PTSD and the Gut Microbiome

     My father earned two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star Medal in the Vietnam War. 50 years later, he passed away from a cancer he contracted as a result of the Agent Orange utilized during the war. Like many veterans upon their return home, my father’s life became governed by the terrors of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD flashbacks disturbed my father’s sleep for the rest of his life, leaving him in a constant state of disequilibrium. A study conducted by Martindale et al., (2020), corroborated my father's experience. Researchers investigated the relationship between the effects of PTSD and sleep outcomes in veterans – they found that PTSD severity was significantly associated with poorer sleep quality (p < .001), restedness (p = .018) and shorter sleep duration (p = .015) (Martindale et al., 2020). Martindale et al., (2020) provides evidence which suggests that veterans would significantly benefit from routine screening of sleep problems and increased emphasis on sleep hygiene. 

    After reading Dr. Vitaterna’s study on the effects of a prebiotic diet on sleep disruption, my first thoughts were of my father. Vitaterna et al. (2022) sought to discover an intervention that improved resilience to insufficient sleep, and this intervention came in the form of a prebiotic diet specifically containing galactooligosaccharides (GOS) and polydextrose (PDX). Rats administered the prebiotic diet demonstrated an increase in sleep during the sleep disruption protocol, wherein the rats were catapulted into a state of disequilibrium through a slow rotating bar at the bottom of their cage that spun for 20 hours a day. Furthermore, this prebiotic diet improved recovery sleep following the sleep disruption protocol. Dr. Vitaterna and her colleagues discovered that a prebiotic diet leads to significant increases in sleep during both the sleep restriction and recovery experimental protocols (Vitaterna et al., 2022) – is it possible that a sort of prebiotic treatment could aid veterans in sleeping more peacefully? As a society, we are governed by a myriad of factors that muddle the sleep/wake cycle. Martindale et al., (2020) elucidate that veterans are particularly vulnerable to disruptions of this precious cycle. This study contributes to a growing body of research identifying a link between the gut microbiome and the regulation of sleep. Thus, this relationship suggests potential for unique therapeutic interventions via the gut microbiome to mitigate disruption of the sleep/wake cycle.

    While there is evidence supporting a link between the gut microbiome and the regulation of sleep, there is a limited body of research that examines the relationship between those whose sleep is most disrupted (PTSD sufferers) and the gut microbiota. A literature review conducted by Halverson and Alagiakrishnan (2020) sought to provide a thorough analysis of the literature on the effect of gut microbiota on mental health and neurocognitive disorders. In this literature review, the authors cite a study wherein human individuals who scored higher on the Clinician Administered Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Scale had lower levels of the gut microbes Actinobacteria, Lentisphaerae and Verrucomicrobia. Halverson and Alagiakrishnan (2020) state that this inverse relationship between increased levels of PTSD and decreased levels of the aforementioned gut bacterias lead to increased vulnerability for PTSD symptoms on account of the decreased anti-inflammatory and immunoregulatory effects these microbiomes possess. 

    Two factors that may contribute to our limited understanding of the relationship between PTSD and the gut microbiome have been elucidated: PTSD severity impacts sleep, and the addition of a prebiotic into the gut microbiome may assist in mitigating disruption to the sleep/wake cycle. Instinctively, every human knows the healing powers of sleep – my father existed in a constant state of disequilibrium because he was deprived of the fundamental necessity to human functioning that is rest. Is it possible that a prebiotic diet could have returned my father to equilibrium and perhaps restored his quality of life? 

References: 

Bowers, S. J., Summa, K. C., Thompson, R. S., González, A., Vargas, F., Olker, C., Jiang, P., Lowry, C. A., Dorrestein, P. C., Knight, R., Wright, K. P., Fleshner, M., Turek, F. W., & Vitaterna, M. H. (2022). A prebiotic diet alters the fecal microbiome and improves sleep in response to sleep disruption in rats. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 16. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2022.889211

Halverson, T., & Alagiakrishnan, K. (2020). Gut microbes in neurocognitive and mental health disorders. Annals of Medicine, 52(8), 423–443. https://doi.org/10.1080/07853890.2020.1808239

Martindale, S. L., Konst, M. J., Bateman, J. R., Arena, A., & Rowland, J. A. (2020). The role of PTSD and TBI in post-deployment sleep outcomes. Military Psychology, 32(2), 212–221. https://doi.org/10.1080/08995605.2020.1724595 

