Anatomy, Physiology and Neuroscience

You guys need to help me....This is bigger then me and you, this is for all the nerdy types who have ben pushed around by the jocks. I love weightlifting been doing it for years semi-serious because I didn't think I could ever bench press pass 200 pounds...Now I can bench press free weight 250-260ibs. I use 70 and 80 pound dumbbells for press as well....which is really impressive for someone like me. My brother is nice but an arrogant jock...I am kinda a hybrid. I was always into sports, martial arts, highschool got more into science... ANYWAYS. My brother is one of those overbearing people that constantly talk about how "huge" he is. He doesn't do much mo…

Hi: Are the dorsal roots parts of the somatic nervous system? Thanks, GX

Hello What are the antagonist muscles in the lateral flexion of the head at the neck (cervical spine)? The only thing I can figure is that it is the same muscles as the agonists, but on the opposite side. Thanks

Anyhow, I've been stimulated by personal physical experience, to ask, as is already pre- suggested by the title, why do bulging veins occur? In that, I don't mean it in the sense of being able to see the veins clearly, due to lack of skin pigmentation, but rather that the contours of the veins quite literally bulge, so as to make themselves visible, below the skin. As well as asking the question of why this occurs, another interesting observation that I've consecutively made, which may also be open to debate, is that this seems to be a particularly prominent thing for people of Slavic origins. (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, etc.) (Though this "statistic is one that as any, …

Hi everyone, Ive heard that one reason of the Alzeihmer's disease is the formation of amyloid plaques in the brain. Ive also heard that - according to in vitro tests - some natural stuff such as garlic and cranberry could inhibit them. I have 2 questions: If someone just ate garlic for example, would it reach the brain and specifically the amyloid plaques automatically (would it pass the blool brain barrier (sorry if im completly off-topic). If this works, would this help cure alzeihmer's disease or prevent it? Thanks.

I was reading this article on Science Daily: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/10/061025085455.htm Could someone please give me information on what part's of the brain are being developed while under the influence of alcohol? I found it interesting that the brain prioritizes area development while drinking. Thanks for any input!

Hey everyone, I was wondering, with all the alzeihmer research going on, how can they test something on rats? Is it by injecting them whatever they want with a special technique? How does it work for these kind of tests?

I was sitting waiting for my fish sticks to beep this morning, and I was counting down the time to the beep in my head, wich made me think, how do we tell time in our head? how do we remember the approximate {or any} amount of time to use inbetween numbers when "stopwatching" something? Is it just a memory associated with numbers that we use when timing things? If we wanted a robot to tell time, we would need something like a clock in it to do so wouldnt we? do we have a clock like this? thanks.

Where is it? I'm hungry all the time (high metabolism, not overweight yet), and too busy/lazy to always make a well balanced meal. Is there a form of people chow out there, as opposed to dog/cat chow? I can't seem to find any info on it, and if it doesn't exist, why not? I would think that it should be possible to make a food for humans with all of the required vitamins, minerals, fats, proteins. Even if it couldn't be recommended to eat some sort of human chow for every meal for long periods of time, I still think that it would help a lot of people (including myself) get a better intake of nutrients. Thoughts?

Hi: I have another speculative medical question. PSTSN = Peripheral Somatic Tactile Sensory Neurons Tactile = Pertaining only to sense of touch [including temperature, pressure, pain, etc.]. *Not* including any visual, auditory, gustatory, olfactory perceptions or any sensations associated with the sense of balance. Peripheral = pertaining only to the peripheral nervous system and not the central nervous system. Somatic = pertaining only to the somatic nervous system and not the visceral, autonomic, or enteric nervous systems Let’s say a mysterious entity decides to stimulate all the PSTSNs all in my body to the maximum extent possible [in terms o…

Hi: I've heard that during severe protein deficiency, body protein is broken down to provide protein for the vital organs. Can this damage the kidneys? Thanks

Scientific researches show, that physical activity and low/moderate aerobic exercise are good in cognitive aspects - it's logical. But few is known about explosive or maximal exercise. These two exercises are different from low/moderate aerobic training. My hypothesis is that during an explosive/maximal exercise (powerlifting, explosive jumps etc) muscles need more neural stimulation and this can cause short-term central fatigue. Central fatigue should influence cognitive capability. Can it be true?

