaller 2D biometric measurements of the brain, as well as altered fetal physiology, on investigational MRI.

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 tags: drug use, drug abuse,

Mandated headgear may lower concussion risk among high school lacrosse players

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/962470

 News Release 24-Aug-2022
Rate lower in Florida with mandate meeting professional standard than in states without. Headgear may now be worth considering for high schools and other levels of play
Peer-Reviewed Publication
BMJ

Mandated headgear meeting professional standards may lower the risk of concussion among high school girls playing lacrosse, suggests research published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

The concussion rate was lower in the US state where protective headgear is mandatory for high school lacrosse players than in states without such a mandate.

It may now be worth considering protective headgear for high school players and possibly for other levels of play, such as youth or collegiate level teams, suggest the researchers.

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Seven Healthy Habits Linked to Lower Risk of Dementia in Those with Genetic Risk

 

 https://www.aan.com/PressRoom/Home/PressRelease/4988

 

May 25, 2022

 

Seven healthy habits and lifestyle factors may play a role in lowering the risk of dementia in people with the highest genetic risk, according to research published in the May 25, 2022, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

The seven cardiovascular and brain health factors, known as the American Heart Association’s Life’s Simple 7, are: being active, eating better, losing weight, not smoking, maintaining a healthy blood pressure, controlling cholesterol, and reducing blood sugar.

“These healthy habits in the Life’s Simple 7 have been linked to a lower risk of dementia overall, but it is uncertain whether the same applies to people with a high genetic risk,” said study author Adrienne Tin, PhD, of the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson. “The good news is that even for people who are at the highest genetic risk, living by this same healthier lifestyle are likely to have a lower risk of dementia.”

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Estimated 98 million Americans skipped treatments, cut back on food, gas or utilities to pay for healthcare

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/960657

 

 News Release 4-Aug-2022
New West Health-Gallup poll finds 38% of Americans making tradeoffs as inflation hits non-healthcare expenses
Reports and Proceedings
West Health Institute

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Aug. 4, 2022 — Higher healthcare prices drove 38% of American adults – representing an estimated 98 million people – to either delay or skip treatment, cut back on driving, utilities, and food, or borrow money to pay medical bills in the last six months, according to a new survey conducted by West Health and Gallup. The survey was conducted in June 2022, the same month inflation reached 9.1%, a new 40-year high.

The percentage of people making these kinds of tradeoffs was higher in lower-income households, but higher earners were not immune. While more than half of households earning less than $48,000 a year made spending cuts, nearly 20% of households earning more than $180,000 a year were forced to cut back too. Women under the age of 50 also cut back on medical care and medicine at higher rates than their male counterparts (36% to 27%, respectively) and much higher than men generally (22%).

“People have been making tradeoffs to pay for healthcare for years. Inflation has only made things worse

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Why You're Getting Nothing Done When You Multitask

 

https://www.uhhospitals.org/Healthy-at-UH/articles/2018/01/tackling-multitasking

 

January 08, 2018

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“There are some instances when multitasking can be beneficial, but most of the implications of multitasking are negative,” Dr. Syed says.

It may seem like we’re being more productive by getting several things done at the same time, but it’s more likely that multitasking actually detracts from our efficacy in each individual task, he says.

"For example, if I'm texting during a meeting, I'm probably not paying complete attention to what’s being said in the meeting," he says. "And, I’m probably rushing my text, and the message may come across as uncaring or crude. So neither task will get my full attention.”

Although it may seem that a person can do several things at once, in reality, the brain is able to perform one single task at a time.

“When we multitask, we are actually toggling back and forth between tasks,” Dr. Syed says.

But the result of chronic multitasking may be even more dangerous than incomplete or compromised tasks. It can also impart damage – physically, emotionally and socially.

The stress generated by trying to do too many things at once may actually damage a part of our brains called the anterior cingulate cortex,  Dr. Syed says. This part of the brain is thought to be involved in such diverse functions as regulating blood pressure and heart rate, decision-making, impulse control, reward anticipation, ethics and empathy for others.

“Studies have revealed actual damage to that part of the brain due to stress from multitasking,” Dr. Syed says. “That may help to explain the lack of empathy demonstrated by many young people who are constantly using their cell phones today.”