The Microbiome: Potential for Cancer Detection and Treatment

The gut is comprised of numerous types of bacteria, fungi, protists, and viruses. The complex of all these is coined as the microbiome, which has been long overlooked as a key for the treatment of certain physiological ailments such as cancer, psychological disorders, and other diseases. However, recent research has aided in the understanding that the microbiome holds many secrets to many different questions pertaining to physiological healing. In a paper by Martha Hotz Vitaterna and research associates, improvements in sleep recovery were found through alterations of the bacteria levels in the microbiome with the use of a prebiotic diet including galactooligosaccharides and polydextrose. One bacteria, Parabacteroids Distanosis (PD), is known as a marker for quantity sleep. Their experiments included exposing the animal subjects to stress during sleep, causing increasing sleep deprivation which then caused decreased levels of PD. They found through implementing this prebiotic diet increased levels of PD five to seven times of levels while the animals were exposed to stress, essentially concluding that through correlation the addition of prebiotics increased bacteria that aided in sleep recovery during times of stress-induced sleep deprivation. If the microbiome can be manipulated to improve the physiological condition of sleep deprivation, why can't it also be used to treat actual physiological disorders like cancer?

Cancer is one of the main leading causes of death throughout the world. Cancer mostly has been treated through the usage of developed drugs that poison cancerous cells in the body but also wreak havoc on other healthy functioning parts of the body as well. Immunotherapy has also been used for a long time in various ways as an additional method of treatment, but lately, a lot of promising research on the relationship between the microbiome and immune system strength has led to exciting outlooks on cancer screening and its treatment. Specific bacteria numbers have even been identified to fluctuate with certain cancers and bacterial or viral infections present in the body. In addition, tumor tissue has been found to contain traces of microbial DNA, essentially proving that the microbiome is involved in the health and life span of cancerous cells. "The microbiota produces metabolites, metabolizing nutrients and producing toxins that can block pathogenic invaders, restrict their growth, produce beneficial microbial products and metabolize nutrients and poisons from invading species. (Rahman, Microbiome in Cancer: Role in Carcinogenesis and Impact in Therapeutic Strategies)." On the other hand, the microbiota can even nourish and improve the health of certain cancers. Without a doubt, the microbiome can supply signals of potential cancerous habitats or cancer itself, thus providing the idea that microbiomes have in some sense a direct link to cancer development, prognosis, and treatment. 

The treatment of cancer is heading in the direction of immunotherapy. can be very beneficial to some patients, but has its challenges because many cancers have "circulatory abnormalities that help elude them from detection of the immune system (Rahman, Microbiome in Cancer: Role in Carcinogenesis and Impact in Therapeutic Strategies)." Most methods include using synthetic drugs that have been developed to change tumor vasculature back to a structure that can be recognized by the body's immune system. Understanding the essential connection between the microbiome and the immune system allows doctors and researchers to use nanotechnology (detection of biology at a nanoscale) to not only better understand but have the potential to control and manipulate microenvironments of the gut and allow for potential new methods to influence immune system strength thus weaponizing the microbiome against cancer. However, much further research is needed before the implementation of such methods could be used due to the complexity of the microbiome with age, macroenvironmental impact, and nutritional patterns of patients. 
Cancer is an unwanted part of us but it importantly capitalizes on the same interconnectedness of the bodily system (the microbiome) as the healthy part of us does. Through macrobiotic research, the world is understanding why cancer succeeds, but even more importantly, the relationships it has with the microbiome; hopefully providing us with the knowledge on how to outsmart it, treat it, and eliminate it. 

References

1) Rahman, Mominur, et al. "Microbiome in Cancer: Role in Carcinogenesis and Impact in Therapeutic Strategies." Biomedicine and Pharmacotherapy = Biomedicine and Pharmacotherapy, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 18 Dec. 2021 htt[://PubMed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/353814487/.

2) Summa, Keith C., et al. "522 a Prebiotic Diet Alters the Fecal Microbiome and Metabolome, Improves Sleep in Response to Sleep Disruption, and Promotes Stress Resilience in Rats." Gastroenterology, vol. 160, no. 6, 24 May 2022, http://doi.org/10/1016/s0016-5085(21)00997-5.

The Technology Takeover: Urban Green Space in Virtual Reality

           Recent urban green space studies in Environmental neuroscience have allowed us to recognize the impact that nature has on individuals. Natural environments are a place of comfort that brings emotional stability, attention restoration, and stress recovery (Sun et al., 2022). Interestingly, over the past decade, there has been a rise in the popularity of virtual reality, which by definition is a computer-generated simulation of a three-dimensional image or environment that can be interacted with in a seemingly real or physical way by a person using special electronic equipment, such as a helmet with a screen inside. During the global pandemic, COVID-19, more than ever, VR headsets were skyrocketing in sales. A researcher states, in a recent article, “The VR HMDs such as the Oculus Quest have been largely sold out during the pandemic” (Johnson, 2020). Technology and gaming systems have been even more prevalent during and post-pandemic because of isolation and people having to quarantine. This leads to the fact that virtual reality has been recently studied and used to measure the physiological and affective responses in green space virtual reality amongst pregnant women. The whole country was on lockdown at one point during COVID-19 and it is interesting to study how virtual green space affects individuals compared to what we have learned about urban green space in the real world. 