Put your hand under your nostrils. Breathe. Notice the air coming out of that one nostril and not out of the other ? I, while writing this email, am breathing mainly through my left nostril. In some couple hours (the cycle is a 6 hour one) time, my right one will take up the shift. But why was the nose thus designed ? Does one nostril repair itself, or get rid of unwanted particles while the other breathes ? Or does this provide any advantage with regard to smelling ? Or is it to avoir turbulence that would occur from the encounter of two air jets (provided we want to avoid turbulence - which isn't exactly self-explanatory) ? Any help in solving this mystery woul…

When do you think we can be able to regenerate parts of our body? Internally or externally I think skin would be easier like for scars. What about nerves? tissues? Ligaments organs. Etc. I know it probably won't be soon. I'm so scared as I'm not getting any younger and my body is no longer functioning as it used to.

I am currently reasurching the topic of transhumnaism which is the idea that we can alter the human race for the better using technologies and science. Its basically the idea that someday we will be an intelligent desiese free nation of walking talking cyborgs! So i would love to hear your thoughts and any information you have concerning cyborgs and/or transhumanism! Not quite sure what it is yet? check out it out for yourself on the transhumanism home page! Thats right! They have their very own web page! Or just check out the wikipedia low down on this situation! http://www.transhumanism.org/index.php/WTA/index/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transhumanism

A new study shows that the amygdala is substantially larger in babies with autism. The study makes no conclusions about whether the size of the amygdala is related to genetic or environmental factors (or both). The amygdala has been one of those brain structures that fascinates me. It's a very old structure which is part of our "reptilian brain" but seems to have found some novel uses inside the mammalian brain, particularly in regard to the fixation of memory. I've heard this as a "suspect" brain structure involved in autism, but this is the first scientific study I've seen demonstrating it to be abnormal in children with autism. Merged post follows: Con…

Hey guys, I've recently started a more massive phase of gym and nutrition, to lose weight (MASS!) but more to just make sure I'm back in shape. I signed up to a newsletter by Jillian Michaels (the trainer in "The Biggest Loser") mainly for training advice and such. Today, the nutrition part of the mailing list included this part: Dump the Most Evil Sweetener of All In the late seventies, less than 15 percent of Americans were obese. Thirty years later, 32 percent of us are obese. What happened between then and now? First, the idea became popular that fat was evil and "low fat" diets were best. Whenever possible, fat was removed from proce…

I am a bit confused about all of this neocortex and cerebral cortex stuff. Not that I am an idiot or anything, it's just that I can't sift out the confusing signals of whats garbage and whats actual fact. I heard the neocortex is responsible for love, learning, empathy, and memory. How much of this is true? I also heard it was part of the "Thinking brain". Cerebral cortex- What exactly does it do? I also hear it deals with "Higher brain functions". Which means exactly what? Just a few questions. Oh yes and if you ever developed a drug that enhanced or "Grew" the neocortex I would probably pay an arm and a leg for it. Think, girls would love you…

Say it ain't so! (Is it so?) Merged post follows: Consecutive posts mergedNevermind I just found this: Here: http://machineslikeus.com/news/are-heart-cells-replaced

The classification of brainwaves seem mixed up as the greek letters don't seem to progress with the frequency, or do i miss something? Beta is highest, then alpha, then theta etc. Why is this? Thanks http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainwaves

I've notice when listening to music, even music w/o lyrics, it can have an influence emotions, and started to wonder, can this same response be use to correct emotional disorders therapeutically? Any thoughts on this?

I know that one can rather crudely subdivide, all tissue within the body into nervous tissue, connective tissue, muscular and epithelial tissue, and this is the basis, of my question. If teeth, are not bones, then what type of tissue due they consist of? By means of reason, I've deduced that they too, are probably connective tissue, but if so, to vary from bones, they must have different types of cells and/ or a different intercellular matrix between the cells. Does anyone know what the matrix of teeth is, (chemical structure would be most helpful) and perhaps how they differ from bone, in their structure? Many thanks.

As far as I understand, the middle ear has air in it, and the squeezing feeling felt when descending into the depths of the ocean or ascending into the sky is caused by an imbalance in the air pressure of the air in the middle ear and the air in the environment. My question is, if you were presently in a smoggy environment and you "equalized", would that smog get trapped in the middle ear and cause damage as soon as the eustachian tube sealed off the middle ear once more?

Hi Is there combination of foods that can cause health/digestive problems, but consumed individually are perfectly 'normal' ? (It is not about flavor - fried eggs and cocoa type of mixes)

I am reading the book "The brain that changes itself" Which is basically around the concept of Neural Plasticity. I was wondering the merits of this idea since I think the book was produced by a non-neurologist psychiatric guy. Is the Brain really plastic (not made of, of course)?