amudu

Monday, August 6, 2012

Schizophrenic brains try to repair

NEUROSCIENCE RESEARCH AUSTRALIA

Share on print

New NeuRA research shows that the brains of people with schizophrenia may attempt to repair damage caused by the disease, in another example of the adult brain’s capacity to change and grow.

Prof. Cyndi Shannon Weickert, Dr Dipesh Joshi, and colleagues from Neuroscience Research Australia studied the brains of people with schizophrenia. She focused on one of the hardest-hit regions, the orbitofrontal cortex, which is the part of the brain involved in regulating emotional and social behaviour.

Most neurons—brain cells that transmit information—are found in tissue near the surface of the brain. However, the team found a high density of neurons in deeper areas in the brains of people with schizophrenia.

“For over a decade, we’ve known about the high density of neurons in deeper brain tissue in people with schizophrenia. Researchers thought these neurons were simply forgotten by the brain and somehow didn’t die off like they do during development in healthy people,” says Prof. Shannon Weickert.

“What we now have is evidence that suggests these neurons are derived from the part of the brain that produces new neurons and that they may be in the process of moving. We can’t be sure where they are moving to, but given their location, it is likely they are on their way to the surface of the brain, the area most affected by schizophrenia,” Prof. Shannon Weickert concluded.

Prof. Cyndi Shannon Weickert is the Macquarie Group Foundation Chair of Schizophrenia Research, a joint venture of Neuroscience Research Australia, the University of New South Wales, the Schizophrenia Research Institute, and the Macquarie Group Foundation, and supported by NSW Health.

This paper is published in the journal Biological Psychiatry.

How was this study done?

Brain tissue from the orbitofrontal cortex from 38 people with schizophrenia and 38 people without the disease was used in this study.

The density of interstitial neurons in the white matter and the density of GABAergic neurons in the grey matter were measured.

An increased density of interstitial white matter neurons in the white matter and a decreased density of GABAergic neurons in the grey matter were found.

This pattern suggests that the migration of interstitial white matter neurons towards an area where they are lacking, because of schizophrenia, is a response to the disease.

Editor's Note: The original news release can be found here.

Mohan Dhal - A Gujarati Sweet

Satisfying if not mind-blowing!

I wanted to make some sweet for one of our close friend’s babyshower(Seemantham). On the day before the babyshower, at midnight 1am (didn’t find time at all to make it during t

he day time), I made this sweet. I asked my husband to taste it. He liked it and appreciated me.
I kept the remaining sweets in the refrigerator.

After two days, my husband asked me for the sweet. When I gave him the sweet, he immediately starred at me and said this was the worst sweet he had ever had in his life. Immediately, I tasted it and did not like it at all.I felt so bad and disturbed. I was pondering how could I ever make a sweet like this and give it for a baby shower…

After few days, I tried making the same recipe with few changes to the original recipe and vahrevah….it came out well. So, now you can make this revised recipe and let me know your experience!

Ingredients

Besan Flour – 3 Cups

Vennila Essence – Few Drops

Condensed Milk – 500gm

Sugar – 4 Tablespoons

Milk – 3 Tablespoons

Chopped Cashews – 1 Tablespoon

Chopped Almonds – 1 Tablespoons

Saffron – Few Strands (Optional)

Ghee – 2 Tablespoons

Preparation

1. Warm 1 tablespoon of ghee in a nonstick pan. Fry besan flour until you get good smell. Remove besan flour and transfer it to a mixing bowl.

2. Now, when the besan flour is warm enough, add milk and stir well. Then, add the desired quantity of water in such a way that the besan milk mixture becomes a thick paste.

3. In the same nonstick pan, add 1 tablespoon of remaining ghee. Fry cashews and almonds till they become golden brown. Transfer them to a bowl.

4. Now, add the besan milk mixture to the pan and fry well. Slowly, add the condensed milk, sugar, and vanilla essence and again fry well until the raw smell of the besan mixture goes off and also until there are no lumps. Put saffron strands on top. Switch off the stove.

5. Apply ghee on the bottom of the desired plate. Using a spoon, put the Mohan Dhal sweet on the plate and press well. Put some fried cashews and almonds on the sweet and gently press them. Allow the sweet to cool and then cut the sweet into desired shapes.

Now, the Mohan Dhal sweet is ready!

https://www.facebook.com/NithyasCorner