 

Berman et al. (2019) demonstrate how the external environment (urban green space) plays a role in improving our cognitive behaviors. Berman and his colleagues examined the effects of directed and undirected attention in urban green spaces. Walking in nature does not require a large amount of directed attention, instead, it allows us to zone out and utilize undirected attention. This allows us to restore our attention in the meantime since directed attention is finite and can be depleted, whereas undirected attention does not require as many resources. Environmental neuroscientists used this understanding to represent the success of the Attention Restoration Theory. The experiment consisted of two different groups who went on two different walk paths in both nature and urban areas. Once the participants returned, they were assessed by a backward digit span test. The two groups switched walk paths a week later and were assessed by a backward digit span test again. The order in which the paths were walked and the time of the year that the participants took these walks did not affect the study’s results. There was a significantly large increase in the average test scores for participants assessed after the nature walk versus a walk in the city. Therefore, walking in nature elicited better results for attention restoration and memory recall than the urban walks did. 

 

On the other hand, a very recent study by Sun and his colleagues demonstrates how virtual reality simulation was used in green space to test the Stress Recovery Theory. Berman and his colleagues established that attention is restored more efficiently when walking in green space, but how does virtually interacting with nature affect our stress levels? Pregnant women were used as participants in this study to record the changes in maternal cortical levels due to stress which can affect the HPA axis functioning. In their study, it was hypothesized that short-term physiological and affective status on stress recovery would be improved among pregnant women when exposed to green space in a VR immersive environment (Sun et al., 2022). Participants were induced with moderate levels of stress using a Trier social stress test (TSST), following a random assignment to view three different, three to five-minute virtual 360-degree videos of green space using a virtual headset. The three different levels of green space settings consisted of non-green: urban street view without green space, middle: urban street view with a moderate level of green space, and high: urban park. After the participants viewed the simulations, they were assessed for post-stress recovery by the use of wristbands, monitoring their heartbeat and blood pressure, and performing a Likert-type scale survey to examine how they felt right after the simulations, using positive and negative emotional subscales. The results indicated that exposure to VR green space environments had better post-stress recovery effects both physiologically and psychologically compared to those exposed to the non-green space environment. Furthermore, exposure to the high-level green space environment in a park-like setting had the strongest impact on stress recovery overall. Lastly, the HPA axis showed lower levels of cortisol stress levels after viewing the high-level green space environment in participants (Sun et al., 2022). 

 

Using both Berman and his colleagues and Sun and his colleagues’ studies on attention restoration and stress recovery in green space, we can understand the positive impact of nature in the developing field of Environmental neuroscience. We are living in a world where technology keeps evolving and we are amid a global pandemic which makes it very significant to explore our virtual options to reduce stress and better our mental health. 

 

References: 

 

Ball, C., Huang, K.-T., & Francis, J. (2021, October 13). Virtual reality adoption during the COVID-19 pandemic: A uses and Gratifications Perspective. Telematics and Informatics. Retrieved October 14, 2022, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0736585321001672 

 

Berman, M. G., Stier, A. J., & Akcelik, G. N. (2019). Environmental neuroscience. American Psychologist, 74(9), 1039–1052. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000583

 

Sun, Y., Li, F., He, T., Meng, Y., Yin, J., Yim, I. S., Xu, L., & Wu, J. (2022, October 5). Physiological and affective responses to green space virtual reality among pregnant women. Environmental Research. Retrieved October 14, 2022, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0013935122018266?casa_token=oOzQ_PDEJSEAAAAA%3AnfPTqcZBwj41wv64CQQ6hjJhPMlxy4xeqR5YbRoVU50YP_o8YSfHAEasYkB3qCXZfp3ErmKEuA

 

URL:

https://patelvirtualrealitygs.blogspot.com/

 

Ishika Patel

How Making Art and Learning ART (Attention Restoration Theory) Helps Our Brains

 How Making Art and Learning ART (Attention Restoration Theory) Helps Our Brains

Brief exposures to nature can cause changes in our working memories and attention performances. Environmental neuroscience researches how interactions with the environment develop and integrate data within larger and smaller scale areas such as cognition, neurobiology, and environmental social work. This type of research helps us understand how we can connect our behaviors, attention, and brain functions to what surrounds us. Natural environments tend to have softly fascinating stimuli. It is theorized that the capture of involuntary attention should be soft and not all-consuming. For example,  walking near a waterfall would have a different effect on our brains and their various functions as opposed to walking in the busy streets of Chicago.

