Changing stroke rehab and research worldwide now.Time is Brain! trillions and trillions of neurons that DIE each day because there are NO effective hyperacute therapies besides tPA(only 12% effective). I have 523 posts on hyperacute therapy, enough for researchers to spend decades proving them out. These are my personal ideas and blog on stroke rehabilitation and stroke research. Do not attempt any of these without checking with your medical provider. Unless you join me in agitating, when you need these therapies they won't be there.

What this blog is for:

My blog is not to help survivors recover, it is to have the 10 million yearly stroke survivors light fires underneath their doctors, stroke hospitals and stroke researchers to get stroke solved. 100% recovery. The stroke medical world is completely failing at that goal, they don't even have it as a goal. Shortly after getting out of the hospital and getting NO information on the process or protocols of stroke rehabilitation and recovery I started searching on the internet and found that no other survivor received useful information. This is an attempt to cover all stroke rehabilitation information that should be readily available to survivors so they can talk with informed knowledge to their medical staff. It lays out what needs to be done to get stroke survivors closer to 100% recovery. It's quite disgusting that this information is not available from every stroke association and doctors group.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Epigenetics and the Human Brain

I covered this earlier here; but it bears more publicity, ask your researcher about it.
http://oc1dean.blogspot.com/2011/04/epigenics-of-stroke-rehabilitation.html
the new one here;
http://www.dana.org/news/cerebrum/detail.aspx?id=32670
Since the discovery of DNA in the 1950s, one of the primary goals of geneticists has been to understand how differences in the DNA sequence can influence human health and lead to diseases. After several decades of intense research, two conclusions are clear: (1) in most cases, it is difficult to establish a direct link between any specific gene(s) and specific biological processes or diseases, and (2) most traits and pathologies are associated with more than just one gene and have complex mechanisms. Discovering that such complexity is at play led researchers to acknowledge that the genome on its own is likely not sufficient to sustain all biological functions, and that another level of regulation is contributing. They proposed the epigenome as one of these additional levels.
Tightly associated with the genome, the epigenome represents an ensemble of biochemical marks present on the DNA itself. These marks modulate the DNA’s activity and functions, but occur without any change in the DNA sequence. Instead, various enzymes add epigenetic marks to the DNA. The marks stamp genes with a unique signature that signals the gene to be active or silent.
Unlike the DNA sequence, epigenetic processes are dynamic and not fixed, although some can persist for long periods of time, up to several years or a lifetime. Further, they are strongly influenced by the environment and by exposure to external factors like diet, living conditions, exercise, stress, chemicals, drugs, and toxins. Both positive and negative factors can modulate the epigenome. For instance, positive factors such as enriched living conditions, like social interactions, physical activity, and changing surroundings, can promote beneficial epigenetic marks, while severe stress or agricultural chemicals can permanently alter some marks.1,2 These modifications can impact various aspects of an organism’s life during any phase of development, and can increase the susceptibility to diseases. For example, traumatic events and severe chronic stress in early life can alter the epigenome in a persistent and sometimes heritable fashion.3-5 Many cancers are also associated with epigenetic alterations induced by factors such as poor diet and toxins.6,7

1 comment:

  1. The PBS show on the epigenome called "The Ghost in the Genes" was amazing. Identical twins don't have identical gene profiles by the age of 60 because external factors affect the epigenome which turns genes on and off. That's why one twin gets cancer or Alzheimer's disease but the other twin doesn't.

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