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Healthy lifestyle associated with more years without Alzheimer’s

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/949405

 

 News Release 13-Apr-2022
Peer-Reviewed Publication
BMJ

 

 A US study published by The BMJ today suggests that a healthy lifestyle is associated with a longer life expectancy among both men and women, and they lived a larger proportion of their remaining years without Alzheimer’s disease.

The findings show that a healthy lifestyle is associated with longer life expectancies, but crucially the extra years did not mean extra years lived with Alzheimer’s.

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 Participants completed detailed diet and lifestyle questionnaires and a healthy lifestyle score was developed based on: a hybrid Mediterranean-DASH Diet (a diet rich in whole grains, green leafy vegetables and berries and low in fast/fried food, and red meats); late-life cognitively stimulating activities; at least 150 minutes a week of physical activity; not smoking; low to moderate alcohol consumption.

Cognitive activities included reading, visiting a museum or doing crosswords.

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Autism-associated brain differences can be observed in the womb

 

 https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/947458

 

 News Release 5-Apr-2022
Study is the first to analyze prenatal MRI scans of children later diagnosed with autism
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Experimental Biology

 

 A new study using prenatal brain scans revealed significant differences in brain structures at around 25 weeks’ gestation between children who were later diagnosed with ASD and those who were not. The study adds to mounting evidence that autism begins in early development and suggests possible opportunities to identify the disorder at an earlier age.

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Wildfire smoke exposure in early pregnancy affects infant monkey behavior

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/948113

 

 News Release 1-Apr-2022
Peer-Reviewed Publication
University of California - Davis

 

Infant monkeys conceived while their mothers were naturally exposed to wildfire smoke show behavioral changes compared to animals conceived days later, according to a new study from researchers at the California National Primate Research Center at the University of California, Davis. The work is published April 1 in Nature Communications.  

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 On assessment, the smoke-exposed infants showed increases in a marker of inflammation, a reduced cortisol response to stress, memory deficits and a more passive temperament than other animals, Capitanio said.

“It’s a mild effect across a variety of domains of psychological function,” Capitanio said. The effects are consistent with those found in studies of prenatal exposure to air pollution, he said. Comparison between the groups and with animals born in other years shows that the results are not due to the timing of conception (earlier versus later in the breeding season).

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Stabilizing low blood sugar in infancy prevents long-term brain damage

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/948081

 

 News Release 30-Mar-2022
Peer-Reviewed Publication
University of Waterloo

 

Low blood sugar in infancy is serious, but treatment can ward off long-term brain damage in infants, a new study has found.

The study from the University of Waterloo and the University of Auckland is the first research of its kind to declare stabilizing blood sugar levels in newborns with hypoglycemia prevents brain damage.

Low blood sugar, also known as hypoglycemia, occurs when the level of glucose in the blood is too low. Low blood sugar is very common, affecting more than one in six babies. As glucose is the main source of fuel for the brain and the body, untreated low blood sugar can cause adverse effects on a child’s neurodevelopment up to the age of 4.5 years old. 

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Physical fitness linked to lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/944452

 

 News Release 27-Feb-2022
Reports and Proceedings
American Academy of Neurology

 

People who are more physically fit are less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease than people who are less physically fit, according to a preliminary study released today, February 27, 2022, that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 74th Annual Meeting being held in person in Seattle, April 2 to 7, 2022 and virtually, April 24 to 26, 2022.

“One exciting finding of this study is that as people’s fitness improved, their risk of Alzheimer’s disease decreased—it was not an all-or-nothing proposition,” said study author Edward Zamrini, MD, of the Washington VA Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and a member of the American Academy of Neurology. “So people can work toward making incremental changes and improvements in their physical fitness and hopefully that will be associated with a related decrease in their risk of Alzheimer’s years later.”

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Exercise can help older adults retain their memories

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/943658

 

 News Release 17-Feb-2022
Peer-Reviewed Publication
University of Pittsburgh

 

We all know exercise is good for us, but that still leaves plenty of questions. How much exercise? Who benefits the most? And when in our lives? New research led by University of Pittsburgh psychologists pools data from dozens of studies to answer these questions, showing that older adults may be able to prevent declines in a certain kind of memory by sticking to regular exercise.

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 “From our study, it seems like exercising about three times a week for at least four months is how much you need to reap the benefits in episodic memory.”

Episodic memory is the kind that deals with events that happened to you in the past. It’s also one of the first to decline with age. 

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