When I feel nervous or anxious, I like to take a walk outside or sometimes paint. When I am listening to lectures and taking notes, I tend to always find myself doodling on the sides of my notebook.  When I need a break, I listen to music or play music myself. Perhaps, making art can relate to the research and findings of what environmental neuroscience suggests. Art can be a form of soft fascinating stimuli. 

The studies of Marc Berman and his team in their article “Environmental Neuroscience” written for the American Psychological Association, introduce the origins, approaches, and methods that have been and continue to be studied in the field of environmental neuroscience. Interestingly, the Attention Restoration Theory or ART distinguishes the difference between voluntary and directed attention and how our brain consumes these different mechanisms. Directed attention is finite and can be depleted, however, it is important how we activate our infinite involuntary attention. Nature is not the only environment that does this. Music and art just happen to have these properties as well.

Learning about ART and making art is important because humans are limited-capacity information processors. Simulations of such lead to cognitive improvements. Studies for the  Journal of the American Art Therapy Association have shown that making art can lower stress and anxiety because it can activate the reward center of our brain, and lets us focus deeply.  Making art is indeed a form of soft stimulus, and this is very similar to what the findings of Marc Berman and his team have learned from ART.

Berman, Marc G., et al. “Environmental Neuroscience.” The American Psychologist, vol. 74, no. 9, 2019, pp. 1039–52, https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000583.

Gharib, M. (2020, January 11). Feeling artsy? here's how making art helps your brain. NPR. Retrieved October 14, 2022, from https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/01/11/795010044/feeling-artsy-heres-how-making-art-helps-your-brain

Does the presence of urban greenspaces have an impact of mental health?

 

The field of environmental neuroscience has studied the relationship between “brain mediated, bidirectional relationships” and “organisms and their social and physical environments.” (Berman, Stier, & Akcelik 2019) Berman et al. (2019) discusses how when people are subjected to more nature or greenspaces, their mental health, cognition, behavior, memory, etc. will be impacted positively. Urban greenspaces have also contributed to one’s amount of social interactions in their living environment, thus also contributing to one’s mental health being improved. 

In other literature, it is discussed how “the association between urban green space and mental health has largely focused on the presence or quantity of green space, rather than on the spatial distribution of green spaces within the urban landscape.” The study sought to address if green space alone was enough and if all green spaces were the same. The study used mental health data that was collected by the Chicago Department of Public Health from 6405 residents in 61 Chicago communities as part of their Healthy Chicago Survey, and quantified landscape metrics related to the amount and configuration of green space within these community ‘landscapes’. “Using generalized linear mixed models that controlled for socio-economic confounds, [they] found that residents reported less psychological distress within urban landscapes that had small-sized water bodies and greater distances between forested areas, which tend to characterize the distribution of large forest parks throughout Chicago.” (Ha, Jaeyoung, et al. 2021)

According to the World Health Organization, greenspaces are essential for citizen’s mental health. Using previous research to uncover how greenspaces effected patients in a hospital, it was shown that COVID-19 studies have shown that people who live in areas with less green space were more impacted by the pandemic. Studies have also shown that participants also experienced enhanced mood states, favorable spatial experience, and perceived aesthetics in the IVE hospital with visible greenspaces than the same environment without window views. These results then showed that there was room for improvement with large hospitals and how hospital gardens and views of nature from windows could improve patients' experiences. (Tomasi, Patricia 2022)

The collaboration of all of these findings have shown the importance of green spaces for mental health in general, and for people in hospital settings. Environmental neuroscience has facilitated the importance of these findings and also helps discover the ways we can help increase positive brain functions. 

Berman, M. G., Stier, A. J., & Akcelik, G. N. (2019). Environmental neuroscience. American Psychologist, 74(9), 1039–1052. 

Ha, Jaeyoung, et al. “Urban Green Space Alone Is Not Enough: A Landscape Analysis Linking the Spatial Distribution of Urban Green Space to Mental Health in the City of Chicago.” Landscape and Urban Planning, Elsevier, 22 Nov. 2021, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169204621002723. 

Tomasi, Patricia. “How Important Is Greenspace around Hospitals When It Comes to the Health of Patients?” Theravive, Theravive, 11 Mar. 2022, https://www.theravive.com/today/post/how-important-is-greenspace-around-hospitals-when-it-comes-to-the-health-of-patients-0004821.aspx.

You Need to Touch Grass– ADHD’s Guide To Not Being Chronically Online

Attention-Deficit Disorder is a disorder that causes behavior problems that are so frequent that it interferes with one’s ability to function in day to day tasks. It affects the executive function in the brain which causes those who have the disorder to struggle with completing basic tasks. Those who have trouble concentrating and exhibit an impulsive nature usually are more at risk for being diagnosed with ADHD. The main detriment of having ADHD has been attention issues, which can also denote memory issues. Left untreated, adults who have ADHD may lead difficult lives underlined with poor grades, unemployment, and struggling to maintain relationships. This may cause those with ADHD to turn to social media, which provides immediate dopamine and little need for attention. On the internet, you can form friendships and gain attention from others for simple tweets, which provides an essential escape for people who struggle with being able to do anything. Since people with ADHD aren’t getting this simplicity of living elsewhere, a dependency will form. Although medication has been proven to be the most effective combat for ADHD, there are more natural ways to help lessen the symptoms.

Dr. Marc Berman’s study in environmental science focused on how temporal and spatial scales are used in order to “...observe the impact of various environmental contexts on brain and behavior.” This data is utilized to determine how various environments and the activities we perform in these environments affect our health and our behaviors. His studies concluded that behavior and the environment are not mutually exclusive, and by manipulating how different environments will affect people on large spatial scales vs small spatial scales, we can further determine the causal mechanisms and predictability of behavior. For example, it’s not merely enough to see a forest, immersing oneself will yield far more results. 

With ADHD, it’s not easy to follow through on things that you plan to do. However, having access to natural surroundings has been proven to increase attentiveness, focus, and memory. With attention fatigue, “...the positive effect of being in nature is big enough to produce a noticeable reduction in symptoms” (Sherman, 2020). Certain activities have proven to aid in the ability to concentrate, such as activities in greener environments leading to the biggest improvements. According to him, the reason isn’t that the specific activity done is the factor that causes the improvement, but the actual location. People with ADHD may be more inclined to stay inside and find it difficult to move around, but by committing an hour a day to a nature walk, studies prove that the neurotransmitters in the prefrontal cortex may be more replenished than otherwise.

Ultimately, whether you have ADHD or not, taking the more scenic route to work may be in your best interest. If you have trouble with awareness, looking around and fully taking in your surroundings during these outdoor activities can only help to boost your awareness in the future. In my opinion, it’s best to take the advice of “go touch grass.”

Works Cited

Berman, Marc G., Andrew J. Stier, and Gaby N. Akcelik. “Environmental Neuroscience.” 

American Psychologist 74.9 (2019): 1039–1052. American Psychologist. Web.

Sherman, Carl. “Green Time: A Natural Remedy for ADHD Symptoms.” ADDitude. 18 

            March 2020. https://www.additudemag.com/green-time-natural-adhd-remedy/

The Effect of the COVID-19 Lockdown on Children with ADHD

Learning New Words Through Gestures

 

The article “Gesture helps learners learn, but not merely by guiding their visual attention” by Wakefield et al. Discusses the impact of teaching students with speech alone or speech and gesture combined to solve math equivalency problems. The study shows that not only is gesture and important aspect to learning but for the children guiding their visual attention to the problem and away from the instructor also played a part. They were able to follow the method of solving the problem while listening to the instructions presented.

            We often use gesture when we communicate which can be iconic (representing an object), metaphoric (to visualize abstract concepts), and deictic (to point toward at what is referenced). This can help us with communicating with each other and is often very beneficial. It can also be used in teaching students new concepts like the study mentioned above. However, it can also be used in vocabulary and language. In a recent article, Natalie Wexler discusses doing research at an elementary school for her new book and observing gestures implemented in teaching. Wexler summarizes that when a new word was being taught the teacher would use a gesture that the students would also mimic. For example, when learning the word layer, the teacher would have the students place both hands flat while one hovers over the other. Wexler states however, that this only works when the word or concept they are learning is brought up again over time in an engaging manner. In the students’ case they spent three weeks learning about rock formation where the word lay was brought up multiple times. And later in the year when learning about the rainforest the word came up and students still remembered the gesture.

            Another study at the university of Illinois co-led by psychology professor Kiel Christianson aimed to compare the comprehension of student learning new words in another language when it was either paired or not paired with a gesture. The study was comprised of 30 students whose first or native language was English and had no knowledge of the Mandarin language which to be used in the study. They introduced 18 new words divided in three categories, the word was paired with a commonly used gesture, a meaningless gesture, or no gesture. Only the instructor performed the gesture while the participants observed. Followed by a multiple-choice test to see if they could recall the meaning. Results show that the ability to recall the meaning was only 8-10 % better with the gestures than without. Christianson says that while it is not a big improvement, it shows that instructors could pair a new word with a previously meaningless gesture to help facilitate learning. He does advise to teach the new words in batches of no more than 10 words to give the students time to learn.

Forrest, S. (2019, January 30). Gestures help students learn new words in different languages, study finds. Phys.org. Retrieved October 14, 2022, from https://phys.org/news/2019-01-gestures-students-words-languages.html

Wakefield E, Novack MA, Congdon EL, Franconeri S ,Goldin-Meadow S. Gesture helps learners                 learn,but not merely by guiding their visual attention. Dev Sci. 2018;e12664.                                             https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12664

Wexler, N. (2022, July 12). How gestures can help students learn. Forbes. Retrieved October 14, 2022, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/nataliewexler/2022/07/07/how-gestures-can-help-students-learn/?sh=e23ee1a38b3d

Birdsong and Mental Health

It has recently been proven that birdsongs improve mental health and cognitive thinking compared to listening to traffic noises. An experiment was done with 295 participants, according to NeuroscienceNews, where "they hear six minutes of traffic noises or birdsongs with different variations and after that perform cognitive tests." It is known that birdsong has an influence on positive moods. "What is new is that it has an influence on paranoid states like anxiety disorders or paranoia." It can reduce anxiety since birdsongs are linked to the natural environment. The improvement of physical and mental well-being from everyday exposure to nature is an even more obvious link between the environment and health. The fact that most people love being around nature and natural landscapes show that certain natural occurrences may provide harmony to society and be beneficial to mental health. "It is still under investigation what type of senses (sound, color vision, etc.) contribute to the effects of a decrease in anxiety."

During the experiment, as distracting as it is, there was an increase in depression among participants who listen to traffic noises. And there was also a decrease in depression and lowered anxiety and paranoia in participants who listen to different birdsongs. Cognition, however, had no differences on either side. "The findings produced interesting outcomes for further study, including actively modifying soundscapes in various situations, such as psychiatric facilities, hospitals, or different residential environments, and examining their impact on signs of anxiety and paranoia."

Another lab that dwells on the same topic is from TechnologyNetworks stated researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Human Development and the Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) announced birdsong reduces anxiety and irrational thoughts.

Mental health is a continuously increasing problem that affects many teens and young adults. With social media on the rise, the young generation gets more and more fixated on how they appear to others that were influenced by influencers and celebrities. And more social media comes with more personal problems. Just being outside on the nonartificial side of the world has already been proven to improve health. It is free therapeutic medicine for everyone. Exercising like jogging and biking, yoga, and meditation can reduce stress, improve mood and self-esteem, is mental relief, and can have some physical effects too. Just being outside can calm one's nerves.

References

https://www.technologynetworks.com/neuroscience/news/birdsongs-effects-on-mental-health-revealed-366572

https://neurosciencenews.com/birdsong-mental-health-21639/

The Significance of Sex Differences in Neurodegenerative Disease

 

The influences of sex differences on disease have been severely understudied until recent scientific history. Most of the knowledge about every aspect of disease comes from a basis of research using male participants. Although the accumulated bank of medical knowledge mainly comes from male physiology, it gets generalized as a standard. Only after researchers began including female participants did differences in disease presentation between sexes catch the attention of the medical research community. Even when female participants are included, the influence of sex is not a main point of result analysis. Today, there is still nowhere near a full understanding of how aspects of sex play a role as modifiers of disease across the board.

The effects of sex hormones on the brain and their role in neurodegenerative disease have been explored by Nguyen et al. Progesterone, an ovarian hormone important for regulating pregnancy and the menstrual cycle, is a known neuroprotectant that could be a possible stroke treatment. It is known that brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) release mediates progesterone’s protective functions, which itself is mediated by the Pgrmc1 progesterone receptor. Nguyen et al. set out to investigate how the microRNA (miRNA) let-7i regulates progesterone’s protective functions during ischemia in a mouse model. In this study, let-7i, which has been found to increase during strokes, was shown to negatively regulate the expression of Pgrmc1 and BDNF, which is connected to more severe stroke pathophysiology. Let-7i was also found to prevent progesterone from protecting the neurons from oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) during a stroke, which in turn increases expression of let-7i. Then when they inhibited the miRNA let-7i, they found an increase in progesterone’s neuroprotective effects and a facilitation of functional recovery following stroke. While progesterone treatment alone was unable to decrease the size of the ischemic lesion, a combined treatment of progesterone with let-7i enhanced mature BDNF expression from glia, reduced ischemic injury, and promoted better functional recovery. The work of Nguyen et al. highlights the significance of a prominent sex hormone in the severity of injury following a form of neurological damage, as well as the ability to recover and restore function.

Dr. Meharvan Singh, one of the lead researchers in the Nguyen et al. study, gave a research talk at Loyola University Chicago highlighting this study as well as other prominent findings from his research studying the effects of hormones on neurodegenerative disease. He discussed sex hormones and their role in observed sex differences in the risk for age-associated diseases like Alzheimer’s. He described how estrogen plays a significant role in memory and Alzheimer’s disease. He then made a striking point: women are three times more likely to develop Alzheimer’s than men, women also have an also undetectable amount of estrogen in their bodies post-menopause. People do not generally develop Alzheimer’s disease until they are at the age that menopause has generally already occurred in women. This shows a glaring disparity in prior understanding, diagnosis, and treatment of a leading cause of death in the United States.

Mauvais-Jarvis et al. compiled a review that explores the role of sex and gender as modifiers of the most common causes of death and morbidity (Mauvais-Jarvis et al., 2020). They aimed to emphasize sex and gender differences as a significant aspect of chronic disease that needs to be considered by clinicians and researchers at every step. It is noted that researching sex differences regarding disease is usually deemed a specialized research interest, but Mauvais-Jarvis et al. push for its centralization in medical research as it deems great significance throughout all medicine. Sex differences among different diseases are discussed, from heart disease to pneumonia to diabetes. When discussing stroke, the loss of female sex hormones in menopause Is cited as a main reason for an increased ischemic stroke risk in middle-aged women, and menopausal hormone therapy has shown to reduce that risk. An overall statistic is given, showing that while men are more likely to have a stroke, women have poorer outcomes and are more likely to die from a stroke. When discussing the influence of sex differences on Alzheimer’s disease, it is noted that early menopause and late initiation of menopausal hormone therapy increases women’s’ risk of Alzheimer’s disease, when two-thirds of individuals in the U.S. with this disease are female. This research and statistics, along with similar findings for many other ailments, support the argument proposed by Mauvais-Jarvis et al. calling to make the influences of sex differences much more central in the field of medical research.

The Nguyen et al. study and Dr. Singh's research talk at Loyola University Chicago showed how vital research investigating the influence of sex differences like hormones on neurodegenerative disease is for the future of medicine. The Mauvais-Jarvis et al. review article use similar research to build their case for centralizing research of sex differences across the medical research field. This area of research is incredibly important to provide researchers and clinicians with the best knowledge to better the understanding, diagnosis, and treatment of so many different diseases. There must be a much larger emphasis on these differences in future research to ensure the best care and treatment for all individuals, both male and female. 

References:

Nguyen, Trinh, et al. “Let-7i Inhibition Enhances Progesterone-Induced Functional Recovery in a Mouse Model of Ischemia.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 115, no. 41, 2018, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1803384115.

Mauvais-Jarvis , F., Merz , N. B., Barnes, P. J., Brinton, R. D., Carrero, J.-J., & DeMeo, D. L. (2020). Sex and gender: modifiers of health, disease, and medicine. The Lancet, 396(10252). https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)31561-0

Gesture Based Learning and Retention Rates

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Khushy Shakeel 

          Everyone learns a different way—some individuals are visual learners, some require hands on activity, and others may just need to ponder over a textbook. This phenomena is not new information; decades worth of research has proven that learning, comprehension and retention occurs divergently from one person to the next. A study completed by Elizabeth Wakefield at the University of Chicago has highlighted the importance of integrating gestures into teaching rather than just teaching through speech alone. The results of this study exemplified how interactive gestures in a classroom environment led to increased comprehension and retention rates among students, as well as increased levels of attention in general. The results of this study illuminated how important interactive learning is, while we are in an age where learning and work is being fast tracked to be done virtually, with hardly any interactive, person to person contact remaining.
    Wakefield found through her research that hand gestures during instruction not only guided visual attention and engagement, but also had vast affects on retention due to its ability to synchronize with speech. In her experimental set up, she testes two groups of students with sets of addition problems—one group was given instruction via speech only, while the other group of students was given instruction via speech and gesture from the instructor. The ages of the individuals being tested were between 8- 10 years old.  A  math pretest given to the participants revealed that none of them had knowledge of how to solve the math problems provided to them during the instruction, and thus had to rely on the instruction completely to learn how to solve the equations. Results following the experiments showed a direct relationship between gesture based instruction and increased retention and comprehension compared to solely auditory learning alone. Along with this relationship, the results of the study also established that children focused their attention more on the gesture space and the mathematical problem, and less at the instructor. This finding led to the conclusion that visual focus on the problem presented allowed the children more time to comprehend what was being taught and apply it to the problem.
    Given the numerous findings that indicate the link between in person, engaging learning and increased comprehension and retention rates, we find ourselves in an era of technology that is pushing many learning and work platforms to a virtual platform. Virtual learning and remote work involves minimal engagement—many online classes premise on an instructor lecturing via zoom to a large population of students using PowerPoints and speech heavy teaching. A study done by Papia Bawa highlighted that online learning displays heightened issues related to retention rates and is not limited to any specific age group. The findings from this research indicated that online courses have a 10%-20% higher failed retention rate than traditional classroom settings and a on average, between 40% to 80% of students taking online courses end up dropping the course due to feeling overwhelmed and a lack of comprehension of the material. Other findings from this comprehensive research also indicated that given the nature of online learning being primarily lecture and PowerPoint based, the average attention span of students was severely reduced which ultimately led to a significant lack of retention of the material.
     There is still much research to be done on the most effective teaching methods to improve retention and comprehension in students, but seemingly small factors such as gestures play a significant role in the way individuals learn and retain information. The significance of these techniques can ultimately be paramount to many students, especially in a world that is being revolutionized by virtual contact.
 
 

                                                                        Works Cited

Bawa, P. (2016). Retention in online courses. SAGE Open, 6(1), 215824401562177. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244015621777

Wakefield, E., Novack, M. A., Congdon, E. L., Franconeri, S., & Goldin‐Meadow, S. (2018). Gesture helps learners learn, but not merely by guiding their visual attention. Developmental Science, 21(6). https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12664

 

Nature During Nurture: Exposure to Greenspace During Childhood Positively Affects Brain Development

    The field of environmental neuroscience examines the reciprocal interactions between an individual and the environment. The level of the individual is examined through behavior and neural correlates. The environment is examined by factors including the physical environment, visual environment, social interactions, and noise, to name a few. In the article “Environmental Neuroscience,” Berman et al. (2019) discuss a specific example from environmental neuroscience: the impact of urban greenspace on cognition, affect, and health in humans and non-humans. The authors discuss previous research, which has linked neighborhood greenspace to better physical health, lower mortality, improved school performance, and better mental health. Some of the proposed factors linking the environment to the beneficial effects in health and cognition are the visual properties of nature, air quality, exercise, reduced exposure to toxins, and social cohesion. In his talk at the Neuroscience Seminar, Berman presented the findings of this study, along with findings related to the beneficial effects of time spent in nature for children with ADHD, the effects of urban greenspace in reducing crime, and the study of fractals in the brain and in nature in order to predict cognitive performance.  

    Previous studies have shown that brief interactions with nature can increase working memory capacity, improve mood, and increase attention. Long-term interactions with nature have been linked with reduced crime and improved health, well-being, and school performance. Some of the proposed mechanisms for these beneficial effects are stress reduction theory, perceptual fluency, biophilia, and prospect-refuge theory. Berman et al. (2019) take an environmental approach to understanding the mechanisms behind these beneficial effects, by examining neural responses to the low-level features of stimuli, such as fractals.

    The Barcelona Institute for Global Health published a 2018 study in Environmental Health Perspectives titled “The Association between Lifelong Greenspace Exposure and 3-Dimensional Brain Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Barcelona Schoolchildren,” which presented their findings that lifelong exposure to greenspace for schoolchildren was correlated with larger volumes of white and grey matter in the brain. Greenspace surrounding the child’s home was estimated using satellite-based information. White and grey matter volumes of participants were measured using MRI. The areas of the brain with higher levels of white and grey matter partially overlapped with brain areas associated with cognition, working memory, and attention. As opposed to Berman et al. (2019), who discuss an environmental approach to the topic, Dadvand et al. (2018) take a Biophilia Hypothesis approach to the examination of beneficial effects of greenspace. The researchers discuss that greenspace may promote brain development by providing opportunities for psychological restoration, discovery, creativity, and risk-taking, along with providing spaces with lower levels of air pollution and noise. Dadvand et al. (2018) provides evidence that long-term exposure to greenspace has direct impacts on brain composition and cognition in children.

    As developing society becomes increasingly urbanized, researchers are beginning to consider the effects of urbanization, pollution, and restricted access to nature on human health and physiology. Even without the option to move to more rural areas, families can increase their exposure to nature through urban greenspace, which is land that is covered in vegetation (ranging from a cluster of plants to an open-space park). While researchers are still exploring the specific mechanisms underlying the effects of greenspace, studies have shown that greenspace can have significant beneficial effects on brain structure (Dadvand et al., 2018), and behavior and cognition (Berman et al., 2019). The results of these and similar studies indicate the need for increased greenspace in urban areas, and pave the way for improvements in city planning, policy, and local government, in order to promote brain function and overall health of citizens. 

References 

Berman, M. G., Stier, A. J., & Akcelik, G. N. (2019). Environmental neuroscience. American Psychologist, 74(9), 1039–1052. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000583 

University of California - Los Angeles. (2018, February 23). Being raised in greener neighborhoods may have beneficial effects on brain development. ScienceDaily. Retrieved October 12, 2022 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/02/180223100626.htm